The Medtronic Foundation and Children's Heartlink Focus New Partnership on Health Equity for 10,000 Children and 10,000 Health Workers in Underserved Countries

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Apr 07, 2021, 09:00 ET

The $2.5 Million USD Multi-Year Partnership Builds Capacity to Provide Pediatric Heart Surgery to 10,000 Children and Trains 10,000 Health Workers in Brazil, India, and China.
The Partnership Strengthens Hospital Capacity, Reduces Health Disparities in Access to Care, and Engages Medtronic Employees in Strategy, Medical Education, and Technology.

DUBLIN and MINNEAPOLIS, April 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- As the World Health Organization spearheads a global campaign on equity this World Health Day, the Medtronic Foundation and Children's HeartLink (CHL) are announcing a $2.5 million, three-year, outcomes-based partnership to address congenital heart disease in children with a focus on reducing disparities in access to care and quality patient outcomes, and meaningful employee engagement. This partnership continues a rich collaborative legacy across the organizations, and is made in honor of Omar Ishrak, former chairman and CEO, Medtronic and former board member of the Medtronic Foundation, a true champion of impact driven philanthropy focusing on the underserved.

"Every child with congenital heart disease deserves access to quality pediatric heart care," said Paurvi Bhatt, Medtronic Foundation president. "Together with Children's HeartLink, the Medtronic Foundation is in a unique position to mark World Health Day by ensuring more children get equitable care and have the opportunity to survive and thrive."

Worldwide, the leading cause of death from a noncommunicable disease before age 30 is congenital heart disease.¹ Ninety percent of children born with heart disease don't have access to the care they need, and most of those children live in low- and middle-income countries.²

"We are especially proud because this partnership brings together both the financial resources from the Medtronic Foundation and the time and skills of our passionate Medtronic employees. Together, we can improve quality care and patient outcomes," said Geoff Martha, Medtronic chairman and CEO, and member, CHL board of directors.

"We are honored to partner with Medtronic Foundation and help thousands more children, and the impact of health worker training will be felt for generations to come," said Jackie Boucher, Children's HeartLink president. "This partnership gives 10,000 children the chance for a joyful childhood and the opportunity to lead productive adult lives."

Specifically, the partners aim to actively address inequities in congenital heart surgery access and outcomes over three years by:

Strengthening hospital capacity and training 10,000 health workers (pediatric surgeons, pediatric cardiologists, and nurses) to provide congenital heart disease surgery and quality outcomes for 10,000 children.
Supporting CHL's strategic growth and innovation, enabling the organization to scale in underserved countries – doubling its impact between 2025 and 2030 by adding five new partner hospitals over the next 3 years.
Reducing health disparities in access to care through a mixed method study with partner hospitals, revealing key differences by gender, income, and socioeconomic status of families, and developing site-specific equity dashboards to foster continuous quality improvement.
Tapping Medtronic employees' skills and talents in domains such as clinical and medical education and training, technology development, market access, data science, and analytics.

For more information on the partnership, view this video.

About Children's HeartLink
Children's HeartLink saves children's lives by transforming pediatric heart care in underserved parts of the world. For more information, please visit childrensheartlink.org.

About Medtronic Foundation
Medtronic plc is the sole funder of Medtronic Foundation, whose focus is on improving lives for underserved populations worldwide, as well as supporting communities in which Medtronic employees live and give. For more information, please visit medtronicfoundation.org.

¹ Bennett JE, Stevens GA, Mathers CD, Bonita R, Rehm J, Kruk ME, et al. NCD Countdown 2030: worldwide trends in non-communicable disease mortality and progress towards Sustainable Development Goal target 3.4. The Lancet. 2018 Sep;392(10152):1072–88
² Tchervenkov, C. I., Jacobs, J. P., Bernier, P. L., Stellin, G., Kurosawa, H., et al. (2008) The improvement of care for paediatric and congenital cardiac disease across the world: a challenge for the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery. Cardiol Young, 18(S2), 63-69