10%

Annual Report 2018

By CURE International

February 1^st, 2019

From the President

Dear friend,

What incredible blessings we have seen this year! Every child entering one of our hospitals or clinics reminds us that God works miracles through CURE International — by His grace, through your support.

As more and more children come to CURE seeking treatment, faithful friends like you have stepped up to meet the growing need. Generous supporters helped move a number of projects forward this past year:

We built a new guesthouse in Niger, increasing our capacity to treat patients needing long-term care.
In Zambia, a new training center will facilitate continuing education programs for our staff and for medical professionals from all over the country.
We have several projects underway in Ethiopia, Kenya, and the Philippines, all of which will help us serve more children.
And more!

Physical healing is just a part of our story, though. Spiritual ministry is integrated into everything we do. This year alone, more than 11,000 people made an expression of faith as a result of the gospel being shared through CURE. For this, we thank God.

Yet God uses you to set it all in motion. As you review CURE’s achievements in the following pages, you can join us in celebrating — knowing that none of this could have happened without the prayers and financial support of people like you, engaging in CURE’s mission to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom of God. Thank you for standing with us!

Sincerely,

Dr. Roger Spoelman, President & CEO

Our Mission

Healing the sick and proclaiming the kingdom of God

As Jesus carried out His earthly ministry, He sent His disciples to continue the work and to carry it even further to the towns and villages in Judea. “He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick,” says Luke 9:2 NIV.

Jesus didn’t confine Himself to preaching about God’s kingdom. He also demonstrated the values of God’s kingdom by restoring broken individuals through healing. So when He sent the disciples, He didn’t send them with one job; He sent them with two: Proclaim the kingdom. Heal the sick.

As disciples of Jesus in the 21st century, we’re dedicated to pursuing this same mission. CURE is committed to healing and proclaiming — together, as one ministry. Everywhere CURE goes, we carry the good news with us, and we put the values of the kingdom of God into practice. The result: healing for the whole person — emotional, spiritual, and physical. Why? Because whenever God is invited in, healing happens!

Every business day in 2018, the CURE network witnessed an average of:

62 procedures performed in our hospitals
66 children enrolled in clubfoot treatment
19 procedures performed by surgeons trained by CURE to heal children suffering from hydrocephalus and spina bifida
43 people making an expression of faith in Jesus Christ
and 2 volunteers mobilized to serve around the world

Meet Doreen

a 14-year-old girl from Malawi

“Oh, the cripple! Go throw her into the bush!”

That’s what Doreen heard when she ventured into the village. Her bowed legs made walking difficult and painful, so much so that she sometimes missed school. Then there was the emotional pain she endured from people staring at her, talking about her, ridiculing her.

Fortunately, her loving family found out about CURE Malawi and brought her to our hospital for treatment.

What happened next? Find out now at cure.org/doreen

How We Do It: CURE Hospitals

People call them hospitals — CURE operates them in nine countries — but they could just as easily be called embassies for God’s kingdom.

We focus on pediatric orthopedic surgery and pediatric neurosurgery. Here, your support of CURE connects with children who otherwise would have no access to care. We offer them treatment in a setting where they are accepted and loved. In fact, at CURE, many encounter a welcoming embrace for the very first time in their lives.

CURE hospitals are also places of learning. Surgical residents get hands-on training. Nurses, technicians, and other medical professionals stay on top of the latest standards in care. And local pastors learn how to transform a culture that dismisses those with disabilities.

These embassies for God’s kingdom are also launching pads for outreach missions: From our hospitals, we send teams out to remote locations to build community partnerships, identify new patients for surgery, follow-up with existing patients, and share the gospel with those we meet.

Meet Janet

CURE Malawi’s first physiotherapist

With 15 years of experience at CURE Malawi, Janet has seen firsthand the importance of training.

“When you look at CURE, we work more as a team than other hospitals. We talk to the doctors and to the Spiritual Team; everyone takes a part. I’ve worked with different people from different professions, and all of them have had an impact on my life because I was able to learn from them. Coming here has challenged me. It has helped me to say, ‘I can’t stay on this level; I need to learn more.’ That’s what’s kept me going back to school. It has helped me to grow academically. It inspired me to look ahead.”

Discover more of Janet’s story at cure.org/janet

Where We Work

Our nine hospitals and 411 partner treatment locations gave us the opportunity to serve in 27 countries in 2018.

How We Do It: CURE Hydrocephalus & Spina Bifida

Children with hydrocephalus are at great risk. Left untreated, many will not live to see their second birthday. Though hydrocephalus has a variety of causes, the condition often accompanies spina bifida, a birth defect that also presents great risk. Sadly, there are too few, if any, neurosurgeons in many countries that have the highest prevalence of these devastating conditions. Access to care isn’t the only problem. The international medical community’s primary choice for treatment uses dated technology that has a high rate of failure, a problem only made worse by the lack of access to neurosurgical care in the developing world.

Our CURE Hydrocephalus & Spina Bifida (CHSB) program tackles this problem head on. Neurosurgeons from around the world are trained at CURE Uganda in the most advanced procedures to treat these conditions, including the innovative ETV/CPC procedure, which was pioneered by our surgeons. When successful, ETV/CPC significantly reduces both the rate and severity of failure.

Along with training surgeons, we help establish partner treatment locations (PTLs) at their hospitals. These PTLs offer counseling services for patients and their families, long-term follow-up, and clinical support.

Hope for Indonesia

A new trainee for CHSB expands access to ETV/CPC in the islands of southeast Asia

“In my hometown, neurosurgery doesn’t happen often,” says Dr. Mousa of the Indonesian city he and 7 million other people call home.

Encouraged by his parents to pursue medicine, Dr. Mousa chose to become a neurosurgeon. He was not content with his skill set, though, and sought ways to develop his expertise in pediatric neurosurgery. A chance web search introduced him to CHSB, and he applied for the neurosurgical fellowship at CURE Uganda.

“I want to be better,” Dr. Mousa insists. “I want to do better treatment for my community. Doing ETV means a much better prognosis for the children in my country.”

Read more of his inspiring story at cure.org/mousa.

Stewardship of Resources

What happens when you donate $1 to CURE?

Operating Expenses

(IN THOUSANDS)

Operating Revenue

(IN THOUSANDS)

Practicing fiscal responsibility and accountability are critical aspects of CURE’s stewardship model. An independent CPA firm audits us annually, and we are in good standing with several organizations that review charities, including GuideStar, Charity Navigator, and the ECFA.

Find more resources and state fundraising disclosure statements at cure.org/finance.

The numbers and statistics cited throughout this report reflect CURE’s Fiscal Year 2018, which ran from July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.

How We Do It: CURE Clubfoot

Clubfoot is one of the most common birth defects in the world. Our hospitals regularly see children born with clubfoot who have never received treatment. By the time they’re brought to a CURE hospital, the best solution is usually surgery — effective, but painful and costly. They could have avoided surgery by going through an inexpensive casting and bracing process soon after birth, giving them straight feet by the time they were ready to walk!

Correcting clubfoot early is the idea behind CURE Clubfoot, a program we launched in 2006. In the past 12 years, CURE Clubfoot has grown to be one of the largest providers of clubfoot treatment programs worldwide. In 2018, we operated the program in 17 countries, working toward an ambitious goal: eradicating clubfoot as a lifetime disability by correcting the condition early. We also provide important follow-up care, ensuring that clubfoot does not become a permanent disability or require complex surgery in the future.

Introducing Hope Walks

Advancing the fight to eliminate clubfoot as a lifelong disability

Hope Walks! That’s the new name for CURE Clubfoot. The program will become its own independent non-profit organization in 2019. The current leadership, partnerships, and worldwide co-workers within the clubfoot program will remain in place, continuing their leading role in the global clubfoot effort.

Recognizing the urgent need for infant clubfoot treatment, CURE International is enthusiastically supportive of the mission behind Hope Walks: Motivated by our hope in Christ, Hope Walks frees children, families, and communities from the burden of clubfoot.

Learn more at hopewalks.org.

How We Do It: Integral Ministry

Wherever CURE goes, the kingdom of God is proclaimed. That’s part of our mission, and we hold fast to it. For us, ministry means more than simply having a chaplain somewhere on the premises. Ministry is what each and every CURE co-worker does. Our core values are kingdom values. Our approach to patient and family care is centered on seeing people through God’s eyes, with the dignity inherent in dearly loved creations of the heavenly King.

By integrating ministry into every aspect of what we do, we have been blessed to bear witness to God bringing healing — physical and spiritual — to people around the world. The broken are restored, the lost are found, and through it all, we give thanks to God.

"What I know is Jesus is here."

One mother’s journey to faith and healing

Winnie came to CURE Uganda with her daughter (also named Winnie) and without much else. Estranged from her family and abandoned by the child’s father, Winnie’s heart needed healing just as much as her daughter needed medical care.

At CURE, Winnie found love and acceptance. She also learned something: “I never knew that I could have a personal relationship with God,” she says, “but now I believe.” With her newfound faith and discipleship from CURE’s spiritual ministry team, Winnie also learned to forgive others; in this way, she found restoration in her relationship with her parents.

Baby Winnie found healing, too!

See more of their incredible story at cure.org/winnie.

You can answer the call

Jesus’ directive to proclaim the kingdom and heal the sick is for you.

Will you step out in faith and join Him?

We welcome the opportunity to partner with you to help transform lives. Your gifts of time, talent, and treasure can make a difference for children with correctable disabilities and for the kingdom of God.

Pray with us for children and families who need healing: visit cure.org/pray
Volunteer or serve with us at a CURE hospital: visit cure.org/go
Give today. The cost to complete the funding for a child’s surgery is just $1,000: visit cure.org/donate