Tag archives for Global Health

Healthy Beginnings: New Evidence Cites Breastfeeding’s Health Benefits for Moms, Babies and Economies

Posted by Elizabeth Fox on Friday, January 29th 2016

This mother in Bakapome, Senegal, a rural village near Thies, knows that breastfeeding doesn’t just benefit infants: it also reduces the risks for breast and ovarian cancers in women. / Jane Silcock, USAID

New evidence reveals the health and economic benefits of breastfeeding. At USAID, breastfeeding is an important component of our work to promote adequate nutrition among some of the world’s most vulnerable women and children.

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USAID Delivers: Quality Care for Expectant Moms Results in Fewer Stillbirths

Posted by Katie Taylor on Tuesday, January 19th 2016

Gift Usami Ava, pregnant with her third child, receives prenatal care at the Ugep General Hospital in Nigeria’s Cross River State. Quality prenatal care during pregnancy helps reduce stillbirths and improves maternal and newborn health. / Amy Fowler, USAID

A Lancet series published today reports on the problem of stillbirths worldwide. At USAID, our efforts for maternal and child health address many of the same risk factors associated with stillbirths.

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All in Good Faith: Partnering with Malawian Ministries for Maternal Health

Posted by Katie Taylor on Thursday, December 24th 2015

Chimwemwe (“Joy” in the local Chichewa language), a community health worker in Malawi, meets with an HIV-positive pregnant woman at her home in Lilongwe through the USAID-funded Tingathe program, which works closely with the Ministry of Health. / Chris Cox, Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation.

A partnership between USAID and the Christian Health Association of Malawi has enabled more than 200 students to train to become nurses, midwives and technicians, improving health outcomes for women and their babies in the process.

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Unprecedented Coordination Helped Turn the Tide of an Unprecedented Outbreak

Posted by Justin Pendarvis on Tuesday, December 15th 2015

Because of our work in Liberia and other affected countries, local health systems are increasingly poised to maintain control and prevent future large-scale outbreaks themselves. / Morgana Wingard/USAID

The Ebola outbreak was unprecedented. Organizations from around the world worked together on an unprecedented scale to turn the tide against the deadly disease.

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From the Household Hearth to Global Health: Creating a Healthier Planet Starts with a Cookstove

Posted by Benjamin Rost on Tuesday, December 8th 2015

ESILALEI, TANZANIA - FEBRUARY 4, 2014: Through the creation of solar powered micro-grids, Maasai of the Moduli district in northern Tanzania are receiving power in their mud huts inside their bomas (corralled community). The solar power is providing life-saving water purification, a shared refrigerator for food and medicines, a computer for the community, and lights for the cow and goat corrals to frighten away the hyenas. The International Collaborative for Science, Education and the Environment (ICSEE) also manufactures and distributes a chimney stove for Maasai homes designed collaboratively with Maasai women and installed by teams of women from each participating village to reduce the intake of smoke and carbon dioxide when cooking over traditional fires inside the home. Footage by Morgana Wingard

USAID initiatives to expand the use of clean cookstoves help reduce household air pollution and promote health for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Global health and climate change are highly interconnected, and global health considerations deserve a place at the COP21 climate conference in Paris.

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Q&A: The Legacy of West Africa’s Ebola Crisis

Posted by Clara Wagner on Tuesday, August 25th 2015

USAID’s Senior Ebola Coordinator Denise Rollins (right), Mission Director John Mark Winfield (second from right) and Bureau of Legislative and Public Affairs staffer Kate Alexander listen as a staff member of DuPort Road Clinic in Paynesville, Liberia speaks to them. / Jonta Williams, USAID

In this Q&A series, we interview Denise Rollins, senior coordinator of USAID’s Africa Ebola Unit, who liaises with other U.S. Government agencies to help West African countries strengthen their ability to respond to future disasters.

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Empowering Youth: Expanding Access to Reproductive Health

Posted by Ellen H. Starbird on Tuesday, August 11th 2015

Youth face unique economic and social barriers to receiving family planning services, limiting their ability to make healthy choices about their reproductive health. USAID is committed to making youth’s aspirations a reality by expanding access to these services. / Neil Brandvold, USAID

Advancing youth’s access and understanding of family planning is not a “be all and end all” solution to poverty, inequity and poor health, but it’s critical to ensuring that all young people are able to lead healthy, dignified and fulfilling lives.

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On the Job at USAID: Meeting An Amazing Global Health Hero

Posted by Margaret McCluskey on Thursday, August 6th 2015

On July 28, in Chennai, India, the world that fights HIV lost a true hero. It was an honor to have met Dr. Suniti Solomon, a pioneer in HIV and AIDS work. How lucky we are to be with people who really do make the world a better place. Now, we must carry on the legacy.

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Q&A: What A Year Without Polio in Nigeria Means

Posted by Ellyn W. Ogden on Monday, August 3rd 2015

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a girl in Nigeria. / Courtesy of TSCHIP

July 24 marked one year since the last reported case of wild polio in Nigeria. This is a significant milestone for the largest country by population in Africa and, historically, a major reservoir of the virus.

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