Teva Expands Partnership to Bring Critical Medicines to Children Living with Cancer
Each year, 400,000 children around the world develop cancer—and with each diagnosis comes a devastated family and community. The survival of these children is too often determined by where they live. In high-income countries, more than 80% of children are cured, while in sub-Saharan Africa, 90% do not survive. Nearly 30,000 children in the region succumbed to cancer in 2020 after not being able to get the treatments they need, which does not include the thousands who are never diagnosed.
We believe medicine should always be accessible, and we work to help make this a reality. We are working with Texas Children’s Hospital’s Global HOPE (Hematology Oncology Pediatric Excellence), a non-profit that takes a sustainable approach to treating children with cancer and blood disorders by providing needed care and strengthening local healthcare services, and Direct Relief, an organization that provides medical resources for the world’s most underserved populations.
Our partnership initially launched in Malawi, and after seeing its success, we expanded to Uganda, Botswana, Tanzania and Rwanda. The program is growing to reach even more children across Africa.
Together, we have:
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Donated approximately 1 million doses of medicine, valued at approximately $19M USD.
- Initiated a capacity building program designed to train local healthcare professionals and further strengthen the healthcare system.
We are inspired by the individual lives that are changed along the way. Pictured here is Nathan, an 8-year-old from Malawi who recently concluded his fifth and final round of cancer treatments at one of our supported facilities, holding his chemotherapy completion certificate.
“There were times that Nathan would get critically ill in the middle of the night, which would force us to race to the hospital, while balancing needs of his four other siblings,” said Nathan’s parents. “It was the support of the hospital team, family, Church and friends that got us through the physical and mental health fight of his life.”
Nathan’s ability to get critical medicines and care should be shared by every child across the globe, but equity in healthcare isn’t yet a reality. As the global leader in generic medicine and supplier of many treatments on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines, we aim to help close this gap. By 2025, we’ll have eight global access programs to bring our medicines to underserved communities around the world, specifically the people in low- and middle-income countries who need them most.
“I’ve seen a lot in terms of pediatric cancer over many years, but of all the things I’ve been involved in, this partnership has the greatest potential medical impact,” said Dr. David Poplack, Founder and Director of Global HOPE, as well as a leader in the field of pediatric oncology. “If we improve survival by even 40%, 40,000 children will be saved each year. I’m confident that our partnership with Teva will save hundreds of thousands of children with cancer.”
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Find out more
- Listen to Dr David Poplack talk about Teva's GLOBAL HOPE partnership to support treatments for children with cancer in Africa
- Discover how Teva is helping to increase access to essential medicines for people around the world.
- Interested in being part of something bigger? Explore a career at Teva
