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Four Sites That Allow You to Crowdfund Healthcare
You might not realize the power of collective action for the common good, but we see it all around us every day. In this new era of social media for social good and the democratizing of the web people in need everywhere are getting needed services from ordinary people all over the world. Crowdfunding platforms…
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African Partnerships for Patient Safety
We hear a lot about patient safety here in the United States, but did you know patient safety is also a priority in Africa? The World Health Organization’s African Partnerships for Patient Safety (APPS) has prioritized patient safety by pairing African hospitals with hospitals in England, France, and Switzerland. Currently 14 African countries are a…
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3 Opportunities to Give to Our Partners on Valentine’s Day
Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s a great day for receiving gifts from our loved ones, but also a great chance to give as well. Three of our partners have created giving campaigns around Valentine’s Day that we think are practical, inexpensive ways to share the love. WaterAid America Woman gathering water at Bishoftu hospital in…
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Putting an End to Female Genital Mutilation
Today marks the annual International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation. Each year February 6th is spent by leading NGOs and international aids organizations spreading awareness about the devastating cutting practice that puts three million girls in both east and west Africa as well as Arab countries at risk of undergoing FGM. An…
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Intel Releases Report About Internet Access for Women, Girls in Developing World
Access to the Internet liberates individuals and entire countries. Unfortunately of those who have access to the Internet in a variety of platforms (not just via mobile phones) women and girls lack Net use significantly. Intel, UN Women and the US State Department are looking to change that. A joint report, “Women and the Web” calls for…
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How Women Are Faring During Malian Conflict
UN Under-Secretary General and UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet visited Mali last week to underscore the need to protect women and girls from gender-based violence in the midst of the fighting in Mali between rebels who have taken over the north and the Malian government and its allies. During war women are typically the perpetual…
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News on Haiti’s Current Reconstruction Achievements, Setbacks
Nearly three years after the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti on January 12, 2010 and killed over 300,000 people there are significant signs of improvements in the reconstruction of the world’s poorest country despite subsequent natural disasters after the quake, notably hurricanes Issac and Sandy. However, when you read and hear multiple accounts…
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The Importance of Clean Cookstoves – A Personal Experience
When I was in Ethiopia last week observing frontline health workers with Save the Children I had the unfortunate circumstance of going into a home, a traditional hut, where the mother was cooking on her indoor cookstove. The smoke from the burning wood was so thick and powerful I could hardly breathe and couldn’t imagine a…
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An Optimistic View of Breastfeeding in Ethiopia
Throughout my travels to health facilities in Ethiopia last week with Save the Children I was heartened to see so many positive messages about breastfeeding on posters and printed materials for mothers to take home. I also saw several mothers breastfeeding their babies everywhere we went. In Ethiopia 52% of babies are put to the…
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Ethiopia’s Health Care Model, Workers
Ethiopia has its health care flaws and challenges, but what it seems to have captured is an appreciation for simplicity. Ethiopia’s health care system is very easy to understand, even though implementation and results are not easily achievable. This week I am in Ethiopia with Save the Children and its new campaign Every Beat Matters…
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Bishoftu Hospital’s Maternity Ward
In Ethiopia 90% of all expectant mothers deliver their babies at home, but there are some who are referred by frontline health workers with a recommendation to deliver at a hospital. At Bishoftu hospital, a zone hospital that is located about an hour south of Addis Ababa on the sole road towards Djibouti , 200…
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Family Planning in Ethiopia
This week I am a guest of Save the Children on an observational trip in Ethiopia. I, along with three distinguished US nurses, are here to learn about Ethiopia’s frontline health workers, the 38,000 women strong health extension workers. The health extension workers were put into place by the Ethiopian government in 2003 and now…
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Women Spur on 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
Since 1991 from November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women through December 10, International Human Rights Day the world recognizes 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. Gender violence damages the spirit of women and girls, their families, and communities and seeks to control them through gender-based discrimination. Current reports out of Syria (Rape is…
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Short Documentary Made by Four Iraqi Women Highlights New Challenges
The following is a guest post from Women for Women International. Forty years ago Iraqi women and men were equal under the law. Since the early 1990s however, women have seen their rights curtailed and their participation in areas of society and freedom of expression dramatically inhibited. There has been a sharp decline in female…
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UNAIDS Hosts First Google+ Hangout
Today, UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, held their first Google+ hangout with UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé, global ambassador for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Florence Ngobeni, and HIV/AIDS activist and singer Annie Lennox. With World AIDS Day quickly approaching on Saturday there are many conversations about HIV/AIDS and what needs to be done…
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Making Family Planning Available to All Who Need It
There is an important article on the Gates Foundation’s blog Impatient Optimists that details the importance of the new UNFPA study on family planning. Do give it a read: New Report: Family Planning By Choice, Not By Chance. Photo By: Jennifer James (Kisumu, Kenya, Summer 2011) Infographic: UNFPA Read more of our family planning coverage.
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Haiti Babi – Helping Haitian Mothers
Social entrepreneur Katlin Jackson recently co-founded Haiti Babi, a company that creates handmade baby blankets and fair-wage jobs for moms in Haiti, empowering them to provide for their families. According to Haiti Babi, one in ten children in Haiti live in an orphanage, and many of these children have parents, but their parents cannot afford them. Haiti Babi was…
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Protecting Women, Girls in Liberia
Did you know Liberia has some of the worst rape statistics in Africa? In fact, between 60 – 70 percent of Liberian women have experienced some form of sexual assault according to the Global Post. A September 2012 report, Peace Without Security: Violence Against Women and Girls in Liberia [PDF], says, “a disturbingly high number of rape…
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Spend November 10th in Solidarity for Malala Day
By now you have probably heard about Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old schoolgirl in Pakistan, who was brutally shot by the Taliban in retaliation for promoting girls’ education in her country. Since news broke about Malala being shot and her subsequent weeks towards recovery, millions have stood in solidarity with Malala in a global show of support…
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Somalia’s Concerted Move Toward Gender Equality
One of the big international stories of the year is Somalia’s new government. The United Nations helped usher through the “Roadmap for the End of Transition” from a Transitional Federal Government (TFG) to fair elections held on September 10, 2012. Secretary Clinton praised the signatories of the transition in late August and some experts say the…