Washington D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) joined Spectrum News’ “Capitol Tonight” to discuss his recent trip to Botswana to survey the Global  Hope Initiative, which aims to improve the standard of pediatric cancer care in sub-Saharan Africa. McCaul also spoke on his Global Hope Act, named for the initiative, which will help decrease the pediatric mortality rate globally. 

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On his trip to Botswana: “I think this trip was very transformational for me to see these children in Africa, where those diagnosed with cancer have a ninety percent mortality rate.  We have done a lot for children in the United States since I have formed the childhood cancer caucus to get us to an eighty percent survival rate.  But when you go to Africa, most of them don’t make it.  And so, I had a little childhood cancer fighter Sadie over there and we toured the clinic.  It was amazing to watch a child from the United States interact with children from Africa that have either survived cancer or are going under treatment right now.  Texas Children’s is doing a phenomenal job over there and that’s really the pilot program that led to the passage of the Global Hope Act which would codify this into law.”

On his Global Hope Act: “It’s rare in this place to be able to pass a bill.  But when you can pass a bill and see a direct correlation to that saving lives, it’s pretty amazing.  We did that with PEPFAR for HIV and this whole program is based on sort of the backbone, if you will, of the PEPFAR program, where we saved twenty million people. As the President of Botswana told me, a generation from extinction that the United States saved in Africa—pretty amazing stuff. “

Lead Republican McCaul and Texas cancer survivor Sadie Keller met with children undergoing pediatric cancer care through the Global Hope Initiative. 

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