Global Impact Stories: Voices of Change

Hearts Around the World: 11 Miles, 11 Stories, One Heart Path In May 2025, I walked 11 miles through the streets of Geneva to honor the millions of people living with childhood-onset heart conditions, Type 1 Diabetes, and other chronic conditions. But this walk was also deeply personal. Each mile carried a story, including some…

Heart Voices: Stories that Unite Us- Meet Dr. Matt Master 4 Videos Introduction 2:17 Patient Inspiration 1:32 Career Highlights 3:03 Role at Global ARCH 0:58 We know that real change starts with the people who dedicate their lives to it from patients, families, our clinical teams, and more. Dr. Matt Oster, a pediatric cardiologist at…

Finding My Calling in Pediatric Cardiology   I’m a pediatric cardiologist in Namibia working for the Ministry of Health and Social Services. I’m also the founder of the Namibia National Children’s Health Trust, which aligns with the Ministry of Health to try to provide accessible, affordable, equitable, safe, quality, timely, and sustainable care to everybody…

At Global ARCH, we are honored to work alongside some of the most dedicated and inspiring women in medicine who are shaping the future of childhood-onset heart disease care. For International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we are excited to share the stories of some of the incredible leaders from our Medical Advisory…

My life has always been full—full of family, love, and activity. I raised four kids, one right after the other, while working a demanding job at the local school. I was always on the go, managing chaos at work and then coming home to the beautiful chaos of my children. Summers were spent at the…

A Life Turned Upside Down After spending two years in the USA as a postdoctoral researcher, I returned to my hometown, Kolkata, eager to live with my family and build my career here. Shortly after, I conceived and decided to wait until my baby was born before resuming work.  I thoroughly enjoyed my pregnancy. Apart…

Since it began in 1993, Somerville Heart Foundation has been helping people across the UK living with congenital heart disease. This patient organisation is dedicated to supporting those with CHD – from young people transitioning to adult services, through every life stage to those growing older. Providing a range of services and support including advocacy,…

This profile is part of the Global ARCH Storytelling Series to celebrate our members, their personal stories, and the work they do to help others. I was a young mum and in a state of shock when I was told that my baby had a very major heart condition. It was a very tough journey, and I’ve…

This profile is part of the Global ARCH Storytelling Series to celebrate our members, their personal stories, and the work they do to help others. My wife, Roselle DG Estrella, is a 43-year-old hard-working woman. She has been working since she was 16 years old helping with farm work. When Roselle was a girl growing up on…

I believe that working together and building a common voice is the best way to create the change we need: equal access to affordable lifelong specialized heart care, mental health support, and social programs and policies addressing disability, discrimination, and equal access to education and employment.

I hope that training on rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease among health care providers improves so that it is as well recognized and treated as other health conditions. I also hope that we can get better information materials for community members and health workers, in different languages, in our healthcare facilities.

On May 21, Menudos Corazones Foundation organized the “Day for the Visibility” to recognize the rights of people with congenital heart disease and their families, at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, Spain. At the event they launched “Menudos Corazones – Decalogue for patients with congenital heart disease and their families”, with the following 10 goals…

I was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease in 2001 when I was 11 years old. After a bout of tonsillitis, I started to experience symptoms of rheumatic fever. The sore throat from the tonsillitis turned to chest pain, joint pain, chronic fatigue, shortness of breath, increased heart rate, and swollen hands and feet.  I developed…

Tendai Moyo, founder of Brave Little Hearts Zimbabwe, is an active member the Global ARCH Board of Directors. She joined to help raise awareness about congenital heart disease (CHD) and the devastating impact it can have on families struggling to find lifesaving medical care for their babies with CHD. A race against time to save…

Brave Little Hearts South Africa (BLHSA) is a support and advocacy group for parents of children with congenital heart disease (CHD). BLHSA strives to raise awareness of CHD by facilitating and implementing support programmes for families with CHD, and advocacy by creating platforms in the medical field for engagement concerning critical CHD matters. BLHSA also…

What is the main goal of the Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation? OHHF’s central goal focuses on the Take Heart Initiative to cultivate an equitable standard of care that centers the voices of every person and family affected by childhood onset heart disease in collaboration with clinicians and health systems by empowering and educating caregivers, building…

One year ago, Global ARCH lost a guiding light. Noemi de Stoutz was a trailblazer and dedicated champion of CHD advocacy and support. Born in Switzerland with complex CHD, Noemi survived far beyond expectations. Despite her limitations, she spent her life helping others as a palliative oncology physician. She was forced to retire early due…

I’m a mother of two, my daughter who is about to turn 15 has a complex congenital heart defect and has had several heart operations throughout her life at Children’s hospital in Boston. When I was pregnant with her and found out that she had CHD, I immediately started to look if there was a…

This webinar highlights the global burden of disease for congenital and rheumatic heart disease and the challenge of accessing treatment in low- and middle-income countries. It also introduces the Call to Action campaign, which will be introduced at the 8th World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology & Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS) in August, 2023. The webinar presenters…

Rheumatic Heart Disease Philippines was founded in 2017 because of my wife who has RHD. At first we didn’t know anything about RHD, but my search on social media connected us to a community of other RHD patients and their families. Together we exchange knowledge, and share experiences about the hardships and sacrifices we have…