Thank you for visiting my site to raise support and awareness of Operation Hernia. Donations can be made from any country; after deciding how much you may like to donate in your home currency, the website below can tell you how many pounds to enter into the website

http://www.xe.com/

Operation Hernia is an independent not-for-profit organization which provides surgeries to West African men at rural hospitals in Ghana, Nigeria, and Cote d’Ivoire. In the process, it provides professional and educational opportunities to both Eurpoean and African surgeons and surgical trainees in the repair of some of the largest hernias they have ever seen.

The benefit to the patients is enormous - many are farmers, laborers, and tradesmen - and the operation can be life-saving if the hernia otherwise would pinch off their intestines. The challenge to surgeons pushes their capacity to elite levels, requiring them to adapt and improvise in medically and culturally new situations. Reinforced sections of mosquito net mesh are used instead of manufactured varieties, and surgeons find the opportunity to perform low-technology operating room techniques that sometimes improve practice in their home countries during emergencies.

The program's popularity has increased substantially in the few years since its launch, now hosting 10 missions per year. Teams have found their arrival to Ghana to be welcoming, organized, efficient, and deeply satisfying. One surgeon reported that never in his life have so many people prayed for him for so many days.

More can be read about Operation Hernia in the blogs posted on its website

http://www.operationhernia.org.uk/

The BBC described the first Operation Hernia mission in 2005

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/4119490.stm

The Global Burden of Surgical Disease webistes are at

http://www.gsd2008.org/

http://social.burdenofsurgicaldisease.com/

Details about the marathon are listed below - apparantly it's a trail through the Maryland countryside!

http://brrc.com/race/NCRTrailMarathon.html

More information on surgical volunteerism opportunities can be found at

http://www.operationgivingback.facs.org/

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, while saving time and cutting costs for the charity.