Global

Healthier Children. A Better World. It's more than words in a vision statement — our impact on the health and well-being of children everywhere is undeniable.

For much of our history, children and families from the world over have come to SickKids to seek care not available in their country. Health-care professionals and delegations from across the world come to SickKids to learn from the very best. Through our relationships with international partners, our staff travel abroad to share their expertise and help improve paediatric care, quality and system capacity in many countries. We strive to improve the lives of children and families in resource-poor environments through collaboration in ground-breaking research, sustainable capacity building through education, and by informing policy through the active use of advocacy, knowledge synthesis and knowledge translation.

Early examples of our global reach

In the summer of 1976, Dr. Donald Hood, Head of SickKids’ Division of Audiology, was part of a volunteer group that went to St. Vincent in the Caribbean to treat children with severe to profound hearing loss. Dr. Hood was able to fit donated hearing aids on 43 patients. As the program grew, SickKids remained involved, testing and certifying donated hearing aids. 

SickKids staff welcomed a delegation from the Peoples Republic of China in 1976. 

Operation Babylift was the name given to the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to Western countries at the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975. Seven orphaned children were brought to SickKids for assessment and testing. 

Herbie Quinones of Brooklyn, New York, was born with a rare birth defect that made it difficult for him to breathe. He needed an operation that was developed by Dr. Robert Filler at SickKids, but his family could not afford the cost of the trip or the surgery.  

Metro Toronto Chairman Paul Godfrey and his wife, Gina, led an effort in which the people of Toronto generously donated money to cover Herbie's hospital costs. In February 1979, Herbie came to Toronto for his lifesaving operation, returning to Brooklyn a healthier little boy (and as a big fan of the Toronto Blue Jays).  

The Godfreys then established The Herbie Fund to be used to help other children receive necessary surgery at SickKids. Over the ensuing decades, the fund has supported medical treatment for hundreds of children from around the world. 

Centre for Global Child Health

The SickKids Centre for Global Child Health was established in 2013 by Dr. Stanley Zlotkin and a dedicated team of SickKids staff and researchers. It provides a dedicated hub for global child health-focused activities at SickKids and connects researchers and health-care professionals around the world.

The SickKids Centre for Global Child Health partnered with the Ghana College of Nurses & Midwives, the University of Ghana, the Ghana Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service in 2010 to launch the SickKids-Ghana Paediatric Nursing Education Partnership with the goal of strengthening paediatric nursing education across Ghana. Through two key initiatives — the SickKids-Ghana Paediatric Nursing Training Program (2009-2014) and the SickKids-Ghana Paediatric Nursing Education Partnership (2015-2023) — more than 720 new paediatric nurses were trained. The Ghana College of Nurses & Midwives continues to operate the program and is advancing specialty nursing education across the country. 

The SickKids Centre for Global Child Health is home to a team of over a dozen researchers committed to advancing innovative research, knowledge translation, and advocacy to tackle the most urgent global child health challenges and enhance the global evidence base. One research project is the integrated newborn care kit, which was trialed in Pakistan in the seven districts of Gilgit Baltistan. This project aims to reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality.

The SickKids Centre for Global Child Health collaborated with seven Caribbean institutions across six countries — The Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago to improve outcomes and quality of life for children with cancer and blood disorders through the SickKids-Caribbean Initiative (SCI), which was established in 2010. Kanigia, leukemia survivor, and father Curtley, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados. 

In 2020, the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health partnered with the Barbados Ministry of Health and Wellness, Queen Elizabeth Hospital and The University of the West Indies (The UWI), and The UWI George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre to establish the Shaw Centre of Paediatric Excellence (SCPE). The centre aims to improve paediatric education, care and research to enhance the health of children in Barbados and across the Eastern Caribbean.  

SickKids International

SickKids embarked on a multi-phase partnership with Hamad Medical Corporation in Doha, Qatar, in 2007 to provide advice and support on the implementation of international best practices, international standards, and evidence-based frameworks to develop child health research capacity; deliver interdisciplinary education; and enhance paediatric clinical programs.

In 2009, the International Learner Program hosted its first international learner, a nurse from KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Singapore, who participated in a six-week learning experience on the Haematology/Oncology unit.  

In 2012, International Education signed a multi-year agreement with UBM Asia, and launched its first international educational tourism initiative. That year, over 200 paediatricians from the Philippines participated in a two-day continuing customized education session. In the years that followed, the program expanded, bringing numerous additional groups to SickKids.

In 2013, SickKids partnered with Primary Health Care Corporation in Doha to enhance the care of children within the primary health-care sector in Qatar. SickKids provided advisory services, as well as education and training.

In 2013, International Education and Bermuda College established a multi-year agreement to offer customized paediatric nursing education programs for Bermuda’s nursing students, a long-standing partnership which continues to this day. 

SickKids International and TEDA International Cardiovascular Hospital established a five-year partnership in 2016 to enhance the hospital’s paediatric cardiovascular service model, build a paediatric intensive care unit, and establish a joint paediatric hospital in Binhai New Area. 

SickKids International began a partnership with Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in Johannesburg in 2016 to support the operational commissioning of the new hospital, and to help build capacity towards access to specialized paediatric health-care services in South Africa.