Birth of a new program in Mexico City: the Kardias experience.

In the last two decades there has been huge progress and technological development in congenital heart surgery. Children with congenital heart disease in the first-world countries have the opportunity of being diagnosed and treated with a very high quality of medical and surgical attention. Third-world countries have much less to offer to these patients. Several attempts have been made to alleviate this reality. Foundations created in developed countries have played a major role. We believe, however, that promoting the development of local foundations in the countries in need could be even more helpful because local physicians can participate actively in coordinating the actions needed. Through our foundation, Kardias, we have been able to achieve significant improvements in the quality of care at the Instituto Nacional de Pediatría in Mexico City.