Seven years ago in 2010, Didier Drogba wanted to deepen the services offered by the Foundation. For this, a dream is about to be born: to build a hospital. Opening a hospital is a beautiful project, but it must go through several stages to succeed. The African continent and its inhabitants too often witness the construction of hospitals that do not meet the needs of the population.The Foundation has decided to adopt an effective hospital model: the hospital must meet the needs of the population and that it can function autonomously. This relatively long process requires great efforts of organization and study of the needs of the population. We did not want to double the health services offered by the government or by other NGOs. After a needs analysis and numerous discussions with the local authorities, we were able to determine which specialties and services will be offered by our hospital.

This is how we decided to create a pediatric ambulatory center. It is a day hospital which will specialize in the services offered to children and mothers. In addition to these services, we will offer specialties such as dental and eye care for children. For adults, we will have the opportunity to provide medical imaging services through our scanner.

Finally, we will also work on heart disease. For this, we have partnered with The Heart Fund, which already deploys heart disease screening vehicles. We also have agreements with the Abidjan Heart Institute. In addition to these discussions, we organized fundraisers to buy the land, build the building and equip the hospital. Equipping a hospital is a great adventure. We have decided to meet the highest standards of excellence. For this, we deal with European, Ivorian and American doctors to establish the list of the best equipment: scanners, X-rays, radiography, etc. Once the equipment is ordered, it should be transported to the hospital site and checked to make sure everything is working properly.

Opening a hospital also means recruiting nursing, medical and administrative staff. It also means planning the operating budget for the coming years. This whole process does not depend exclusively on the Foundation. In 2010-2011, the civil war in Côte d'Ivoire had a major impact on our project. We wanted to support the Ivorian people through this crisis. Other much less serious elements such as the geological quality of the land visited and the calendars of some of our interlocutors delayed the making of certain decisions as well as the opening of the hospital.

Since 2010, the entire Foundation team has been working to open the hospital. Its opening scheduled for mid 2018 will meet the needs of the population and provide medical services with the best equipment possible. This is how this dream becomes reality.