Project objective: This global grant will provide (1) surgical expenses for 40 Vietnamese children born with congenital heart disease, and (2) a rural outreach screening trip to detect previously undiagnosed children with heart defects, with a defined pathway from diagnosis into this grant's surgical scope. This Global Grant directly supports Rotary's goals of saving children's lives and improving economic stability by correcting a permanent disability, while also building early-detection capacity in underserved provinces.
Assessment of the need: There is a high incidence of congenital heart disease (CHD) in Vietnam. Specifically, 0.8â₀"1% of live births are associated with CHD (approximately 16,000 cases annually). Per capita income is approximately $4,300, and 65% of the population resides in rural areas, making access to life-saving surgery unattainable for many families. Without surgery, 25% of infants with CHD do not survive their first year, and 85% of those awaiting surgery will not survive to adulthood. The survival rate for children who undergo corrective surgery is very high. A parallel and equally urgent need is early detection as many CHD cases in remote provinces go undiagnosed entirely because families lack access to routine cardiac screening, meaning children only present once the condition has become severe or fatal.
Project Design and Budget: This grant covers two linked activities:
Scope 1 â₀" Surgeries: $1,500 per surgery Ã- 40 cases = $60,000. Patient selection and surgical care are managed by Heartbeat Vietnam under VinaCapital Foundation (VCF). VCF operates six programs, including Heartbeat Vietnam, which focuses specifically on pediatric CHD surgery.
Scope 2 â₀" Rural Outreach Clinic (ROC) screening trip: $4,000 for one provincial outreach trip using VCF's established ROC program. Based on VCF's historical average, outreach trips screen approximately 1,500 children per trip, though the exact number varies by province, local demand, and number of clinics conducted in a given trip (VCF's own trips have ranged from several hundred to over 4,000 children screened)
Screening-to-surgery pathway: Children identified through the ROC screening trip who are diagnosed with CHD and come from financially disadvantaged families will be referred into Scope 1 of this same grant for surgery or intervention, subject to standard eligibility criteria (certified financial need, age 0â₀"17). This ensures the screening activity is not a standalone diagnostic exercise but is directly connected to a funded treatment pathway â₀" closing the loop between early detection and life-saving care.
Local Rotary involvement: Rotary Club Saigon International joined the screening trip; visit children and families in hospitals; visit families at home; work with grassroots leaders to confirm selected children meet financial need criteria; accompany and monitor the ROC screening trip; review screening registers, diagnosis counts, and referral documentation provided by VCF after the trip; monitor the project until all funds are distributed; and check invoices and payment documents for both scopes. Rotary Club Saigon International will contribute $1500 in cash to the grant funding.
Sustainability: Children receiving surgery gain a lifelong correction to a condition that would otherwise be fatal or severely disabling, relieving their families of a burden that could otherwise consume a full year's income and enabling the child to contribute fully to education, family, and community. The screening trip adds a second, upstream layer of sustainability: it builds a documented pipeline of early-detected cases and referral data that will inform future outreach planning, and lays groundwork for a subsequent community training grant to further extend early-detection capacity to non-specialist caregivers in these same provinces.
Your project is "Fully Pledged". This means the amount of the pledges is equal to the total budget of the project. Now the project needs to be finalized and go through the approval process with The Rotary Foundation. This process gets started on the administration page.
Project listed for the 2026-27 Rotary Year.
The TRF Grant application number is #2691797.
Proposed Financing
Existing Contributions Towards This Project
Date
Cash
DDF
Total
Saigon International (3350)
31-Jul-26
$1,500
$0
$1,500
District 5170 DDF
31-Jul-26
-
$12,965
$12,965
District 5170 DDF
31-Jul-26
-
$3,000
$3,000
District 5170 DDF
31-Jul-26
-
$2,000
$2,000
District 5170 DDF
31-Jul-26
-
$1,778
$1,778
District 5170 DDF
31-Jul-26
-
$2,449
$2,449
Fort Collins (5440)
31-Jul-26
$1,830
$3,660
$5,490
Einbeck-Northeim (1800)
31-Jul-26
$2,850
$0
$2,850
Possenhofen Castle International (1841)
31-Jul-26
$570
$0
$570
District 5170 DDF
31-Jul-26
-
$4,800
$4,800
Leipzig-International (1880)
2-Aug-26
$1,140
$0
$1,140
Amount Requested from The Rotary Foundation
-
$24,521
$24,521
Total
$63,063
DDF contributions in grey are pending approval of the corresponding district committee.
Note: as of July 1, 2015 there is a 5% additional support fee for cash contributions. This fee does not appear in the financials above because it does not apply if the funds are sent directly to the project account (without going through TRF, and therefore without Paul Harris credit). Clubs sending their cash contribution to TRF must be aware they will have to send an additional 5%.
Project Supporting Documents
There are no documents yet for this project. Go to the administration page to upload documents.
Project Photos
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Go to the administration page to upload photos.
History Log Entries
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Creation of project page.
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $3,000 DDF by John Kelly of the Rotary Club of Okaland #3, District 5170. [Updated to $3,000 DDF on 31-Jul-26]
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $2,000 DDF by John Kelly of the Rotary Club of Saratoga, District 5170.
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $1,778 DDF by John Kelly of the Rotary Club of Cupertino, District 5170.
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $2,449 DDF by John Kelly of the Rotary Club of RC E-Silicon Valley, District 5170.
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $1,830 with $3,660 DDF by John Kelly of the Rotary Club of Fort Collins, District 5440.
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $2,500 by Wolfgang Czizegg of the Rotary Club of Einbeck-Northeim, District 1800. [Updated to $2,850 on 2-Aug-26]
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $500 by Wolfgang Czizegg of the Rotary Club of Possenhofen Castle International, District 1841. [Updated to $570 on 2-Aug-26]
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $1,000 by Wolfgang Czizegg of the Rotary Club of Leipzig, District 1880. [Deleted on 3-Aug-26]
31-Jul-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $4,800 DDF by Sophie Stone of the Rotary Club of Together In Missions & GOLD7490, District 5170. [Updated to $4,800 DDF on 31-Jul-26]
2-Aug-26
by Tuyet Nguyen
System Entry: Pledge of $570 by Wolfgang Czizegg of the Rotary Club of Leipzig-International, District 1880. [Updated to $1,140 on 3-Aug-26]
