Our Story
Over 25 years of service, standing by the poorest of the poor.
GICAM (Groupe International Chirurgiens Amis de la Main) was founded in 1998 as an international non-governmental organisation (NGO). In 2023, it became a Foundation, based in Lugano, Switzerland.
In 27 years of activity, GICAM has carried out 90 missions, involving 264 volunteers from 10 different nationalities. The missions have been held in 10 countries — including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Uganda, India and Ecuador — reaching a total of 76,895 people visited and performing surgical interventions on 11,010 patients affected by hand disabilities.
The Foundation promotes humanitarian programs specialised in hand surgery and reconstructive microsurgery in the most disadvantaged countries of Asia, Africa and South America.
Through surgical and reconstructive hand procedures, our multidisciplinary team of surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and hand therapists restores hand function in people with birth defects, burns, trauma and paralysis.
Our goal is to restore autonomy and dignity, especially for women and children who live in situations of extreme need, without access to adequate care.
Each mission involves a multidisciplinary team of professionals with complementary skills, capable of ensuring a comprehensive approach to patient care. The international character of the Foundation is reflected in the composition of the teams, which include volunteers from Switzerland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Australia, the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, Malawi and Uganda.
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Missions usually last one to two weeks and involve close collaboration with local hospital staff, who receive support and training throughout all clinical and surgical activities.