Africa

By Melissa May, Accordia Global Health Foundation The old adage “it takes a village to raise a child” is never more apt than in the lead-up to and first day in that child’s life, especially in rural and remote locations like Uganda’s Kibaale district. The Saving Mothers, Giving Life program — a...

By Wycliffe Omanya, IntraHealth International Note: This blog originially appeared in IntraHealth's blog VITAL. Kenya Registered Community Health Nurse Lenah Gatwiri. Courtesy IntraHealth International. While some health facilities are abuzz with health workers attending to patients at every corner...

By the American College of Nurse-Midwives' Department of Global Outreach The American College of Nurse-Midwives Department of Global Outreach is on a mission – to “lead global efforts that improve the health and wellbeing of women and infants worldwide through strengthening the profession of...

By Ann LoLordo, Jhpiego Lanyi, South Sudan – Not much can keep Mary Rose Dalaka from ensuring pregnant women in this verdant farming community receive the lifesaving care they need to survive childbirth. When the motorbike she was riding on got stuck in knee-high mud, this nurse-midwife hopped off...

By Heather Teixeira, Frontline Health Workers Coalition From 2009 to 2011, I lived at a small health clinic in a rural village, Mondo, in the Dodoma region of Tanzania. The clinic—staffed by two health workers: a nurse and an assistant nurse—served a population of 14,000 people. The clinic had been...

By Mandy Moore, Global Ambassador, PSI PSI Ambassador Mandy Moore visits with the patient of a community health worker in a small village in Cameroon. Courtesy PSI. Two years ago I traveled to Cameroon with global health organization, PSI. We set out from the capital city of Yaoundé and traveled by...

By Kirstin Krudwig, SC4CCM Malawian frontline health worker Petro Kangulu describes how to take medication prescribed to a sick child. Courtesy JSI. As a frontline health worker in Malawi, Petro Kangulu is one of approximately 4,000 health surveillance assistants (HSA) focused on improving the...

By John Byabagambi, University Research Co. Working with frontline health workers to improve medicines use and management in HIV care NOTE: This post originally appeared in the K4Health Blog. Humphrey Megere and Tana Wulji, both URC staff of USAID’s Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems...

By Musoni Pascal, Susan Moffson and Jérémie Zoungrana, Jhpiego Busoga, Rwanda—With her labor pains intensifying, Epiphanie Nyirankurikiyimana knew the time had come to leave for the health facility. Rather than give birth at home without skilled care, the 25-year-old mother, pregnant with her second...

By Eric Kilongi, Elisabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation Note: This post originally appeared in the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation's Blog. Though HIV can be transmitted from mother to child through breast milk, studies have shown that women living with HIV are less likely to pass the...