@MATES4Kids is a coalition of like-minded organisations and individuals committed to collaborative action aimed at identifying, implementing, and monitoring practical solutions to improve access to essential medicines for the global CAH Community. |
Our VisionEvery child living with CAH around the world might enjoy the highest quality of life possible.
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Our GoalReduce the preventable mortality associated with CAH by 30% by 2030.
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With an initial focus on Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH), the most common adrenal condition of childhood, we are seeking to leverage achievements by the childhood cancer and Type 1 diabetes communities to achieve the ambitious goal of reducing the preventable mortality associated with CAH by 30% by 2030. We believe it is possible to achieve this through a rights-based commitment to:
For decades now, children living with CAH in high-income countries have enjoyed a life-expectancy on par with that of children who do not have CAH. Affordable access to the essential medicines hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone, universal NBS programs, active support groups and ready access to quality health care from highly trained health professionals all enable children and adults living with CAH to fulfil their basic human rights to life and health. Indeed, the international CAH Community has progressively grown in size, strength and connectivity, with support from a broad range of multisectoral allies.
However, despite these achievements, equity has not yet been achieved for the international CAH Community. The preventable and inequitable morbidity and mortality currently associated with CAH in resource-poor countries around the world is extreme and unacceptable.
In the lead up to 2030, as the world seeks to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (notably SDGs 3.2.1, 3.2.2 and 3.4) it is time to work together like never before, think big, and change the landscape for the global CAH Community. Such action will require multisectoral, collaborative action on an unprecedented scale.
- Improving access to essential medicines
- Strengthening community development and
- Scaling newborn screening (NBS).
For decades now, children living with CAH in high-income countries have enjoyed a life-expectancy on par with that of children who do not have CAH. Affordable access to the essential medicines hydrocortisone and fludrocortisone, universal NBS programs, active support groups and ready access to quality health care from highly trained health professionals all enable children and adults living with CAH to fulfil their basic human rights to life and health. Indeed, the international CAH Community has progressively grown in size, strength and connectivity, with support from a broad range of multisectoral allies.
However, despite these achievements, equity has not yet been achieved for the international CAH Community. The preventable and inequitable morbidity and mortality currently associated with CAH in resource-poor countries around the world is extreme and unacceptable.
In the lead up to 2030, as the world seeks to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (notably SDGs 3.2.1, 3.2.2 and 3.4) it is time to work together like never before, think big, and change the landscape for the global CAH Community. Such action will require multisectoral, collaborative action on an unprecedented scale.
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Our Timeline
@MATES4Kids is building on progress that began in 2004, when Dr. Kate Armstrong started helping children with CAH in Vietnam in response to stories in Australian and American CAH Support Group newsletters that outlined shocking global inequities. Despite nearly two decades of improvement since then, the vast majority of children born with CAH in low-income countries today will die. CAH remains a very rare condition in these countries due to inequitable and preventable infant mortality, and is increasingly acknowledged as contributing to the NCD burden amongst the poorest billion.
Now, in the lead up to 2030, the community is determined to continue capitalizing on a multistakeholder network of changemakers who will consistently collaborate to overcome the global inequities associated with CAH. It is our greatest hope that each year will bring us all one step closer to accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (notably SDGs 3.2.1, 3.2.2 and 3.4):
Now, in the lead up to 2030, the community is determined to continue capitalizing on a multistakeholder network of changemakers who will consistently collaborate to overcome the global inequities associated with CAH. It is our greatest hope that each year will bring us all one step closer to accomplishing the Sustainable Development Goals (notably SDGs 3.2.1, 3.2.2 and 3.4):
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WHO Briefing Paper
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In February 2022, the @MATES4Kids movement prepared a Briefing Paper outlining our ambitious goals and proposed activities to help achieve the SDGs.
The briefing paper combines expertise, insights, data and examples from around the world to paint a detailed picture of the current circumstances and challenges facing the international CAH Community, and outlines a path forward for change. This paper presented a specific request to the World Health Organisation to work with @MATES4Kids to develop an innovative forum. From such collaboration, strategic action will identify the critical, practical, scalable actions needed to redress inequities and optimise affordable access to the essential medicines and equipment needed by #EVERYchild living with CAH around the world if they are to survive and thrive. 
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Activity Report
This inaugural report (January 2022 to June 2023) details the foundational activities and structure of @MATES4Kids, as well as the activities conducted since the movement’s inception. We are excited to share the many successes already experienced and the groundwork they lay for the future.
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