Blogs

FGHL Blog: Ashley Brown - Crash Course!

Mar 28 2014

My first week back in Guyana began with the third annual Crash Course in Emergency Medicine. A couple of years ago, Vanderbilt began an Emergency Medicine Residency Training program at Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). With every new class of residents, we put on a “Crash Course,” an intensive four-day lecture series, so that all the new residents can get some intensive training on common emergencies, and all the older residents get an intensive review.

How Do Faith & Maternal Health Intersect

Mar 26 2014

Kate Etue, Director of Communications

Anyone you talk to will tell you that they care about mothers and babies. But many people here in the United States don't realize that a mother dies somewhere in the world every two minutes. Every two minutes. The data is staggering.

Our hope is to make sure Christians don't let that overwhelming statistic leave them feeling overhwelmed to the point that they fail to act. Because the connection between maternal health and faith is so important.

We recently discovered this Q&A article with Courtney Fowler, a conference lay leader in the United Methodist Church, who connects the dots between maternal health, faith, and reproductive justice. It's a great resource for those who are starting to dip their toes in this issue of women's health and who passionately care about the lives of women all over the world, because you believe God cares about them too.

1,000 Days Partners with Hope Through Healing Hands and Senator Bill Frist to Improve Maternal and Child Nutrition

Mar 24 2014

1,000 Days March 4 Nutrition
Lucy Sullivan, Executive Director, 1,000 Days
Last week, 1,000 Days was honored to join with Hope Through Healing Hands and Senator Bill Frist to engage community leaders in Nashville in the effort to improve maternal and child nutrition. With leaders from the faith, business, and academic communities around the table, we examined the issue of poor nutrition around the world and in Tennessee, where one in four children are food-insecure. The gathering of diverse voices—united by their passion to help mothers and children throughout the world—was a unique opportunity to bring greater attention to the issue of poor nutrition early in life and discuss ways that churches, businesses, and individuals can make an impact.

Making Maternal Health Personal

Mar 12 2014

Kate Etue, Director of Communications
Our mission at the Faith-Based Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children Worldwide is to create advocates for maternal health, infant and children’s health, and for the healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies for women in developing world. This includes mothers in Africa, India, Mongolia, Guatemala, and everywhere where moms and children are living in extreme poverty. Where 222 million women (mostly married) want access to contraception, but it’s simply not available where they live.

Faith and Health: The Complexity of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and Health Care

Feb 25 2014

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) comprises 43.5% of the population, or almost half. After that, Muslim communities make up 33.9% of the population. In the minority, Protestant denominations comprise 18.6%. And finally, there are a few other traditional religions at 2.6%, and Catholics at less than 1%. The EOC has a long, rich cultural history in Ethiopia. It was a part of the Coptic Orthodox Church until 1959 when it was granted its own patriarch. It is a hierarchical religion with archbishops and bishops worldwide.

Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund Still Having Impact

Feb 24 2014

Kate Etue, Director of Communications

Haiti Nursing Graduate Faculty

Two years ago, the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund granted $462,800 to Regis College to advance Haiti's future nursing leaders through a master's degree of nursing program in the country. The goal was to unite Haiti's government and higher education institutions to support nursing programs in their country. 

The grant enabled the country to elevate their nursing program to a higher level, which has resulted in sustaining nursing jobs, promoting healthcare standards, and transforming the health sector.

On February 18, 2014, the first twelve faculty graduates of the master's degree in nursing program from the University of Haiti. Twenty-four more faculty members will complete the program, who will in turn pass their education on to more than 4,000 students each year.

Read more at Regis College's website.

Health Center in Tigray: Where to Go to Have a Baby

Feb 21 2014

Over the last ten years, Ethiopia has implemented their Health Extension Worker (HEW) program building Health Posts with HEWs throughout the country. To date, there are some 38,000 HEWs; two at every post. This has amazing reach to communities whose individuals might otherwise have to walk for miles and miles just to have basic services for a sick child, contraception, or antenatal care. This being said, the Health Post does have limitations. The HEW cannot provide a high level of skilled care. For instance, women in Tigray are highly encouraged to take a “mobile ambulance” (i.e. stretcher) to the Health Center where they can have access to skilled health workers that are better prepared to manage complications during birth.

In Tigray, Ethiopia: Visiting a Health Post

Feb 20 2014

Upon the conclusion of the seventeen-year Ethiopian civil war, the region of Tigray, the northernmost province in Ethiopia, is the home to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. Their late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who led the revolution and won is celebrated still across the country. Today marked the annual Tigray People’s Liberation Front Celebration and the town of Mekele took a holiday to celebrate in a public event.

Welcome to Addis!

Meeting First Lady Roman Tesfaye

Feb 19 2014

Jenny Dyer, PhD
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has pulled together a congressional delegation trip to Ethopia, and they invited me to join them. In leading HTHH’s Faith-Based Coalition for Healthy Mothers and Children Worldwide, I was invited to meet the faith leaders here to learn their stories and the position on the progress of healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies here in Ethiopia.

FGHL Blog: Beth O'Connell - Part 3

Report from the Field

Feb 14 2014

Bethesda O'Connell, East Tennessee State University
We visited a malnourished and abused child, named Cesar, who is doing much better. My hosts and I visited him in the hospital yesterday and he looked like a different child. He had been given a much needed hair cut and had gained about five pounds. He was watching cars and motorcycles out of his window and jabbering away in Q’eqchi’ about them. We did understand “beep, beep!” He is expected to be transferred to a rehabilitation center next week.
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