FACING THE WORLD
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Mission Statement
The long-term goal of Facing the World (FTW) is the worldwide development of sustainable self-run centers of excellence, replicable nationally as well as internationally, to provide desperately needed surgery for children with disabling facial differences.
About This Cause
Facing the World (FTW) has pioneered a bold new approach to sustainable healthcare, resulting in self-run centers of excellence in the countries we work in, that are able to provide children born with facial differences the surgery they need, and which can be further replicated both nationally and internationally. Because of a lack of infrastructure and relevant local expertise, children born with severe congenital facial anomalies in developing countries often do not have access to necessary surgical intervention. Communities and families are severely affected when faced with the needs of children with craniofacial conditions requiring extensive treatment and complex surgeries. The children often cannot attend school and, sadly, do not have the opportunity to become fully engaged members of society. Parents may well be required to stay at home to take care of them long term, often with crippling economic effects. Access to specialist treatment and healthcare without financial burdens results in happier and more productive societies, but developing countries cannot provide this to all, with often devastating results both direct and indirect. Phase One of FTW’s project, and the blueprint for global application, is in Vietnam where congenital conditions are estimated by some to be 10 times higher than in neighbouring countries. There is an overwhelming requirement for external support to expand and upscale the available specialist medical capability to enable thousands of children to have the life-changing surgery they desperately need. FTW has developed a sustainable and replicable platform for establishing surgical centers of excellence with the ability to extend their reach through an innovative combination of: 1. Education & Training: medical and ancillary specialists providing treatment and care for children with craniofacial conditions are awarded training fellowships to top international medical units. 2. Teladoc / InTouch Health telemedicine and key equipment: crucial to long-term scalability, telemedicine enables the real-time exchange of training and expertise between specialists located in different countries, providing mentoring initially, and then developing as an outreach program to serve the in-country needs. Key equipment needs are identified and supplied. 3. Surgical Missions: the Charitable Foundation combines the fellowships and telemedicine capabilities with in-country training via surgical missions. All training specialists come from units across the UK, Canada, USA and Australia where the Fellowship Program is active. This network will expand over time. FTW has acquired an in-depth knowledge of Vietnam’s healthcare structure, as well as the crucial government and medical support to enable the Charitable Foundation to develop these centers of medical and surgical excellence through its focus on training. This allows the Charitable Foundation the opportunity to refine its approach sufficiently to move to Phase Two, which will be to replicate the project in other countries, with the Vietnam centers as partners in a united effort to ensure success. The potential for upscaling is unprecedented in this field, and the same approach could be used across other medical specialities, not just craniofacial (though this is not within the foundation's current focus). FTW is currently fundraising £3.5m over a 5 year period. The foundation is run by a worldwide network of volunteers, including the CEO, all dedicated to the cause. There is only one full-time employee in an administrative position. The foundation’s approach is bold and unique. The combination of our training program with equipment donation has provided a replicable platform capable of generating systemic change, not just for craniofacial surgery but for an entire healthcare infrastructure.