Texas Children’s Hospital

Our Problem

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited disease and one of the most neglected diseases in the world. SCD has plagued African children for over 8,000 years. The disease causes recurrent excruciating pain and disabling strokes; most affected children die early in childhood. About 300,000 children (85 percent of the global incidence) are born with the disease in Africa annually.

In Western countries, proven interventions dramatically reducing suffering and deaths from SCD are medically simple: infant screening, childhood vaccinations, a daily penicillin pill for five years, and lifelong daily pill of hydroxyurea to reduce sickling of blood cells. In Africa, a tiny minority of affected children receive care at tertiary hospitals, most of them after suffering severe irreversible complications such as brain strokes.

Access to largescale public health SCD care is urgently needed in Africa but has not materialized. Current programs are too slow and unaffordable.

Our Solution

This project departs from the status quo of waiting for costly and slow programs by integrating proven SCD interventions into primary health services in African countries that comprise half of the global disease burden.

Texas Children’s Global and its affiliated Baylor Children’s Foundations in Africa, in partnership with Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), are mobilizing relevant stakeholders, particularly Ministries of Health and pharmaceutical companies; training health workers; and stimulating or supplementing critical SCD supplies to spur widespread access to SCD care.

Texas Children’s has already trained 35 of the first African specialists in SCD care and mobilized complementary resources, including affordable business pricing for pharmaceuticals.

Africa CDC, Africa Union’s public health agency, will support central procurement and distribution of SCD commodities, in-service training of health workers, data coordination across countries, and advocacy and resources mobilization through its partners and African Heads of State.

We believe that the triad of government engagement and ownership, pharmaceutical markets, and a critical mass of African clinical experts and leaders, will result in an impactful and enduring response to SCD.

When successfully implemented, this approach will save millions of children and enormous health resources. The target for the initial five-year period is to spur sustainable programs in 10 countries that comprise 50 percent of the global SCD burden: Angola, DRC Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Togo, and Uganda. The goal is to reach one million children with SCD by 2030.

Team & Project Resources

About Our Team

The project team consists of African and American medical, public health, and administration professionals with expertise in SCD, global health, public health, health education, implementation science, health cost analysis, project management, monitoring and evaluation, public relations, marketing, and philanthropy. Two of the team members are living with SCD, a physician leader and a community-based member.

Team Leads

Dr. Joseph Lubega, Director, Texas Children’s Global HOPE Program and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Nmazuo W. Ozuah, Associate Director, Texas Children’s Global HOPE Program and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Titi Fasipe, Co-Director, Texas Children’s Sickle Cell Program and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Gladstone E. Airewele, Pediatric Hematologist, Texas Children's Global HOPE Program and Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine
Laura Laux, Director of Administration, Texas Children’s Global HOPE Program
Elise Ishigami, Assistant Director of Administration, Texas Children’s Global HOPE Program
Ashley G. Tagle, Assistant Director of Philanthropy, Texas Children’s Hospital