Surmang Foundation is a US non-profit corporation from the State of Colorado and tax-exempt under IRS 501(c)3. An independent charity, Surmang is not connected with any other foundation, religious group, or government agency and relies solely on individual donations for support.
Surmang Foundation is also registered in China as the Yushu Nomadic Health Promotion Association.
What we do.
Surmang Foundation has a private, stand-alone clinic in Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province China. It is a 97.5% ethnic Khampa Tibetan region, rich culturally and environmentally, but one of the poorest regions in China with a per capita GDP of about ¥1 or US16¢.
Surmang Foundation has operated this clinic since 1992. In 2000 the Foundation hired two local Tibetans as resident physicians. The core values were and are free medical care and free medicines.
In 2005 the Foundation did a KAP public health survey that confirmed that maternal mortality and infant mortality rates are among the highest in the world with mmm at 3000/100,000 live births and infant mortality of 1 in 5. The danger to a pregnant mother is over 3 times that of a US soldier in Afghanistan.
In 2006 the Foundation opened a Community Health Worker project, training 40 village and nomadic women as barefoot doctors/birth attendants. They became the hands and eyes of our clinic. By 2011 the CHWs had reduced maternal mortality to zero.
If you want to save a culture,
save a mother.
The biggest threat to Tibetan women and girls is death in the process of creating life. Surmang's clinic has served
over 150,000 patient visits in the past 10 years in Tibet. We focus on mother and child health.
A model for China's rural healthcare
Surmang Foundation is located in Yushu prefecture, a place with highest maternal mortality and infant mortality rates in the world. The danger to a pregnant mother is over 3 times that of a US soldier in Afghanistan. Throughout the past decade, Surmang Foundation has operated its clinics and organized a cadre of local women to provide community-based care and education to women, resulting in a notable reduction in maternal mortality.
