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Chevron Sickle Cell Initiative

Posted by Steve Day

 

"You are a miracle worker. Thanks so much for the turnaround."
        - Chevron

Our video for Chevron's Sickle Cell Initiative. Watch the video to learn more.

Running time: 2:47

Script: Global health is everybody's business. That's why an energy company, a medical school and pediatric hospitals on both sides of the Atlantic, joined forces with the Angolan government to fight sickle cell disease in Angola.

More than 20 percent of Angola's adult population carry the gene for sickle cell disease, which distorts the shape of red blood cells – disrupting blood flow, and causing serious complications like infection and stroke. More than 10,000 Angolan children are born with the disease every year, and – sadly – only about half that number live to reach five years old.

Though there's no cure for sickle cell disease, its effects can be minimized with early detection and treatment. But that requires significant resources, including medical personnel, facilities, technology, supplies, and more. So in 2011, a group of foundation partners formed the Angola Sickle Cell Inititative.

The new public/private partnership between Chevron, the Angolan Ministry of Health, Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine, became the first comprehensive sickle cell program in Angola. The Initiative provides sickle cell screening and treatment, as well as training in Hematology for Angolan nurses and technicians.

Initiative doctors commit to serve a year or more in Angola, working shoulder-to-shoulder with Angolan healthcare providers in Luanda and the Cabinda Province. In just three years since the program was created, more than 85,000 children have been tested for sickle cell disease, and over 1400 are now in treatment.

But  with more than 700,000 Angolans born every year, there's much more to be done -  to give every child the simple test that could save their life. With the support of new partners, this initiative will continue to provide doctors and nurses, power to run medical facilities, supplies for testing, and the means to follow up with children who test positive – and get them the treatment they need. Partnership created the Sickle Cell Initiative, and only partnership can sustain it.

So get involved – because global health is everybody's business. To learn how to become a partner and support the Angola Sickle Cell Initiative, visit txch.org/angola – today.