Surgical Interventions in Dominican Republic

Most women in developing countries do not have access to gynecological surgical care. As a result women who experience birth-related complications like fistula and incontinence must suffer in silence, and often find themselves ostracized from their family and community.

Saving Mothers has been working with officials from the Ministry of Health and the ILAC Mission in Santiago to find sustainable solutions to these problems. The result is a comprehensive maternal health program that has brought real change to this population.

Twice each year, Saving Mothers deploys a team of highly skilled surgeons, nurses and anesthesiologists from the US to the Dominican Republic to provide pro bono gynecological surgical care to underserved women. Each trip is two weeks in length, with the first week dedicated to patient screenings and the second week to surgeries. We typically screen 150 women and perform 25 to 30 surgeries during each trip.