Africa Children’s Hearts Initiative

A new global initiative building pediatric cardiac services in Angola, Ghana and Namibia

Children’s HeartLink works to bridge the talents and resources of pediatric cardiac care providers from around the world to build capacity for pediatric and congenital heart care in countries with limited resources and a growing burden of heart disease in children. Our vision is that children around the world have access to high-quality heart care.

With generous support from people like you, we aim to partner with local leaders, pediatric cardiac care professionals and Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence to design a framework and roadmap for a training center in a low-resource environment. Support this initiative now.

The need

• • Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the 7th leading cause of infant deaths today in Africa, resulting in 34,000 preventable deaths.
  • An estimated 500,000 children are born with CHD in Africa each year.
  • An estimated 90% of all children born with CHD in Africa lack access to appropriate medical care.

The challenges

• • There is a lack of pediatric cardiac specialists and limited training opportunities available in Africa.
  • There is a large pediatric cardiac service gap with undiagnosed children dying prematurely.
  • There isn’t a national policy for prevention or treatment of children with pediatric and congenital heart disease.
  • There is limited community awareness about pediatric and congenital heart disease.

Understanding and learning how to approach the need and challenges of low-income countries can result in sustainable change. The phased approach we outline below, aims to explore if the existing Children’s HeartLink model can be modified to meet the existing needs of Angola, Ghana and Namibia.

The 3-year goal of this initiative

Explore, learn and engage local leadership to develop a roadmap for the development of a sustainable pediatric cardiac clinical care and a training center, while also adapting the Children’s HeartLink Center of Excellence model for a low-resource setting.

The 10-year goal of this initiative

Develop 3 Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence in pediatric cardiac care in 3 countries in Africa that can provide appropriate high-volume and high-quality pediatric cardiac care and serve as regional training centers.

 

A four-pronged approach to save more children

1. Clinical capacity development
   Leverage Children’s HeartLink Centers of Excellence in Brazil and India, Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa and U.S. and U.K-based expert teams to adapt the Children’s HeartLink model to a low-resource setting, ensuring quality care provision and sustainability, while addressing immediate training needs through remote and in-person sessions.
2. Cross-country collaboration
   Develop a peer-to-peer learning collaborative with clinical leaders from the three countries to coordinate advocacy strategies, discuss clinical challenges and solutions, and explore opportunities for supply chain development and pooled procurement of supplies and equipment.
3. Health policy advocacy
   Develop an engagement strategy with the government in each country to begin to build awareness and assure buy-in for policy development, long-term growth and sustainability.
4. Patient and family advocacy
   Collaborate with the Global Alliance for Rheumatic and Congenital Hearts to develop local patient and family leaders from each country as future advocates for policy change to ensure larger sustainable policy improvements in health capacity and infrastructure and increased financing for pediatric cardiac service.

We need your support! Will you join us?

To develop and pilot this program in Angola, Namibia and Ghana in the first 3 years, $1.5 million must be raised. Your investment in Africa will change the trajectory of thousands of children by helping to make systems change. To learn more and join this initiative in Africa contact Erin Bursch. She is also able to provide support with structuring your gift if you are interested in giving through a donor advised fund or making a gift of stock.

Contact:

Erin Bursch
Vice President of Development
1.952.928.4860 Ext. 250

Children’s HeartLink history of success

2+ million children with congenital heart disease served

Since 1969, Children’s HeartLink has been dedicated to caring for children with heart disease. We invest in long-term partnerships with hospitals in underserved parts of the world to improve pediatric cardiac care programs. Through advanced medical education and advocating for policy change, Children’s HeartLink partnerships lead to increased access to high-quality heart care, stronger pediatric cardiac care communities and increase global attention to pediatric and congenital heart disease. As a result, more children receive treatment and fewer die from preventable deaths.

Program model

The Children HeartLink program model has three pillars: building hospital capacity to develop Centers of Excellence in pediatric cardiac care and training, developing patient care referral pathways, and advocacy for policy change. The success of this model relies on an existing basic health system. Even in the best circumstances, our partners must work with limited resources including inadequate staffing and infrastructure, which frequently pose significant barriers to growth and excellence.

The global need for heart care

One in 100 children is born with congenital heart disease (CHD) worldwide. Making CHD the most common birth defect and one of the top causes of infant deaths. In most regions of the world, parents have nowhere to turn for medical care when their child is born with CHD.