Our 2017 Year-End Report

We’re proud of our 2017 accomplishments.

• In June, the Ethiopian pediatric cardiac surgery team completed their training in India. Their skills are strong and they now work independently at our partner cardiac center in Addis Ababa. They will save hundreds of children’s lives each year, and train others. This is a remarkable and rare accomplishment in Africa, where there are many barriers to overcome.
• The Ethiopian Ministry of Health now recognizes the high impact that rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has on their country’s children, thanks in part to data collection we supported. The Ministry has developed a three-year RHD prevention plan.
• We launched an RHD pilot prevention program, developed by leading cardiologists in Ethiopia, with guidance from the Ministry of Health. This program will help the Ministry to implement the most effective prevention strategies in the future.