Dikembe Mutombo speaking with people about mosquito-net use

Impact stories

Lives behind the numbers.

Stories from the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation's decades of work, the proof of the legacy we now carry forward.

Dikembe Mutombo on a public-health visit in Africa

Vaccination

Polio-free

In 1995 the DRC suffered the worst polio epidemic of the twentieth century. Dikembe broadcast public-service announcements in French, Swahili and English, then gave the vaccine to children in Kinshasa himself, becoming in that moment the doctor for his people he had always dreamed of being. The campaign reached 8.2 million of the country's 10 million children under five, through more than 16,000 health stations and 75,000 volunteers. Since 2011 the DRC has been polio-free, and being part of that victory remained among his most treasured memories.

A foundation visit with medical staff at Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital

Saving a young life

Mechack

When five-year-old Mechack, one of the DRC's four million orphans, arrived at the hospital, his brain was severely swollen and his body wracked by seizures, likely from measles he had never been vaccinated against. Surgery spared his life, and he became a favorite of staff and patients. Dikembe surprised him with a visit. Later, needing more surgery, Mechack was transferred to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Children's Hospital in New Hampshire, close to the American family that adopted him. Today he is doing well in his new country.

Dikembe Mutombo with students in front of the school

The gift of hearing

Kabulo

Born premature, Kabulo was given the gift of life with Dikembe's help. Nine years later she returned to the hospital for the gift of hearing. Through a partnership with the Starkey Hearing Foundation's "So the World May Hear" campaign, more than 1,650 children and adults in Kinshasa who had never heard a sound were fitted with hearing aids in three days. Children's eyes lit up at their parents' voices. Adults wept to hear their children speak.

Emergency corridor at Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital

When there was nowhere else

Burn care

The hospital's Burn Care Unit was the only one of its kind in the DRC. Survivors of a plane crash were airlifted there because nowhere else could treat them, and victims of a powerful explosion in the neighboring Republic of the Congo followed. When disaster left people with nowhere else to go, this unit was the answer.

Patients waiting for consultation at Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital

Women and mothers

Restoring women

Fistula repair restored women who could barely walk. Maternal care fought a death rate that once took thirteen mothers in every thousand deliveries. Care for women and girls was never a side project. It sat at the center of the work from the beginning.

A training session at Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital

Beyond the hospital walls

Meeting people where they are

Vaccination days, mosquito nets, clean water, and light for schools and clinics took the work to people where they live. Medical training with Congolese universities, clinical rotations at the hospital and exchanges with U.S. physicians helped the next generation of doctors and technicians stay and serve at home.

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The work these stories describe continues today through the hospital, the school and DMLF's four pillars.

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