Texas Children’s Global Health Network, in partnership with the Baylor College of Medicine, hosted its first-ever virtual Research. Art. Innovation. Scholarship. Education (RAISE) Symposium from June 28 to July 2, drawing more than 500 registered participants from more than 20 countries across the world.

With generous philanthropic support, Texas Children’s has partnered with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) to help provide life-altering surgery to the millions of women worldwide who suffer with obstetric fistula.

Texas Children’s Global Health partners at the Area 25 Health Centre in Malawi planted giant bamboo seedlings in its permaculture garden to recognize Earth Day, and to celebrate the lasting connections between human and environmental health.

An average of 20 babies are delivered each day at the health centre in the Malawian capital city of Lilongwe, where Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine launched a Global Women’s Health program in 2012 in partnership with the Ministry of Health of Malawi and Baylor Foundation Malawi.

Even if children are largely spared from COVID-19 direct effects, the pandemic will still cause long-lasting indirect impacts on children globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Building on a 20-year legacy of improving health systems for children, families and communities in limited-resource settings across the globe, Texas Children's Hospital and the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) Network are working hard to prepare for and respond to COVID-19 in the 10 countries where we work.

Rachel Macleod, Midwife Educator at Area 25 Health Centre in Malawi, shares how she was able to find innovative ways to continue supporting her colleagues from afar after having to leave work and travel for health reasons.

Building upon the energy of Global TB Program staff members and with nearly a decade of robust TB experience and innovation, the Global TB Program was most recently awarded a five-year, $5 million Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant that will operate from September 2020 through September 2025. This five year project, “Closing – TB GAPS – for people living with HIV: TB Guidance for Adaptable Patient-centered Services” (TB GAPS), will focus on finding and preventing TB in children and youth, while simultaneously determining the most cost-effective prevention strategy and promoting best practices to sustain the impact of our work.

As a recognized leader in global health, Texas Children’s has worked diligently to create adaptive solutions for our clinics in sub-Saharan Africa, South America and Eastern Europe.

One of those solutions was rolled out this week in Malawi, Africa, at the Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence-Malawi (COE) where children and young adults with HIV/AIDS are tested, diagnosed and treated. The InTouch Lite V2 (often referred to as ‘Lite’) device was deployed to the COE as part of our efforts to provide patient care during the COVID-19 crisis in sub-Saharan Africa by utilizing available resources.

A new nine-bay labor and delivery ward at Area 25 Health Center in Lilongwe, Malawi, is providing women a private place to give birth, and clinical workers more space to deliver the same amount of babies per year born at the Pavilion for Women.

“This is a huge step forward for our patients and our clinicians,” said Dr. Jeffrey Wilkinson, vice chair of Global Health and professor, OB-GYN and director of the Global Women’s Health Program. “It falls right in line with our goal of providing the highest quality of care to the women and children we treat through our Global Women’s Health program.”

“Children with cancer in Africa don’t have the benefit of a central line,” Hockenberry said. “All chemotherapy is done through a peripheral vein, creating challenges for both our patients and our providers.”

The use of the RediStik PIV Trainer has greatly reduced these challenges, lessening both the number of PIV attempts and IV extravasation incidents. Hockenberry introduced the innovation to her clinics in Botswana, Malawi and Uganda more than a year ago holding regular hands-on training workshops, many of which are still being held today.

Dr. Bip Nandi, pediatric surgeon for Texas Children’s Global Surgery Program in Malawi, shares about the pediatric surgical services offered in Central and Northern Malawi.

Texas Children’s is using artificial intelligence technology to remotely monitor vital health data for expectant mothers in Malawi, giving providers a new tool to help patients avoid the risky situations that can arise during childbirth – and all from literally an ocean away.

Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine provide services to women suffering from obstetric fistula, a life-changing complication of childbirth that is extremely common in sub- Saharan Africa where specialized medical services are hard to find.

In Malawi, there are only a handful of OB-GYNs to support the midwives and clinical officers who are largely responsible for the care and safe delivery of babies nationwide. Part of Area 25 Health Center’s success is its midwifery training program.

Area 25 Health Center offers care to expectant mothers in Malawi via a unique private- partnership between Texas Children’s, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation-Malawi and the Ministry of Health of Malawi.

Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine together have expanded the scope of services they offer around the world due to the success their programs have had with diagnosing and treating children with HIV/AIDS.

BIPAI Centers of Excellence are supported by Texas Children’s Global Health Corps and the Dr. Kelly Descioli Global Child Health Residency. The partnership brings doctors to countries where we work to learn, teach and help provide clinical services.

BIPAI and its network of Centers of Excellence that have saved a generation of children and young mothers from the ill effects of and possibly death from HIV/AIDS.

Texas Children’s and Baylor College of Medicine are saving the lives of children and women across the globe through a network of physicians, fellows and residents that provide clinical support, training and academic leadership to underserved communities in 18 nations.