Africa, Agriculture, Blog, Charity, Economic Empowerment, featured, Gender Equality, nonprofits, Poverty, Products With a Purpose

Nonprofit Works to Eradicate Poverty Through Business, Not Charity

I have had the pleasure of reporting from low-income countries in east Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean many times and have seen a multitude of poverty eradication efforts from organizations that are created by social entrepreneurs to those that are funded by foundations, corporations and countries’ developmental aid. No matter the organizations’ efforts, there are key poverty eradication tenets they all subscribe to: community buy-in (financial inclusion), women-based business opportunities, educational programs, and increased access to food, clean water and quality health care. When all of these aspects are combined they tend to gradually reduce community and familial poverty.

Jennifer JamesNovember 15, 2022November 16, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, child health, Children, featured, kenya, mHealth

How health workers in Kibera are assessing sick children using a new digital health tool

By Maryanne W. Waweru l maryanne@mummytales.com

Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa. After two days of nursing her two-year-old daughter at home, an anxious Maximilla Kangahi made her way to a clinic in her neighbourhood for help.

At the health facility, Maximilla was received by Waida Kasaya, clinical officer at the Beyond Zero clinic in Karanja, one of Kibera’s 18 villages. Located in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, Kibera is the country’s largest urban slum area with the highest density of any settlement in the country, with an estimated population of 250,000 (UNHabitat).

maryannewaweruNovember 2, 2022November 2, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, elections, kenya, NGOS

Yes, Kenya’s Election Had Problems, But Here’s Why Things Are Better

Contributed by Hillary Omala, the Executive Director of CFK Africa

Fifteen years ago, more than 1,100 people lost their lives in the violence following Kenya’s 2007 elections. Every five years since then, the Kenya General Elections have occupied international headlines, and tensions have risen across the country as painful memories come flooding back.

But the truth is, things have gotten better.

While tensions rose during the recent election period, so did calls for peace. And even though this year’s results were contested, the arguments were resolved in our courtrooms rather than in our streets.

Social Good Moms ContributorSeptember 28, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, Blog, Covid, featured, Frontline Health Workers, kenya

Saving lives with medical oxygen in Kenya

The U.S. helped train nurse Sandra Karimi and other health care workers in Kenya to provide therapeutic oxygen. Above, Karimi works at Wangige Hospital in Kenya October 27, 2021. (USAID/Lameck Ododo)

For Sandra Karimi, a nurse at Wangige Hospital in Kenya, treating patients during the COVID-19 pandemic felt like working in a war zone.

When she first encountered COVID-19 patients gasping for air, she froze. “I was scared, honestly,” says Karimi, who works in Kiambu County, Kenya. “We were all scared.”

Social Good Moms ContributorSeptember 13, 2022September 13, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, Blog, Family Planning, featured, Reproductive Health

Why sexual and reproductive law for east African countries is being resisted

Anthony Idowu Ajayi, African Population and Health Research Center and Nicholas Okapu Etyang, African Population and Health Research Center

Six of the countries of the East African Community – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania – recently concluded public hearings on a new sexual and reproductive health bill. Proponents of the bill argue that it will improve access to sexual and reproductive health which, in turn, will improve other public health and development indicators such as maternal mortality and HIV infection rates. But the bill has faced fierce opposition since it was first tabled in 2017. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana spoke to researchers Anthony Ajayi and Nicholas Etyang to unpack what the bill covers and where the sticking points are

Social Good Moms ContributorJuly 20, 2022November 7, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, Blog, Education, International Womens Day, Women and Girls

On This #IWD2022 Join CAMFED’s Global Sisterhood to Educate Young Girls

CAMFED is one the world’s leading organizations that advocates for and helps young girls in sub-Saharan Africa attain an education. CAMFED which stands for the Campaign for Female Education has to date supported 379,000 young girls with secondary school scholarships, one million girls attend primary school, and works with 6,787 partner schools across sub-Saharan Africa.

As we all know, girls who are deprived of an education are most likely tethered to a cycle of poverty for an entire lifetime. But girls who are afforded an education can leap out of poverty and and into the realms of economic development. They can take on better jobs, learn to save money, or become entrepreneurs. Women who are educated take better care of their individual environments and therefore take on climate change. And studies show when sub-Saharan women have an education, they fight for their daughter to have an education as well. They become stewards of passing down education and leaders in their communities.

Jennifer JamesMarch 8, 2022Leave a comment

Africa, Blog, Maternal Health, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality

Poor knowledge and practice around oxytocin could put women in Nigeria at risk during childbirth

Chioma S. Ejekam, University of Lagos and Chimezie Anyakora, Pan Atlantic University Severe bleeding after childbirth – postpartum hemorrhage – is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in middle-income countries. Oxytocin is an affordable and effective drug that’s recommended to prevent postpartum hemorrhage. But there are concerns about the quality of oxytocin available for use by healthcare workers in most low- and middle-income … Continue reading Poor knowledge and practice around oxytocin could put women in Nigeria at risk during childbirth

Jennifer JamesDecember 22, 2021February 7, 2022Leave a comment

Addis Ababa, Africa, Ethiopia, featured, Human Rights, World Food Programme

Ethiopia’s Tigray Region Is still Under Attack

If you have followed my travels or have read my blog over the years you know that Ethiopia is my favorite country in the world. There is something about the people, the culture, its beauty and the sheer size of the country I love. Even though I love Ethiopia I have never been under a grand illusion that it is a unified country. There have been mass arrests and killings in Oromia, journalist and freedom fighter imprisonments, and now a civil war with mass atrocities and forced starvation against the people of the Tigray region. In fact, just this week reports of an airstrike on a market near Tigray’s capital Mekele killed at least 64 people and wounded over 100.

Even as war is still happening in Ethiopia’s northernmost region, its national election officially wrapped on Monday without voting in Tigray, of course. Now, ballots are being tallied across the country with the likelihood that the current prime minister Abiy Ahmend will be reelected.

Women selling baskets in Hawassa, Ethiopia.

Jennifer JamesJune 25, 2021October 26, 2021Leave a comment

Africa, featured, Maternal Health, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality

The Universal Human Right to an Identity from Birth Explained

By Caroline Kinsella, Advocacy and Communications Intern, White Ribbon Alliance

One of the more hidden human rights abuses around the world is the fact that one billion people have no legal proof of identity. Alarmingly, UNICEF estimates that about one in four children under age 5, or 166 million, are unregistered and without any trace that they exist. Conversations about reducing global poverty and protecting the health and human rights of mothers and newborns must include the challenges of birth registration.

A single piece of paper has the power to transform a person’s future. Birth certificates are necessary to access government services, life-saving medical treatment, a nationality and age related legal protections. Legal proof of birth is often required to attend school and apply to higher education, as well as open a bank account and vote. Many of the individuals without a birth certificate today are children who were never registered at birth. In some cases, nobody knows for decades that a child does not have a birth certificate.

In Uganda, Senfuka Samuel, who goes by Sam, applied for a master’s degree program that required a birth certificate. As he did not have one, Sam had to venture to the hospital where he was born. There, he discovered that hospital records before the year 2000, including any proof of his birth, were destroyed in the civil war. Traveling hundreds of miles over two weeks, Sam spent his own money to first get issued a necessary ‘birth notification’ – a slip of paper with birth details handwritten by a midwife – to later gain a new legal birth certificate.

Social Good Moms ContributorApril 1, 2021April 22, 2021Leave a comment

Africa, Maternal Health, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, midwives, Reproductive Health, Women and Girls

[WATCH] Video Shows Horrors of Childbirth in Sierra Leone #MaternalHealth

The United Nations has designated Sierra Leone as the most dangerous place to have a baby. In fact, it has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world at 1,360 deaths per 100,000 live births. On average, most women have at least six babies in Sierra Leone. In a previous post I mentioned the Aminata Maternal Foundation that helps pregnant women in Sierra Leone. An … Continue reading [WATCH] Video Shows Horrors of Childbirth in Sierra Leone #MaternalHealth

Jennifer JamesSeptember 1, 2019Leave a comment

Africa, Asia, Blog, Cervical Cancer, Women, Women and Girls

Radiotherapy will be required to treat cervical cancer in low-and-middle income countries

When I was in Zambia I saw ways in which nurses treat cervical cancer in low resource settings. Women who do not benefit from the HPV vaccine and still develop cervical cancer are often subject to visual inspection of the cancer typically with a digital camera followed by cryotherapy to freeze the diseased part of the cervix. Some researchers question whether this approach to cervical cancer treatment is effective in low-and-middle income countries. Globally, the cervical cancer burden falls disproportionately upon women in low and middle-income countries. In fact, approximately 90% of deaths from cervical cancer occur in these countries like Bolivia, Guinea, and Swaziland. Rates are highest in Central America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Melanesia.

Jennifer JamesJuly 16, 2019August 19, 2019Leave a comment

Africa, Asia, Blog, featured, Maternal Health, maternal mortality, Merck for Mothers, postpartum hemorrhage, South America, World Health Organization

NEW: Drug That Prevents PostPartum Hemorrhage Added To WHO Essential Medicines List

As I have written many times before postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) or excessive uterine bleeding after childbirth is the leading cause of maternal mortality in low-and-middle income countries. The recommended drug to prevent PPH according to the World Health Organization (WHO) is oxytocin. When administered in its recommended dose it causes little to no side effects. Oxytocin, the WHO’s current gold standard therapy, however, must be refrigerated and administered by skilled health workers posing two obstacles to its wider use in low resource, tropical settings.

Some countries have approved misoprostol, an oral drug, to prevent PPH, but there are several concerns that its use can be misappropriated for abortions instead of used solely for PPH. The World Health Organization has listed misoprostol as an alternative to oxytocin if it is not available.

Now, another PPH preventative drug, carbetocin, has been added to the latest updated 2019 WHO Essential Medicines List. The announcement was made last week. Unlike oxytocin, even at high temperatures carbetocin remains effective. The recommendation is that carbetocin can be used when oxytocin is not available or if its quality is uncertain. Additionally, the cost must be comparable to oxytocin.

Jennifer JamesJuly 15, 2019July 17, 20192 Comments

Africa, Blog, Film Reviews, sex trafficking, Women, Women and Girls

Netflix Movie Reveals Grim Reality of Nigeria to Europe Sex Trafficking

Tens of thousands of young Nigerian girls and women leave their country every year with sincere hopes of starting a brand-new life in Europe where they believe they will be met with ample job and educational opportunities to provide for their families. That is what they are often told by “recruiters” in their home states who seek out vulnerable girls (sometimes as young as ten) and women to leave for Europe. Unfortunately, the promises made to them by human traffickers are empty promises. In reality, four out of every five Nigerian girls and women who survive the long, harrowing journey to Europe will end up in the sex trade.

We often read about these stories in the news, but cannot adequately understand the harsh lives these girls and women endure at the hands of their traffickers. Essentially held in modern slavery, the women and girls have a debt placed upon them that they must pay off by prostituting themselves or else face dire consequences, sometimes fatal. Not only are they faced with threats by their Nigerian madams, they are also exploited in the streets where they are susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases, rapes, and physical violence. Wanting to tell these stories, Austrian filmmaker Sudabeh Mortezai wrote and directed Joy, an award-winning drama that shows the harsh and complex realities of these women and girls’ lives as prostitutes.

Jennifer JamesJuly 4, 2019August 4, 2021Leave a comment

Africa, Blog, featured, social travel, Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals

Maximize Traveling for Good While Minimizing Your Footprint

There is a lot of need in the world and it takes a special person who willingly gets on a plane to aid communities that can use a helping hand from added resources (monetary and otherwise) to expertise, to volunteering. While traveling for good is on the proverbial bucket list for many, more thought should go into how simply being present in indigenous communities sometimes leaves unintentional impressions, ecological footprints, as well as unfair travel practices.

Luckily, there are more NGOs, social enterprises, and businesses that are taking better tourism practices into consideration and incorporating them into their volunteering and travel opportunities. One such NGO that is doing this is United for Hope that works in India. United for Hope is an NGO with the mission to transform rural India into a place of opportunity and prosperity through a Smart Village approach.

United for Hope launched their model Smart Village in Tirmasahun, in the District of Kushinagar, in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, and are currently running several projects in the areas of education, social enterprises (including social tourism) and community services.

One of the latest additions to their education projects is menstrual hygiene awareness and gender sensitivity workshops, targeting both girls and boys in 100 Government Schools in the area where they operate.

Jennifer JamesMay 15, 2019April 20, 20223 Comments

Africa, Blog, kenya, solar power, Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals

BioLite Brightens East Africa One Home at a Time

I have visited enough traditional family huts and homes in rural Africa to know that light and power are precious commodities. When the last bit of sun streams through the windows and doors in the evenings, the only recourse for light again is when the sun shines brightly in the morning. That is a long time to read, write, cook, and get ready for the next day by mere firelight. When not fixed on an electrical grid (which aren’t very reliable themselves), the only real, viable opportunity for light and energy is through solar power.

A newly released short film by BioLite Run Home shows how powerful their products are to light households in the absence of electricity. In fact, BioLite is on a mission to “bring energy everywhere”. In the film, BioLite features professional Kenyan marathon runner and mother Jane Kibii. Through her race earnings, Kibii has earned enough money to purchase a family home. Unfortunately, the home she built for her parents is far from the electrical grid.

Continue reading “BioLite Brightens East Africa One Home at a Time”