CURE International announces largest hospital expansion in its history

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Monday, September 30, 2024

A doctor attends to Alem Degefu Birhan, 29, and her two-month old son, Leul Abraha Gebru, who is suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition in Ayder Hospital in the city of Mekelle on Feb. 16, 2024, in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. More than 20 million Ethiopians are in need of food aid, according to estimates from the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). The situation is particularly acute in drought-stricken Tigray, in the country's north, which is still recovering from a two-year war between the Ethiopian government and allied forces on one side, and Tigrayan forces on the other, during which the region's economy was devastated and many were displaced. The combined effects of war and drought have raised the specter of famine, which the federal government in Addis Ababa denies is imminent, saying it is committed to providing aid. | Ed Ram/Getty Images

CURE International, a U.S.-based Christian nonprofit organization, has launched its most significant hospital expansion project to date, breaking ground on a 22,000-square-foot, three-story facility in Ethiopia. The new state-of-the-art building marks a milestone in the organization’s 25-year history of serving children with treatable disabilities.

The expansion will include five operating rooms, seven exam rooms and 22 patient beds, enabling the facility to serve about 5,000 patients annually, said the group, which operates a global network of eight children’s hospitals, in a statement to The Christian Post.

With an investment of $12.5 million, the project is supported by The Rees-Jones Foundation, which provided funding for the construction and furnishing of the facility, and USAID, which supplied the medical equipment.

“CURE has served children living with treatable disabilities in Ethiopia since 2008, so we know firsthand of the tremendous need for high-quality and increasingly specialized medical care in this region,” said Justin Narducci, CEO and president of CURE International.

The hospitals in the group’s network offer no-cost surgical interventions for conditions such as cleft lip/palate, clubfoot, burn contractures and more.

The new building’s foundation is designed to support two additional floors, potentially adding 15,000 square feet for new patient recovery rooms.

“The hardest thing about serving children at CURE Ethiopia is knowing that tens of thousands of children are waiting behind each one of our patients for their turn to live a normal, healthy life,” said Adey Abate, executive director of CURE Ethiopia.

Trevor Rees-Jones, co-founder with his wife, Jan, of The Rees-Jones Foundation, reflected on their involvement. “My family and I love getting to support the healing of children in Ethiopia. It is one of the great privileges of our lives.”

Rees-Jones added, “Each and every one of these children is loved beyond measure by God, and each one deserves care.”

The facility is scheduled to open its doors in 2026.

CURE says that since its inception in 1998, it has conducted over 350,000 life-changing surgeries and 5.5 million patient visits.

Established in the capital city of Addis Ababa in 2008, CURE Ethiopia performs over 3,000 surgeries annually and operates as a teaching hospital in partnership with the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA).

It offers specialized training programs at the residency and fellowship levels, helping to train the next generation of national surgeons and healthcare workers.