2011 World Diabetes Congress, Dubai

Greetings from Dubai! I'm attending the World Diabetes Congress which is hosted by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) every two years bringing together experts in diabetes and other non communicable diseases from across the globe for a week of interesting lectures and workshops. Topics vary from the latest medical research into the development of an artifical pancreas to providing health education on diabetes in rural settings. I have spent...

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Project HOPE Partners with Eli Lilly and Company to bring Non Communicable Disease Services to Johannesburg

 After a long wait and lots of hard work, I am excited to announce to you today that Project HOPE has secured a five year, up to $3.5 million US Dollar grant from Eli Lilly and Company to implement a non-communicable disease (NCD) project called the HOPE Centre in Zandspruit, Johannesburg,  South Africa. The Eli Lilly NCD Partnership is a new $30 million, five-year commitment to address non-communicable diseases with Project HOPE and five other non-governmental organization (NGO) partners in four countries (South Africa, India, Brazil...

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Follow us on Facebook

Hi All! In preparation for a very exciting announcement, I have created a page on Facebook that you can now follow. This will be used to post shorter updates, photos etc. If you use facebook, you can now click "like" on the right hand box. Check back very soon to hear about some exciting news that Project HOPE is going to announce!!!Ste...

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Presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce

A few weeks ago I was invited by the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa to present Project HOPEs plans for our chronic disease program for South Africa. Project HOPE participates on the HIV/health forum at the Chamber which is made up of representatives from US corporations, US government, NGOs and other interested parties. It was a good opportunity to make contacts and share our vision for South Africa. To say thank you I was presented...

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Its cold in Johannesburg

We are now right in the middle of winter here in Johannesburg. This means that you have to scrap ice off the car in the morning (with a credit card as they don't sell scrapers here!), get the blankets and oil filled heaters out to try to take the chill out of the air. For people living in shacks it can be a particularly miserable time of year as their homes are freezing and many people are walking around with coughs, colds and flu. God First, a local...

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Diabetes is not such a big deal right?

“Diabetes is not such a big deal right? I mean, I know that I am a little bit overweight and maybe don’t exercise enough and drink a bit too much, but I can change that when I want too. And even if I get diabetes, I just need to lose some weight and maybe pop a pill or too, no big deal.” Image courtesy of the Sun Newspaper  This could be seen as a reasonably common response in Western countries such as the UK and USA where we are slowly being...

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Sponsor a Screening Day

To launch the HOPE Centre project we would like to run 3 community screening events - one in Zandspruit, one in Cosmo City and one in Kya Sand. These screening events will be publicised on the local radio station, through the local clinic and through other "bush communication" mechanisms! We anticipate to do these at the end of March. The aim of the screening days is to first help raise awareness in these communities about the growing risks...

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Project HOPE 2010 Annual Report

Project HOPE has just published its 2010 annual report entitled, "HOPE Endures." It gives a great overview of what has been going on around the world in the various Project HOPE locations. Check out page 5 which gives a brief overview of our new project in South Africa. I have also put it on the right hand side under "More Information" if it takes a while to download. The picture of the Lawson family in it is a little bit dated, so I thought I would...

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The HOPE Centre Chronic Care Clinic

The HOPE Centre project is located in a township called Zandspruit which is about 45 minutes away from down-town Johannesburg (Look on the right hand side of the blog to a link to a map of the area). It has a population of around 75,000 people with the vast majority living in shacks like the one pictured. Services to the township are pretty limited. Bordering on Zandspruit are an additional 3 townships, one of which is now...

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The HOPE Centre Approach

So what's so unique about the HOPE Centre approach compared to other projects? This is a question that I have had to answer many times when presenting this project to potential donors. My answer goes something along the lines of this: "The HOPE Centre approach is unique first and foremost, because there isn't anyone else in the country doing exactly this! Secondly, while some organisations are thinking about working in chronic disease, they are not...

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Why Focus on Chronic Disease when people are dying from AIDS?

Its true, people in South Africa are dying from AIDS. South Africa has the largest number of infected people living with HIV estimated at over 5.7 million. The national prevalence rate is around 12%. Yet there is something else going on in South Africa and across the developing world that is not receiving as much attention as it should and that is the rise of Chronic Diseases. These include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers and chronic respiratory...

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Welcome to The HOPE Centre Blog

Welcome to the HOPE Centre Blog! The HOPE Centre is the new signature program for Project HOPE in South Africa. Below is a short introductory video from me, Stefan! Keep checking back to see the progress we make over the coming weeks. ...

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