OUAGADOUGOU: At the end of an empty hallway in a Burkina Faso teaching hospital, a group of children sat together in medical gowns, nervously awaiting operations that could save their lives.
The smallest, nine-year-old Landry Nion, fixated on a phone game while an older girl cheerfully encouraged him.
“After the operation, I would like to become a footballer like Messi,” Nion said shortly before his surgery.
The five children have become the first in Burkina Faso to successfully undergo open heart surgery. It’s a landmark event that doctors say could signal a sea-change for the West African country’s healthcare system.
Nion and his peers, all born with similar heart defects, were identified by French charity La Chaine de l’Espoir to participate in a week-long surgical campaign at the Tengandogo University Hospital in Ouagadougou.
The operations were led by European doctors with assistance from Burkina Faso counterparts, who are being trained to perform operations…