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Video of the Week: LAUNCH Systems Challenge 2013

Posted by  on Tuesday, May 7th 2013     
LAUNCH

Last week, USAID and partners NASA, NIKE Inc., and the Department of State, held a LAUNCH 2020 Summit to kick off a new LAUNCH focus on systems innovation. LAUNCH is aimed at identifying, showcasing, and accelerating innovative approaches to specific global challenges. LAUNCH searches for visionaries whose world-class ideas, technologies, or programs show great promise for making tangible impacts [...]

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VIDEO: Twitter Chat on Mobile Money on May 9

Posted by  on Monday, May 6th 2013     
AskUSAID_mSolutions

Join Nandini Harihareswara on Thursday, May 9th at noon for an #AskUSAID Twitter Expert Hour. Read more >>

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Catching Mosquitoes, Not Fish: Returning Bed Nets to their Proper Use in the DRC

Posted by  on Monday, May 6th 2013     
It is 1 p.m. in the village of Kavimvira. The sun is high over Lake Tanganyika, at the foot of the Mitumba Mountain, in scenic South Kivu. Frank Baraka has packed the bounty of the morning fishing trip and folded his nets, when his cell phone chimes to signal an incoming text message: “Sleep every night under an Insecticide-Treated Net (ITN), to protect your family from malaria,” he reads out loud, amused, to his fishing companion. “This is exactly the message my wife has been pounding at home lately,” Roger Amisi responds. “She says that she heard it at the ETL (Education-Through-Listening) meeting, with Nathalie, you know, the primary school teacher.” Delaying his lunch, Frank hurries to Nathalie Niéla’s compound to find out about the messages. “Malaria kills children in our community,” Nathalie says. “Sleep under a net every night, to live safe from malaria” she confirms. This is the call to action of the Malaria 3+1 Campaign implemented by USAID’s Democratic Republic of Congo-Integrated Health Project (DRC-IHP), in partnership with C-Change. An estimated 140,949 Congolese from 194 villages were exposed to campaign messages on malaria awareness and prevention. In a country where only five percent of pregnant women receive proper preventive malaria therapy, and malaria accounts for nearly 40 percent of child deaths, prevention is a critical priority. Nathalie is one of 37 women ETL facilitators recently trained in the DRC-IHP’s field office of Uvira. “Thanks to ETL, our husbands no longer use the nets to fish or to protect vegetable gardens,” she affirms proudly. “Nets now serve their purpose of protecting children and pregnant women from mosquito bites.” ETL is one pillar of IHP’s Tuendeni-Kumpala Behavior Change Communication strategy which empowers communities to adopt health-seeking behaviors. Tuendeni-Kumpala which means “moving forward” in Swahili and Tshiluba (two local languages), is an integrated strategy in which ETL facilitators work in synergy with other innovative communication approaches such as mobile technology, to increase the reach and enhance the behavioral impact of project interventions such as malaria prevention and use of reproductive health services. Through this partnership between USAID, DRC-IHP and C-Change, a total of 64,584 ITNs were distributed across Bukavu, Kolwezi, Uvira, and Kamina, supporting the effort to boost the number of people using insecticide-treated nets. Campaign results from two health zones point to the value of ETL, in terms of actual ITN use. After four months, 89 percent of the 9,471 households exposed to campaign activities in Uvira slept every night under an ITN. By contrast, 82 percent of the 12,965 households involved in Kamina (Katanga province) reported adoption of the preventive behavior. When the campaign was launched in June 2012, ETL was not yet rolled out in Kamina. For the project’s communication team, the difference illustrates the powerful effect of ETL. “ETL truly shows results here,” said Donat Ngoyi, DRC-IHP Communication Expert in Uvira. “This approach will, no doubt, help us meet our malaria prevention and treatment goals.” The DRC-Integrated Health Project (DRC-IHP) — a five-year USAID cooperative agreement led by Management Sciences for Health in partnership with the International Rescue Committee, and Overseas Strategic Consulting, Ltd — is strengthening the leadership and governance capacity of people working in the health sector to improve the access, availability, and quality of services within 80 target health zones. Photo Credit: USAID Global health

In the DRC, where only five percent of pregnant women receive proper preventive malaria therapy, and malaria accounts for nearly 40 percent of child deaths, prevention is a critical priority. Read more >>

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Health and Economic Returns on Science and Innovation Investments for Global Health

Posted by  on Monday, May 6th 2013     
Doctor prepares malaria treatment. Photo credit: IMAD

Much work is to be done. Global diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis take eight lives per minute. Read more >>

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USAID in the News

Posted by  on Saturday, May 4th 2013     
womeninfield---quote

A review of USAID’s top news highlights for week of April 29, 2013. Read more >>

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Use of Technology in Malaria Prevention and Control Activities

Posted by  on Friday, May 3rd 2013     
Malaria surveillance officer interviewing woman from malaria positive household in Zanzibar, June 2012. Photo credit: Mike McKay, RTI

mHealth applications are helping Zanzibar to identify and treat many otherwise undiagnosed malaria cases, identifying hot spots and transmission patterns, and responding rapidly to new outbreaks. Read more >>

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LAUNCH: Addressing Development Problems Through Systems Innovation and Collaboration Across Boundaries

Posted by  on Friday, May 3rd 2013     
Will Schmitt

To mark the start of an exciting new phase of LAUNCH and to celebrate our success, we provide a short overview for those not familiar with the program. Read more >>

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Free Press: The Cornerstone of Democracy

Posted by  on Friday, May 3rd 2013     
In Mozambique, USAID supports the five-year, $10 million Media Strengthening Program to promote a free, open, diverse, and self-sustaining media sector. Photo Credit: IREX

Today and every day, USAID applauds the brave work of journalists, editors, and the increasing millions of “citizen reporters” throughout the world in their common pursuit to freely gather, report, analyze, and share news. Read more >>

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Better Diagnostics Critical to the Fight against Typhoid

Posted by  on Thursday, May 2nd 2013     
Women and children

When children’s lives are at stake, we need to move quickly. That’s why we need to rise to the challenge of developing better typhoid diagnostics, and soon. Read more >>

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Young Communicators Promote Climate Change Awareness

Posted by  on Thursday, May 2nd 2013     
High schoolers in Samana, Dominican Republic learn about climate change so they can help educate others in their community, in a USAID mission funded adaptation project. Photo credit: Nora Ferm, USAID

Climate change is impacting life in the Dominican Republic. Read more >>

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