Women’s History Month: Women In History & Women Making History

In celebration of Women’s History Month BLFA is honoring the legacy of female physicians who have made and continue to make history in Africa. Follow us on social media where we have highlighted the accomplishments of these women throughout the month.

Kate Westmoreland

Kate Westmoreland is a pediatric hematology oncologist whose research focuses on optimizing treatment outcomes for children with cancer in conjunction with UNC Project Malawi. She is only the second physician in this field in the entire country of Malawi. BLFA has the honor of supporting her work with our partner UNC Project Malawi. 

Kristin Schroeder

Kristin Schroeder is a Pediatric Hematologist specializing in Neuro-Oncology working in Tanzania. She is one of only two physicians in the entire country who treat children with any form of cancer. Dr. Schroeder hopes that one day she won’t be needed to provide this care because there will be enough trained local doctors in the region. Alongside her team, she has established an innovative pediatric cancer unit where she provides a holistic approach to cancer treatment. BLFA has the honor of supporting her work through our NGO partner ICCARE.

Women In History

Josephine Nambooze

Josephine Nambooze became the first female physician in East Africa, specifically Uganda, when she graduated medical school in 1959. Growing up she had to complete her science classes at an all-boys school. She was the first female in attendance at Makerere University School of Medicine. She continued to break glass ceilings for women in Uganda when she became the first woman to head the country’s Public Health Institute.

Ng’endo Mwangi

Ng’endo Mwangi was Kenya’s first female physician. She studied in the United States where she was the first African woman to attend both Smith College and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After completing her studies she returned to Kenya to establish her first practice where she was the only doctor for over 300,000 Maasai people.

Ester Mwaikambo

Ester Mwaikambo became Tanzania’s first female physician in 1969. In 1987 she established the Medical Women Association of Tanzania to mentor and inspire other young women to pursue medicine. Today she is a professor of pediatrics and is planning to transition to writing books on pediatrics and child health.

International Childhood Cancer Day: Better Survival #throughyourhands

International Childhood Cancer Day 2022 (ICCD) celebrates the affirmation that better survival for pediatric cancer patients is possible #throughyourhands and celebrates the many instrumental advocates in a child’s journey to a cure.
Today in East Africa, there is currently an average of 20% survival rate for children diagnosed with cancer. In line with WHO initiatives, our goal is at least 60% survival by 2030. These percentages are represented in the colored hands in the tree of life.

Our programs directly contribute to the WHO goal by allowing for faster and more accurate diagnosis, social and economic support, as well as community awareness and education. Learn more about our programs here.

ICCD is encouraging everyone to submit a handprint as a gesture of hope to achieving this survival goal. 

Learn how you can get involved here.

World Cancer Day 2022: How BLFA is Helping Close the Care Gap

This year the theme of World Cancer Day is “closing the care gap.” This message aligns strongly with BLFA’s own work to provide accessible comprehensive cancer care to children in lower-income nations, because where you live shouldn’t determine if you live. In recognition of this day, we are celebrating the technology advancements that help to close the care gap in Africa, specifically our recent work using remote training on newly donated state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment.

2021 saw the BLFA’s Pathology Improvement Program (PIP), along with our corporate partner Beckman Coulter and our African collaborators in both Kampala, Uganda and Eldoret, Kenya, successfully implement a state-of-the-art technology called 10-color flow cytometry, which is the same method used for diagnosing blood-related cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma in the US and other higher-income nations. The success of this implementation, which was accompanied by a series of online trainings led by PIP Director Dr. Steve Kussick, is particularly impressive because it was all done remotely due of travel restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about 10-color flow cytometry:
The next PIP focus in both Uganda and Kenya will be enhancement of more traditional microscope-based diagnosis using glass slides, using another specialized technique called immunohistochemistry, or IHC. These 2 labs combined serve a population of approximately 70 million people, with 66% of this group being in Uganda and the other 33% in Western Kenya.

BLFA strives to provide accessible comprehensive cancer care in traditionally underserved communities, because where you live shouldn’t determine if you live.

Support our efforts to continue closing the pediatric care gap: 

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Our commitment to children with cancer in 2022

As the first month of the new year comes to a close, we want to share our enhanced commitment to increasing the survival rate of children with cancer in underserved countries and decreasing global inequities in pediatric care. From diagnosis and treatment to transportation and housing, each step of the cancer journey is crucial to reaching a cure. For the past decade BLFA has remained dedicated to supporting each pillar of this journey, a mission which we will continue to foster in the New Year. We look forward to a year of growth in 2022 as our vision and work expand to support even more life-saving programs.

It takes a village to reach a village - and a cure. Join us in our New Year's resolution by beginning a monthly donation to BLFA.

Donate Now

We want to hear from you! You Tell Us: How Should We Go Global in 2022? 

Want to receive the latest news on our progress throughout 2022? Be sure to follow us on social media or subscribe to receive our newsletter.

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BLFA Funds 3 New Projects to Reduce
Cancer Treatment Abandonment

One of the primary reasons children in Africa die from cancer is because they drop out of (or never enter) cancer treatment due to social or economic barriers faced by their families. A primary focus of the BLFA is to eliminate these barriers. This month through our Treatment Abandonment-Reduction Program (TAP), we are committing $30,000 to fund projects with three of our existing Africa partners that we feel could best achieve this goal. 

St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor in Uganda, iCCARE Tanzania, and UNC Project Malawi have each established successful initiatives that address local barriers to childhood cancer treatment. Their new projects are based on in-depth conversations with families they serve and what those families need most to ensure the best chance for a child’s treatment and survival.

“We are moved by our partners’ deep commitment to families of children with cancer,” said Suzanne McGoldrick, Pediatric Oncologist and President, BLFA Board of Directors. “Their work has already made lasting contributions to their communities. We are excited to see how these new projects further the awareness of, and survival rates for, childhood cancer.”

 Join us on social media in the coming weeks as we share more information
about each project and look for opportunities to dialogue with our partners.

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Want to learn more about TAP? Contact one of our program co-chairs:

Karen Michelson

• 
  kmichelson@blfundafrica.org
  

Raj Umanthil

• 
  rumanthil@blfundafrica.org
  

About Us

BLFA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Seattle, Washington, supporting innovative programs to reduce the disparities in childhood cancer care in underserved areas. Our mission is to cure children with cancer by ensuring patients and families receive the medical, social, and economic support needed to help them successfully access and complete curative treatment. We do this by supporting in-country programs with NGOs, medical centers, and governmental organizations.

Founded on Equity

Our founder visited a children’s cancer ward in Kenya in 2009 and was deeply moved to see very sick children in the hospital with no other available treatment beyond pain control. These children had a cancer called Burkitt’s Lymphoma (BL), one of the most aggressive yet treatable childhood cancers with very high survival rates in Western Countries. She made it her life’s work to provide access to the same treatment as children in more developed countries. Today, we support programs in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Tanzania. As we grow, we plan to move into other countries in Africa - and beyond - to further reduce inequities and increase the survival rate of more children with cancer.

You Tell Us: How Should We Go Global in 2022?

BLFA is a small non-profit with a goal of increasing the survival rate of children with cancer in underserved countries. There are astounding global inequities in all aspects of curing these children. In the coming months we will be rebranding to better reflect our expanding vision. We want your feedback to help us reach more children in 2022. Read on and contact one of our program leaders with your thoughts. We look forward to talking to you!

In developed countries about 80% of the kids survive and 20% don’t. In under-resourced countries approximately 20% survive and 80% die. We are tackling core issues on which few organizations focus. Small interventions that make a big impact range from simply a bus ticket or a place to stay when they come to the hospital, to providing training to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis. Kids literally die because they are missing just one piece of this huge puzzle.

With a strong focus on childhood cancer for the past 10 years, our mission is to help more children reach a cure by increasing the likelihood that they will enter and complete treatment. Our vision is to expand into other countries on the African continent and eventually other underserved areas of the world. If you have a funding, partnership or program idea for us in 2022, we would love to hear from you. We know it takes a village to reach a village - and a cure. Email one of our program leaders with your thoughts or ideas.

Thank you for helping us expand our vision and help more children with cancer.

Karen Michelson kmichelson@blfundafrica.org or Raj Umanthil rumanthil@blfundafrica.org

Co-Chairs, Treatment Abandonment-Reduction Program (TAP)

Dr. Steven Kussick skussick@blfundafrica.org, Chair, Pathology Improvement Program (PIP)

About Us

BLFA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in Seattle, Washington, supporting innovative programs to reduce the disparities in childhood cancer care in underserved areas. Our mission is to cure children with cancer by ensuring patients and families receive the medical, social, and economic support needed to help them successfully access and complete curative treatment. We do this by supporting in-country programs with NGOs, medical centers, and governmental organizations.

Founded on Equity

Our founder visited a children’s cancer ward in Kenya in 2009 and was deeply moved to see very sick children in the hospital with no other available treatment beyond pain control. These children had a cancer called Burkitt’s Lymphoma (BL), one of the most aggressive yet treatable childhood cancers with very high survival rates in Western Countries. She made it her life’s work to provide access to the same treatment as children in more developed countries. Today, we support programs in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and Tanzania. As we grow, we plan to move into other countries in Africa - and beyond - to further reduce inequities and increase the survival rate of more children with cancer.

Quest Equipment Donation Helps African Labs

One of the goals of BLFA's Pathology Improvement Program (PIP) is to improve the diagnostic capabilities of pathology laboratories in low-resourced countries. This includes donating highly accurate equipment, implementing rapid testing protocols, providing testing supplies, and training lab staff how to identify the differences between types of cancer cells. Interested in partnering with us on our Pathology Improvement Program? 

Contact  Dr.Steve Kussick

This year we are participating in Washington's GiveBIG campaign (May 4-5) to fund transportation, food, education and housing for African families of children with cancer. Families struggle with the financial burden of sending their children to the hospital or clinic for cancer care. Unable to pay, parents will abandon a child’s treatment, or never start it in the first place.

This year during GiveBIG our goal is to raise $15,000 (50% of the funding needed) for our 2021 Treatment Abandonment-Reduction Program (TAP) grants. Under this program, our partners in Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda will receive funding from BLFA to provide families with money for transportation, nutritious food and shelter, educational information and the ongoing care of clinical professionals throughout their child’s cancer treatment.

A child’s cancer diagnosis can be devastating to a family. It has life-changing emotional and social costs for the child as they undergo long treatment cycles. Parents worry about how to fund a family member accompanying the child to treatment, because that means they are unable to work. Finding and paying for transportation, temporary housing and meals is added stress.

Every dollar of your GiveBIG gift this year will go into our Treatment Abandonment-Reduction Program grants to help reduce the financial and emotional burden on parents and children with cancer. We expect to distribute funds in June to our partners.

Donate Today

BLFA Chief of Pathology Improvement Speaks at Global Oncology Lecture

On Monday April 26th, Dr. Steve Kussick, Medical Director at PhenoPath and BLFA board member, spoke about "State of the Art Leukemia and Lymphoma Diagnosis in Sub-Saharan Africa" as part of the Fred Hutch Global Oncology Lecture Series.

View the webinar here

Dr. Kussick oversees BLFA's Pathology Improvement Program (PIP). Over the past ten years, he has forged global partnerships in Africa and the United States to implement innovative diagnostic processes and equipment, resulting in much earlier and more accurate diagnosis of pediatric and adult cancers. Working closely with laboratories, leading practitioners and cancer centers of excellence such as the Uganda Cancer Institute (UCI), Dr. Kussick's efforts have helped reduce the time to diagnosis from weeks to days and enhanced capabilities of local laboratory staff in key areas of east Africa. You can read more about BLFA's Pathology Improvement Program.

Join St. Mary's Hospital in Gulu, Uganda for our upcoming webinar, "Lessons and Learnings from a Year of COVID at a Pediatric Oncology Clinic". Practitioners will be discussing how they overcame the obstacles to treating their pediatric cancer patients and maintained their care program during the pandemic, ensuring they were able to continue services and help families receive the best care possible. Webinar Date and Time: Wednesday, April 21st, 7:30am U.S. Pacific, 5:30pm East Africa. 

Register HERE for the free webinar. (The event has passed)

After registration you will receive a link to the webinar 1-2 days prior to the event. Thank you for your interest in BLFA's webinar series.

View The webinar