The Urgo Foundation

At URGO, we are committed on a daily basis to changing patients’ lives thanks to our innovations. We are experts in healing and treatment. Creating the URGO Corporate Foundation in 2010 was an obvious step for Hervé Le Lous, Founder of the URGO Group. It has a global outlook with more than 290 projects carried out since 2010 in 25 countries around a key focus: training healthcare professionals in better caring for patients.

It supports projects put forward by members of staff in the URGO Group in three key areas: wound healing, pain management and first aid.

An independent, non-profit charitable entity, chaired by Briac Le Lous, the Foundation joins forces with healthcare professionals renowned for their high level of expertise and learned societies down to its Board of Directors.

Three main areas of action

Wound healing

Since its creation, the Foundation has been fighting against Epidermolysis Bullosa, a rare genetic disease that affects 500,000 children around the world. They are “butterfly children” who have skin as fragile as a butterfly’s wings from birth. Any friction creates extremely painful wounds. The Foundation works with charitable partners such as Debra, in many countries such as Brazil, China, Vietnam and Poland. Together, they train healthcare professionals to better manage this disease. They also help parents to care for their children’s wounds thanks to treatment techniques and by offering them moments of joy in holiday camps.

Faced with the increase in chronic wounds linked to diabetes or cardiovascular diseases all around the world, the Foundation is taking action. It carries out awareness-raising and training actions among healthcare professionals with regard to wound healing, such as venous leg ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers.
The URGO Foundation is also committed to improving the treatment of wound infections, an essential aspect of healthcare that requires special attention from healthcare professionals across all specialities.

Treating pain

Our expertise has shown us the extent to which pain has an impact on patients’ lives. However, alongside healthcare professionals, the URGO Foundation believes that it can be remedied. Effective non-medicinal solutions exist.
To support research and training, the Foundation is involved in three areas:
• Electrotherapy for joint and muscle pain;
• Electrotherapy for endometriosis;
• Innovative dietary supplements for neuropathic, gynaecological, ocular or digestive problems.

First aid

The URGO Group has built its expertise on first aid and emergency care. Today still, the URGO Foundation is convinced of the importance of providing first aid for accidents. In France and Vietnam, pharmacists are trained by the Foundation to deal with these situations.

– In France, with its Emergency First Aid Pharmacy programme, the Foundation trains pharmacists in providing first aid and orienting patients. Hybrid training combining digital and in-person sessions, it is currently aimed at pharmacies in the Paris region before its imminent roll-out on a wider scale.
– In Vietnam, the URGO Foundation, the Vietnamese Red Cross and Pharmacity have launched First Aid Next Door. Thanks to this programme, 300 Vietnamese pharmacists will be trained by Red Cross experts and receive official certification from the country’s Department of Health.

The URGO Foundation is also extremely attentive to the nutritional health of children and their mothers. Since 2019, it has been working alongside the Red Cross in Côte d’Ivoire to raise awareness among communities and healthcare professionals about preventing malnutrition.