Texas Children’s Hospital announced on February 26 a recognition of Chevron Corporation’s long-term support of the hospital’s global health programs with the dedication of “The Chevron Bridge,” the walkway linking the Abercrombie Building and the Feigin Center.
Since 2011, Chevron has invested more than $16 million in Texas Children’s Hospital programs in Africa and Latin America. That funding includes the corporation’s most recent announcement of $5 million to support the Angola Sickle Cell Initiative over the next five years.
“We value the opportunity to support remarkable doctors who provide critical day- to-day pediatric and maternal health care while training in-country care givers to help build a legacy of greater health expertise,” said Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company.
Chevron, Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine and the Angolan Ministry of Health partnered four years ago to establish the Angola Sickle Cell Initiative, the first program of its kind in the country. Angola has one of the world’s highest rates of the genetic blood disease. More than 10,000 babies are born with sickle cell each year.
To watch a video about the Angola Sickle Cell Initiative click here.
“For these babies, Chevron’s support is the difference between life and death,” said Dr. Mark W. Kline, physician-in-chief at Texas Children’s Hospital and founder of the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative at Texas Children’s Hospital. “Without the sickle cell program, they would have been sick at an early age and very likely would have died before reaching age of five.”
The program, led by Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers, tests newborn babies, provides treatment, patient and family consultation, and helps train Angolan health care professionals. Through the program more than 96,000 babies have been tested for sickle cell, and the program has trained more than 500 Angolan nurses, lab technicians and social workers.
The company’s funding also has helped expand Texas Children’s Global Health Corps, which recruits and trains American-trained pediatricians and family doctors for long-term assignments in Africa in pursuit of a two-part mission: 1. expanding access to lifesaving care and treatment for some of the world’s poorest and least fortunate children, and 2. training local health professionals to build capacity for pediatric health care that currently does not exist.
Chevron’s contributions helped support the Global Health Corps assignments in Liberia and new programs are being evaluated for Morocco and Argentina.
In 2014, Chevron, Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine also partnered to create a health program in a remote region of Colombia. The program called SAIL focuses on caring for children under age five and expectant mothers with the goal of reversing the high child and maternal morbidity and mortality rate. Chevron’s funding supports doctors who treat families in the Wayúu indigenous community of the Riohacha and Manaure Municipality in La Guajira state where hospitals and clinics are difficult to reach and food security is an issue.
“We are grateful for Chevron’s continued support, which has helped enormously in our programs to fight devastating diseases and improve child and maternal health care,” said Kline. “The relationship has evolved and I imagine it will evolve further. What is exciting to me is that our partnership represents several different projects on two continents serving thousands of children and families in need. I look forward to where we will be working together next.”