Baby with CHD and mother in Coimbatore, India

Enhancing heart care across India

Our mission: We save children’s lives by transforming pediatric heart care in India.

Our vision: Children in India have access to high-quality heart care.

The need: Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect, affecting 240,000 children each year. An estimated 144,000 infants urgently need heart procedures annually—yet 90% lack access to the care they need.

Expand Access to Quality Care

Build local capacity for pediatric heart care through training, health policy development and mentoring in clinical and organizational capacity.

Promote Awareness and Education

Raise awareness about the 1 in 100 children born with congenital heart disease and educate the public on pediatric heart health.

Collaborate and Support

Partner with government agencies, non-profits, medical institutions and professionals to address inequities in the care and health of children with congenital heart disease.

Support Primary Care Clinicians

Educate and assist primary care clinicians in screening and referring children in need of heart care.

What we do

Children’s HeartLink India Foundation, established in 2023, is dedicated to enhancing pediatric cardiac care programs across India. Building upon the strong foundation laid by our partner, Children’s HeartLink*, which began its remarkable work in India in 2000, we are committed to improving the lives of children born with congenital heart disease (CHD).

CHDs are the most common birth defect and the birth defect that causes the most infant deaths. In India, 2,40,000 babies are born with an abnormality in the structure of the heart, or CHD. While we can’t prevent CHD, we can work to ensure more children have the lifesaving care they need.

At Children’s HeartLink India Foundation, our focus is on partnering to improve clinical and organizational skills at hospitals committed to delivering high-quality pediatric cardiac care to all children in need. We achieve this by fostering partnerships between hospitals and medical volunteer teams from top teaching and research institutions in the U.S., Canada, India, and the U.K.

Through our multi-year phased partnerships, we aim to create sustainable health systems that consistently deliver high-quality, complex care. Once this has been achieved, the partner hospital graduates to a Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence, which means the team is committed to training other pediatric cardiac specialists in their region, the country and globally.

Our collaborative efforts extend beyond hospital partnerships to include collaboration with key organizations such as the Indian Academy of Pediatrics, and NGOs like Bloom to Life, People 4 People and Saloni Heart Foundation.