Project Heart: Uganda
Uganda Heart Institute under construction at Mulago Hospital, Kampala Uganda
PROJECT HEART: UGANDA
A Great Beginning
In the fall of 2010, a desperate Ugandan mother with no other options made the long transatlantic trip to Washington DC with one goal: to somehow save her daughter’s life.
Gift had a hole between the top two chambers of her heart and an abnormal blood vessel overwhelming her lungs and taxing her heart. These heart problems caused her to struggle through her young life with recurrent lung infections, difficulty breathing, and the inability simply to play with her friends. More grave was the certainty that if these abnormalities in her heart were left uncorrected, Gift would soon develop heart failure and live a very short life.
In May of 2011 at Mulago Hospital in Kampala, this same Ugandan mother talking about her 5-year old daughter says, “…no more medications, no more lung infections, and she can keep up when playing with all her friends…”
WCI flew Gift from Uganda and funded her corrective heart procedure at Children’s National Medical Center in October 2010.
Gift’s recovery has been remarkable, and to her mom’s delight, she is now enjoying an active and happy childhood. They extend their deepest gratitude to those of you who helped make Gift’s journey and procedure possible, and gave her the opportunity for a long and productive life.
But, WCI’s vision is broader. There are thousands of children in Uganda and East Africa who are suffering from congenital heart defects similar to Gift’s. Within 5 years, our goal is to empower local doctors to do this same procedure IN UGANDA for the thousands of children like Gift. They all deserve the opportunity for a joyful childhood and a healthy, long life.
Uganda Heart Institute
A children’s heart program
SCOPE
Nearly 6,000 children are born each year with a correctable congenital heart defect in Uganda. This number is nearly 50,000 each year for all of east Africa. Unfortunately, this entire region currently has no capability to treat children inflicted with these correctable conditions. As a result, they struggle with respiratory infections, heart problems and ultimately die at a very early age.
INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
Over the past 8 months, WCI, in a public-private partnership with the Ugandan government, and in association with Siemens Medical, is working to build a children’s heart center and program to treat this problem. From building a heart lab, organizing training programs for local healthcare professionals to procuring catheters and balloons we have been pushing forward to making this children’s heart center functional and resource efficient.
We have been making incredible progress. By early 2012, we project that construction will be near completion, and the site prepared for full lab installation. That will lay the foundation for the truly impactful work that follows: training local doctors and developing the requisite skills and intellectual capital in Uganda.
TRAINING
WCI’s fundamental philosophy through our “smart” model of development, is to design long-term, self-sustainable solutions. Working with local Ugandan cardiologists and health officials as well as utilizing US training standards, we have developed a “fellowship” training program. The curriculum is focused on teaching a team not only how to manage children’s congenital heart disease but how to perform the procedures.
How? First, we will be coordinating mini 3-month training externships to the US and India for hand-picked qualified local healthcare professionals: cardiologists, nurses, and ultrasound technicians.
Second, utilizing the completed children’s heart lab, we will lead clinical missions to Uganda and work side-by-side with this team of healthcare professionals.
Over the next 5 years, WCI hopes to create a self-sustainable children’s heart program in Uganda enabling thousands of children afflicted with heart defects to receive local treatment so that they can lead productive and fruitful lives.
HELP SUPPORT PROJECT HEART: UGANDA
