Most surgical missions never find out what happened to their patients. We built a system to change that.
Every year, NGOs perform hundreds of thousands of surgeries in low- and middle-income countries. The patients go home. And in most cases, nobody ever checks on them again.
"Reporting on outcomes and long-term follow-up was strongly recommended by 94% of surgical mission participants — yet the field still lacks a system to do it."
— Survey of surgical mission teams, ScienceDirect, 2020Three peer-reviewed studies — including the foundational work of Dr. Charles Filipi, whom FOCUS honors — have already demonstrated what works. The answer combines community trust, local partnerships, and mobile technology.
Using mobile phones to follow up patients after surgical missions is feasible and effective. 86% of patients reported complete satisfaction with their surgeries. Average follow-up: 18 months.
A community-based follow-up protocol — combining patient education, tribal leader engagement, and mobile phone tracking — raised follow-up rates from under 5% to 97%.
The longest-ever follow-up of hernia repair in a low-income country: 52–60 months. Local surgeons trained by Dr. Filipi's method achieved a 1.9% recurrence rate — better than international expert teams.
FOCUS tracks every patient for five years via SMS and WhatsApp — the standard the research community calls essential but almost no NGO achieves.
FOCUS doesn't deliver surgery directly. We support local ministries and NGOs who do — providing the outcomes infrastructure they lack.
Every mission generates structured, longitudinal data. Recurrence rates. Complication rates. Patient satisfaction. Returned to work. All tracked. All reported.
FOCUS was founded in honor of Dr. Charles Filipi, whose peer-reviewed research in the Dominican Republic produced the longest follow-up data ever reported for hernia repair in a low-income country.
FOCUS was founded in memory of Dr. Charles "Chuck" Filipi — surgeon, teacher, and pioneer in global hernia care. His work with Hernia Repair for the Underserved produced decades of evidence that high-quality surgical care and rigorous outcomes tracking are both possible and necessary in the world's most underserved places. FOCUS carries that mission forward.
Does your NGO or ministry perform surgical missions in low- and middle-income countries? FOCUS provides the longitudinal tracking infrastructure you need to measure impact, report to funders, and improve patient outcomes — at no cost to your team.
Contact UsYour gift funds the systems and people that keep patients connected to their care for five years after surgery. Every dollar goes toward tracking, follow-up, and the data infrastructure that makes accountability possible.
Contact UsFOCUS is building a network of surgeons committed to rigorous, accountable global surgical care. If you perform international surgical missions and want your outcomes tracked and reported, we want to hear from you.
Contact Us