The content below is not actively maintained and may be out of date. We last updated the content below in 2009.

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Our 2007-08 review of ReSurge International (under the name Interplast) provides a complete review of the organization's activities and costs.

The information we have reviewed from ReSurge International does not adequately address the concerns outlined at our overview of developing-world corrective surgery. However, we feel that it stands above other charities in the same cause because:

• It has been more open to answering our inquiries and sharing substantive information than other charities in its area (this has been true since we were a part-time project in 2006, and continues to be true).
• Its blog1 provides frequent, high-volume updates on its activities, including photos. Though we are not confident that the cases featured in the blog are representative, we feel that they are a more credible source of qualitative information than the very small numbers of individual stories that most charities share. (We discuss this issue more in a blog post on qualitative information.)
• It addresses a wide variety of deformities including burn scars, rather than focusing only on cleft lip and palate surgeries. Based on the blog and on a conversation with an ReSurge International representative,2 we believe that many non-cleft conditions are still highly debilitating as well as correctable.

We designate ReSurge International as "best in class" for developing-world corrective surgery.

Sources

Note that in some of the following documents ReSurge International is referred to as Interplast, it's former name.

• Corlew, Scott. ReSurge International Chief Medical Officer. Phone conversation with Givewell, June 2, 2009.
• GiveWell. Developing-world corrective surgery.
• GiveWell. Interplast (2007-08).
• ReSurge International. All patients' surgeries: 1998-2008 (XLS).
• ReSurge International. Biratnagar speech camp (DOC).
• ReSurge International. Blog. http://resurge.blogs.com/resurge-blog/ (accessed January 17, 2011). Archived by WebCite® at http://www.webcitation.org/5voCWCKD7.
• ReSurge International. Butwal speech camp report (DOC).
• ReSurge International. Interplast mortality and morbidity statistics (DOC).
• ReSurge International. Nepalgunj speech camp, 2009 report (DOC).

• 1.

  ReSurge International, "Blog."

• 2.

  Scott Corlew, phone conversation with Givewell, June 2, 2009.