Updates

Texas Children's Global Health Sickle Cell Disease

Texas Children’s Global Health Network and the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have joined forces to strengthen child health systems across Africa. Our first initiative is to tackle one of Africa’s most urgent yet overlooked child health challenges — sickle cell disease. This groundbreaking partnership marks a major step toward addressing non-communicable and neglected tropical childhood diseases across the continent, beginning with scalable, evidence-based interventions to manage sickle cell disease in children.

The partnership directly supports the Africa CDC’s Strategic Plan and exemplifies a shared commitment to reducing child mortality and strengthening health systems through respectful, African-led collaboration.

While the partnership begins with sickle cell disease, it’s part of a broader strategy that includes:

Vaccine development fellowships: Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development and Africa CDC are training a new generation of African scientists in early-stage vaccine research and development.

Technology transfer: Together, we’re supporting African manufacturers to produce vaccines for neglected tropical diseases like schistosomiasis and hookworm.

Innovation pilots: Projects are underway to showcase “bench-to-bedside” vaccine innovation led by African institutions.

The collaboration embodies a new era of global health — one built on partnership, local expertise and sustainable innovation. Together, Texas Children’s Global Health Network and Africa CDC are giving children across Africa a healthier start and a brighter future.

Fighting sickle cell disease

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The challenge

Sickle cell disease affects more than 300,000 infants worldwide each year — and Africa carries 85% of that burden. 

Without timely diagnosis and treatment, children with sickle cell disease experience chronic, disabling pain and face shortened lifespans.

But sickle cell disease is treatable. Through early screening, preventive care and access to essential medicines, children can live longer, healthier lives. 

This partnership aims to integrate proven interventions — such as newborn screening and hydroxyurea therapy, among others — directly into routine primary health services.

Our Approach

We’re implementing a continent-wide, public health model for childhood sickle cell disease control in partnership with Ministries of Health, health care providers and local communities.

Key actions include:

  • Newborn screening to enable early diagnosis
  • Routine childhood immunization
  • Daily penicillin prophylaxis to prevent infection
  • Hydroxyurea therapy to reduce complications and pain
  • Training health care workers to deliver sickle cell disease services at the primary care level
  • Deploying digital tools for diagnosis, treatment monitoring and supply chain support

Initial demonstration programs will be launched in 2–3 countries  with high sickle cell disease burden, serving as models for broader scale-up across the continent.

Driving impact

To ensure long-term impact, the partnership supports the development and adoption of national sickle cell disease policies. This includes several goals:

  • Creating and disseminating the Africa CDC’s essential sickle cell disease care package
  • Embedding sickle cell disease services into existing maternal and child health infrastructure
  • Advocating for policy alignment and funding prioritization across African Union Member States
  • Leveraging the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism (APPM) to increase access to affordable medicines and diagnostics

Where we work

Texas Children’s Global Health Network leads efforts that advance healthcare equity through innovative collaboration in care, education and research globally.

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