La Mascota – Nicaragua

The first international cooperation project of our Center, coordinated by Professor Masera, Professor Biondi, and Dr. Conter in constant collaboration with the Medical Association for Central America (AMCA), began in 1986 with the implementation of the advanced training program for healthcare professionals (Monza International School of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology – MISPHO) and the construction in 1995 of a small hotel for children living farther away from Managua (later expanded in 2003), financed by the parents of the Comitato Maria Letizia Verga following the example of the Residence Maria Letizia Verga.

The experience of MISPHO was of fundamental importance for the creation in 1998 of a cooperation network called AHOPCA (Association of Pediatric Hemato-oncology of Central America) which allowed the development of common diagnostic-therapeutic protocols for most pediatric oncological pathologies in the countries of the area.

The hospitality and financial support program for sick children and their families took place from 1994 to 2021 as a distance adoption project, which allowed providing economic support to the most fragile families of children in treatment, thus favoring a significant reduction in treatment abandonment, from over 30% in the early years to the current 5%.

Starting from 2021, a new approach has been adopted, shifting from the adoption of a single child to the adoption of the “Support Project for Nicaraguan Children in Cancer Therapy and their Families”.

The contributions collected by the Comitato Maria Letizia Verga are managed by AMCA which, through its representatives on site, identifies the actions to be taken:

• Renovation of care facilities at La Mascota Hospital;
• Funding for the salary of the social worker who assists the families of the children in treatment;
• Funding of scholarships for the specialization of pediatric oncologists at the hospital;
• Support in the most critical family situations (difficulties of the poorest or most distant families from the hospital to afford the costs for basic necessities and transportation).

Every year, supporters of the project receive a detailed report regarding the activities in which the funds collected have been used.

The project is developed in collaboration with the Global Pediatric Medicine Department of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.