To provide optimal surgical, anaesthetic, medical and nursing care to infants and children of low- and middle-income countries.
We believe that all children deserve compassionate and expert healthcare which should be delivered in their own environment.
Altruism – Respect – World-class Standards.
Operation Childlife (OCL) originated from a response to a request from the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation (CNCF) in 2004, to upskill and mentor paediatric doctors and nurses in Children’s Hospital Number 2, Ho Chi Minh City, and to carry out a number of complex surgeries. OCL has, to date expanded to Tanzania, Mongolia and Jordan.
Over 100 senior-level consultants have travelled (as volunteers) for one and two week missions, conducting complex surgeries, providing pre- and post-operative support and guidance and training, mentoring and developing their local colleagues on a continual basis. The countries and regions we visit lack, or have limited expertise in, key disciplines such as paediatric cardiology, oncology, orthopaedics, intensive care, anaesthesia, interventional radiology, urology, plastic surgery, ear, nose and throat surgery and related nursing care. Collectively our paediatric partners have a fast growing catchment of 45 million people, with 15 million under the age of 5 years.
First visit to Children’s Hospital 2, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
First visit to Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Irish Aid grant programme begins
Cardiac Programme opens in Children Hospital 2, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Operation Childlife incorporated in Ireland
Preliminary field trip to Cambodia
Irish Aid grant programme begins
Memorandum of Agreement between King Hamad University Hospital, Kingdom of Bahrain, OCL and City children’s Hospital, Vietnam
Four new members nominated to OCL Board
First visit to the Jordanian Red Crescent Hospital and the Za’tarai Refugee camp, Amman
First visit to the National Centre for Maternal and Child Health, Ulan Bataar, Mongolia
To view a copy of the Operation Childlife Strategy 2023 – 2027 please click here.
Operation Childlife is a registered Charity, CHY number 20008, CRA number 20079048 and a company limited by guarantee not having a share capital, registered in Dublin Ireland, company number 498723.
Operation Childlife is compliant with the Irish Charities Governance Code. For more information on the Charities Regulatory Authority and the Charities Governance Code please click here. To see our publicly listed information on the Charities Regulatory Authority website, including Audited Accounts please click here. For recent Audited Accounts please click on the year: 2023, 2022, 2021.
OCL has, or is in the process of developing, a number of collaborations with international medical organisations. Such collaborations are evaluated and agreed against the core mission and values of OCL, ensuring that all collaborative activities enhance and develop our mission while avoiding mission drift or the stretching of core resources inappropriately.
Medical and Nursing Student Participants
Research and Travel Scholarships
RCSI provides travel funding to assist volunteers
Vietnam and Mongolia visits.
Clinical visits, pre-and post-operative support and ongoing collaboration.
Jordan – clinical visits as well as assistance in refugee campus.
Funding support for clinical visits.
A five-year (2022 – 2026) clinical travel fellowship programme has been agreed with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI). The fellowships will be open to members of the medical community in Ireland, providing an individual with a unique opportunity to complete a placement on an Operation Childlife medical mission providing paediatric surgical care. This is scheduled to open in 2023.
