Newborn Screenings

Good News from Haiti

New Grant will Allow Expansion of Program

With seed money provided by HSG, a pioneering project to screen and treat sickle cell anemia in Haiti, over 2,000 newborns were screened at Justinien Hospital in Cap Haitian. The results of this study were published in the journal, Pediatrics in September and led to a grant from the NIH that will allow the program to expand to four hospitals in Haiti. This year we will continue to support for this program. In addition, we plan new initiatives in maternal and child health, as well as cervical cancer screening and treatment (the Friends of Justinien project) and introducing hospice care to Haiti.

Pilot Project Yields Life-Saving Results

At a time when all the news from Haiti appears to be bad, Healthshare Global is pleased to announce that a pilot project partially funded by us to screen and treat newborns for sickle cell anemia has yielded life-saving results. Led by Dr. Ofelia Alvarez of the University of Miami's sickle cell Center, her team trained Haitian doctors, nurses and laboratory technicians in an innovative method of screening that yields immediate results. In the program's first year, over 2000 newborns were screened at Justinien Hospital in Cap Haitian. The results were so impressive that they were published in the September issue of Pediatrics and used to successfully apply for funding from The National Institute of Health that will sustain and expand the program over the next five years. Congratulations to Dr. Alvarez and her team.