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 most of my time getting to know the various African diabetes associations, picking up contact details and learning about the challenges that they face as we look forward into 2012 and the expansion of our diabetes work across the continent. I have met people from Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Kenya all saying that diabetes is a growing problem in their respective countries, and all looking for help to address the various challenges that they are facing. Its a very exciting time to be working in this health area, and particualarly on the continent of Africa which according to the IDF will experience the highest growth rate in diabetes prevalence (90% growth) over the next 20 years and yet at the same time very challenging considering it has the least amount of money available to spend on addressing the problem currently.

Project HOPE has a booth in the exhibition hall and in talking with the various people that have stopped by  it is clear that organisationally we are positioned really well in terms of the need that is out there in the various countries. From both health professional education like we currently do in India as well as looking into innovative ways of getting health messaging and diagnosis and management services across to patients in resource poor settings where health professionals simply arent around such as in rural and urban poor areas of South Africa Project HOPE is working hard to find solutions and bring a better quality of life to those that are currently underserved.

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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 and Mexico) around the world. Eli Lilly is launching the partnership, which combines the company’s unique resources with the expertise of HOPE and other leading global health organisations, to identify new models of patient care that increase treatment access and improve outcomes for under served communities.

This is a very exciting time for Project HOPE, as together with Eli Lilly, we work together to find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing health problems related to chronic diseases. Non-communicable diseases in South Africa represent a major challenge to the country, in particular in areas like townships where already existing health services are either overstretched or non-existent.

Together with local community stakeholders, the City of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria and Eli Lilly, Project HOPE will run the HOPE Centre project, based out of Emthonjeni Community Centre in the heart of Zandspruit which is a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

Thank you to all of you who have supported this initiative over the previous months. I cant wait to share with you the developments over the coming weeks.

 

In the mean time if you have any further questions or comments please feel free to contact me on slawson@projecthope.org

Link to the Lilly press release: http://newsroom.lilly.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=604828

Thanks for reading!

Stefan

PS. Remember to "like" us on facebook to get regular shorter updates.  

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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!!!

Stefan

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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 with a small gift from Lauren Marks who is the co-chair and who is a Health Program and Public Private Partnership Advisor for USAID.



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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 church here in Johannesburg that works with the poor has an annual blanket drive where members donate blankets and warm clothes which are then distributed out to various NGOs. This year Project HOPE received over 20 blankets and various items of clothing.

 

These will be distributed out of the next few days in Zandspruit where we are currently working and should help make the cold weather a bit more bearable for a few people.

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