Julia Bluestone of Jhpiego Elected as New Chair of Frontline Health Workers Coalition
Press Inquiries contact: Vince Blaser
+1 202-407-9444 or vblaser@intrahealth.org
WASHINGTON, DC, March 31, 2014 – The 37 member organizations of the Frontline Health Workers Coalition (FHWC) – an alliance working together to urge greater and more strategic U.S. investment in frontline health workers in developing countries – are pleased to announce the election of Julia Bluestone, CNM, MS, as the new Chair of FHWC effective April 1, 2014.
Ms. Bluestone, a nurse-midwife and senior technical advisor at Jhpiego, replaces Mary Beth Powers of Save the Children, who completed her two-year term as Chair of FHWC. Bluestone has more than a decade of experience working with national ministries of health and professional associations in low- and middle-income countries to improve national education and training efforts. At Jhpiego, she provides leadership and technical assistance for pre-service education and in-service training programs for medical, nursing, and midwifery schools, including national nursing and midwifery curriculum revisions, tutor and preceptor skills training, and evaluation.
“During my time at Jhpiego improving health worker education and training efforts around the world, I have seen firsthand how access to properly trained frontline health workers can save lives and foster healthier, safer and more prosperous communities,” Bluestone said. “American leadership in increasing the health workforce on the frontlines of care is a must for the U.S. to achieve its global health goals, and passionate advocates are needed to make this case. We are fortunate to have many of these advocates in our Coalition, led by our founding Chair Mary Beth Powers. I look forward to working with our members to build on the tremendous passion for supporting frontline health workers that Mary Beth has infused in our movement over the past two years.”
“Two years ago, our members founded this Coalition to highlight the tremendous impact that U.S. investment and leadership in supporting frontline health workers has in saving lives and improving health outcomes for the world’s poorest and hardest to reach,” Powers said. “We have been thrilled with the existing commitments and the new directions outlined by the U.S. government and the broader global health community in addressing the global health workforce crisis, including the greater focus on frontline health workers. Our task now is to advocate for those commitments to be translated into concrete action.”
As Chair of the Coalition, Ms. Bluestone will lead the eight-member FHWC Steering Committee, which guides the work of FHWC’s secretariat led by Director Mandy Folse.
“The Frontline Health Workers Coalition is unique in that our members truly drive our advocacy work,” Folse said. “With the Millennium Development Goals set to expire next year, we are at a crucial period to ensure we have the political will to build the health workforce to achieve healthy and prosperous societies in the decades to come. FHWC looks forward to continuing to bring our collective expertise and voice to bear for the inspirational health workers on the frontlines of care.”
The Frontline Health Workers Coalition is an alliance of United States-based organizations working together to urge greater and more strategic U.S. investment in frontline health workers in developing countries as a cost-effective way to save lives and foster a healthier, safer and more prosperous world. Learn more at https://frontlinehealthworkers.org/.
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