News

Much can be done with little

September 2010 - Completed 35 bone marrow transplantations in Pakistan for thalassemia and the first children are now 2 years after transplantation and definitively cured. All procedures performed by Pakistani teams.

August 2010 - The first children with leukemia ever treated entirely in Kosovo have completed their 2-year therapy.

January 2009 – Development of the first bone marrow transplant unit in a public hospital in Pakistan: 25.000 Euro. (read) (photos1 & photos2)

September 2008 – The first children with leukemia ever treated in Kosovo: 2.000 Euro per child.

Agosto 2008 – Children with thalassemia are treated in Pakistan: 15.000 Euro per child.
Open source platform for non-profit: the Cure2Children experience
At the end of 2006 I began my collaboration with Cure2Children. We had to develop the IT infrastructure, with the following requirements:
- Geographically dislocated teams: C2C operates in several countries, for example Italy, Pakistan and Kosovo
- The C2C Italian team is itself "dislocated": some users based in Florence, others in Milan, so a shared collaborative space is required
- Use of open source software: we want to share the solutions that we could develop for our projects
- User friendly environment: no power user in the organisation
- Low cost
My journey in Kosovo
by Veronica Brandinu
No time to stop now
Let’s begin with a quote: “There are moments in which silence is guilty and speaking is a duty, a civil obligation, a moral imperative”, from “The rage and the pride” by Oriana Fallaci. Yes, it’s true.
The trip to Pakistan to help Cure2Children
I just came back from my 2 day trip to Pakistan and some of my friends asked me to write about it. I've been to Islamabad to see the amazing wonderful things that the Italian foundation Cure2Children http://www.cure2children.org/ (founded just 2 years ago by parents who lost their kids and by the visionary physician Lawrence Faulkner) is doing there.
Project Pakistan: a personal journey
I've had a dream of a health cooperation project for years, as opposed to surgery or emergency medicine, paediatric oncology, the field in which I have most of my professional experience, rarely offers the opportunity to fulfil this dream.

This year I've been lucky, Cure2Children (C2C) asked for my help. The Foundation was born in Florence, created by the haemato-oncologist Lawrence Faulkner together with some parents who unfortunately lost their children to the disease. This project is designed to share knowledge about bone marrow transplantation with developing countries that need it, where there is a need for funding and/or professional support. The main project of C2C is currently in Pakistan.
CDATA project

Clinical setting is a peculiar and complex environment. Traditional approach is based on a relational database model and it soon becomes a maintenance nightmare when data forms change fortnightly. Cdata tries to address these issues and aims to be a simple and flexible tool to build a clinical content repository and a web collaborative workspace.
The Simone Montomoli Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit
The Simone Montomoli BMT unit is a two-bedded facility with private patient rooms each one with a bathroom, split air conditioning, portable air filtration (HEPA) system and TV. Doctors and nurses have a lounge and access to internet for communication and data management.
Open source development
Our aim is to evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of open source software applied to knowledge transfer, continuing medical education, collaborative clinical databases, decision support systems and quality management in the context of collaborations with medical institutions in developing countries.
Dr Faulkner's speech at the inauguration of the Simone Montomoli BMT unit at PIMS, Islamabad, Pakistan

On Tuesday, 20^th January 2009, the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) Unit at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) was inaugurated in a sober but impressive ceremony. Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Lawrence Faulkner, expressed his excitement and enthusiasm to be a part of this noble cause.
The First Bone Marrow Transplant in a public hospital in Pakistan
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of many people the Simone Montomoli Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit has become a reality at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad. On January 29^th the first actual transplant procedure was performed on a 4 year-old child
Inauguration of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at PIMS, Pakistan

On Tuesday, 20^th January 2009, Pakistani Federal Minister for Health, Mir Aijaz Khan Jhakrani inaugurated the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at PIMS (http://www.pims.gov.pk/index.htm) . Also present were the Italian Ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Vincenzo Prati, Executive Director PIMS, Dr. Abdul Majeed Rajput, Managing Director Pakistan Baitul Maal (http://www.baitulmaal.org/) , Zamarrud Khan, and Italian paediatric onco-hematologist, Dr. Lawrence Faulkner.
Meeting with General Usmani, Human Organ Transplantation Authority in Pakistan
Pakistan has been performing solid organ transplantation, mostly kidney, for several years throughout the country and an active national transplant committee is in place. C2C was very glad and honoured to meet General Abdul Qadir Usmani, Human Organ Transplantation Authority in Pakistan, and had the opportunity to brief him on our project and its current status.
Meeting with the State Health Minister

Monday morning Khalid, Sadaf, and myself met the Italian Ambassador, Dr.Vincenzo Prati, and his wife at the Italian Embassy. We had a discussion about our projects and other initiatives of Italian organizations and corporations in Pakistan.
The support from the Italian Embassy in IslamabadThe Italian Embassy in Islamabad is greatly impressed by Cure2Children and its activities in Pakistan since the very beginning. C2C first met Simone De Santi, Deputy Head of the Italian Mission, more than a year ago and kept in touch with him since. Through him C2C was able to involve Dr .Vincenzo Prati, the Italian Ambassador in Pakistan.
Pakistan: Opening of the bone marrow transplant unit
At the National Institute of Childhood Health, a large government facility in Karachi, with a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit established several years ago but never functional due to limitations in professional and financial resources, C2C will collaborate with the local “Child Aid Association”
(http://www.childaidassociation.org/), to start up transplant activity by March 2009.
Project Pakistan: Training for health professionals
C2C has established partnerships with both private and government institutions as well as other organizations. This extended local network facilitates access to drugs, professional consultations, diagnostic evaluations and laboratory tests which may not always be available to single institutions.
The coordination center in Pakistan
C2C’s office at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences of Islamabad is the general headquarters for C2C interventions in Pakistan, is composed of an office for logistic activities and a room for reception of children and their families.
The last days in Pakistan
July 9, 2008. To get from Islamabad to Lahore I booked a taxi, it’s quicker and less expensive. I am curious to make this trip and enjoy some site-seeing, a little less than 400 km of well-kept comfortable highway.
Project Pakistan: visit to Badin
Badin is a semi-rural city of approximately 150,000 inhabitants, 200 km from Karachi. We visit the Thalassemia Care Centre of Badin, discuss our project with Dr. Haroon Manon, the centre coordinator. We meet almost twenty families and I am very impressed how well this children are cared for.
Cure2Children's BMT Nursing course in Islamabad
After almost two years we have the feeling that the engine is running. Our first child (Aslam), a two-years old with thalassemia, has undergone transplantation 8 days ago at the National Institute of Blood Disease of Karachi. Our team is expanding: Roberta Caraher, Pietro Sodani and Cristiano Gallucci participated in a short training session on bone marrow transplantation support care for nurses held at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS).
The treatment of the first child in Pakistan
After almost two years of preparation, on the 27th of August 2008 the first child (Aslam, 3 years old) has been hospitalized in the National Institute for Blood Diseases in Karachi (http://www.nibd.edu.pk). He will be treated for thalassemia and undergo a bone marrow transplantation under the direction of Drs. Tahir Shamsi and Saqib Ansari.
Meeting with families in Pakistan

After almost two years of preparation we can finally offer a cure to the children of our first families. The first drug we need, thiotepa, should be approved in a couple of days. This is very good news.
Pediatric Malignancies Workshop - Pakistan
Pediatric Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation, Supportive Care Workshop.
Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre
Lahore, Pakistan, July 12-13, 2008
The agreement with the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
Things are moving, after meeting with the administration and going over several issues relating to personnel, finances, and structural issues we signed an agreement which also had the approval of the Pakistani Government health authorities. We are particularly satisfied because PIMS would be the first civil government hospital in Pakistan offering BMT. Dr. Abdul Majid Rajput, Executive Director PIMS and his staff are very committed and we are aiming at starting with the first transplant by November.
Visit to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
It’s the second time I am at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the largest governmental academic hospitals in Islamabad and one of the main medical institutions of the country. In February 2007 I visited the Thalassaemia and Heamophilia Centre and met Dr. Tahira Zafar, its Director. I was very impressed by her work and invited her to the workshop we organized in Siena last March.
Project Pakistan: the National Institute of Child Health
The Children’s Hospital is a large clinical facility with more than 400 beds with all major paediatric medical and surgical subspecialties. The oncology service is very active with 350 new cases a year, mostly leukaemias (50%), but also lymphomas, wilms tumors, retinoblastomas, neuroblastomas, germ cell tumors, bone tumors and soft-tissue sarcomas.
Project Pakistan: meeting with the Director of the Pakistan Medical Research Council
On Monday June 20 we have an appointment with Dr. Huma Qureshi, Executive Director of the Pakistan Medical Research Council, and Dr. Rashid Jooma, Director General Health.
Project Pakistan: the Shifa International Hospital
Shifa International Hospital is probably the best private hospital in the capital. It has been around for 15 years and was founded by physicians who returned from training in the US.
World Thalassemia Day
May 8 is World Thalassemia Day. This day is celebrated by thalassemia organizations around the world, and gives them an opportunity to increase awareness about this important genetic disease.
C2C launches in USA
We are pleased to announce the opening of the Cure2Children Foundation USA Branch in New York City. As of January 23, 2008, C2C is recognized as a legal corporation.
Thalassemia in Pakistan workshop
Siena, March 27-28: The Cure2Children Foundation hosted a two day conference to discuss the Pakistan project. The project is a collaborative network to cure thalassemia and to support the development of a thalassemia transplant network in Pakistan.
MA2P dinner for Cure2Children
MA2P (Medical Aid to Pakistan) organised a charity event for Cure2Children in London. Saturday April 26^th I arrived at the Brantford Holyday Inn, the meeting hall was beautiful and very quickly filled with approximately 300 people, more than expected, including the MA2P board of trustees, business man, journalists, physicians, and many other people interested to do something for their home country.
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