Read More - Off to Rwanda: Considering Child Nutrition
I was in Aspen earlier this week working on some of the challenges facing healthcare and the health industry in the US, but it’s time to switch gears.

Sunday, I leave for Rwanda to lead a one week group trip with my friend Dr. Paul Farmer to see some of the work being done byPartners in Health (PIH) in the country. I haven’t been in countrysince 2008, and I’m anxious to see the progress PIH and other groups are making in health.
Read More - Malawi's Safe Motherhood Initiative

Motherhood is a dangerous journey to take in most of the world. Nearly 300,000 women die each year from complications due to pregnancy, and 99 percent of those women are in the developing world. In Malawi, an estimated 510 out of 100,000 women will die giving birth. But Chief Kwataine, a former English teacher, has become well-known in the country for his work developing safe motherhood activities for nearly the last twenty years.

Watch this short, two-minute video to learn more about how women's (and children's) lives are being saved in Malawi. It's well worth your time.

Read More - Songs of Family Planning in Malawi
“If you don’t practice family planning, you will have a child on your back, in your belly, on your shoulders and in a baby basket on your head.” Malawi nurse Mercy Chikhosi Nyirongo describing the song and dance from a women’s health meeting in Madisi, Malawi 2013.

Behavior change communications take many forms throughout a lifetime . . . from the parent who scolds a child for doing something harmful, to government warning labels about health hazards. Somewhere in between are the messages from this video that rise up from women simply wanting to build healthy families by practicing family planning. With one in 39 women on the continent of Africa dying from pregnancy complications, it is easy to understand this group putting family planning at the top of their health priorities.
Read More - FGHL Blog: Courtney Massaro - How to Multi-task
First off, an update on the two abandoned babies: they were not there when I went to work after my three days off. I was told that the girl (who was very cute and term) had been adopted, while the boy (who was a premi, but seemed very healthy—though of course small—to me) had died.
Read More - Memorial Day: Thank You

NATO soldier

Hope Through Healing Hand's mission is to promote health worldwide as a currency for peace. This Memorial Day, we'd like to say a huge thank you to all of our armed service men and women who have given sacrificially to protect our freedom and to promote peace around the globe. You are heroes in our eyes, and we thank you for your service.

Image from Nato.org

Every Newborn Campaign

Articles and Videos You Don't Want to Miss

May 21 2014

Read More - Every Newborn Campaign

This week has been the launch of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's #EveryNewborn campaign, and we've seen great coverage on social media and around the web on this important issue. Here are some of our top links for you to see, in case you missed them:

Melinda Gates's speech to the World Health Organization on May 20, 2014.

Who Has Been Caring for the Baby? by Dr. Gary Darmstadt, senior fellow for Global Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Saving 3 million Babies Is Easier Than You Think, from TIME's Jeffrey Kluger

 

May Newsletter

May 15 2014

Read More - May Newsletter
Her.meneutics article: "Family Planning Through A Global Lens," by Jenny Eaton Dyer, Ph.D.

Christianity Today's Her.meneutics features articles that are at the interface of women's issues and cultural issues. We were proud to have the opportunity to publish an article this week discussing the importance of access to contraception and information about a variety of family planning methods, including fertility awareness, in the developing world. These are life-saving, life-changing tools for women and families.

In a season when contraception is debated and discussed in our own nation, it is important to consider how contraception is a pro-life cause worldwide.
Read More - Nuance Needed in Birth Control Debate
Originally published in The Tennessean, May 3, 2014

When we married in December 2007, we knew we wanted to enjoy the adventure of marriage together for a while before having children. So, we concocted a whimsical battle cry: “Baby Free Until 2013!”
Read More - Huge progress on maternal health in Ethiopia

CSIS Ethiopia blog

In January, we traveled as part of a CSIS delegation to Ethiopia to see the work happening there in their Health Extension Workers program. Because of their leadership focus on advancing maternal health and the healthy timing and specing of pregnancy, contraception use has risen from 15% in 2005 to 29% in 2011. This is a tremendous gain, although there is still a long way to go before every women who wants access to contraception has it.

Watch this video to learn more about the program.

Read More - The One and the Many: Why you may (not) care about global health
Having just concluded teaching my annual course at Vanderbilt, Global Health Policy and Politics, I am inspired to write a blog series based on a session I teach regarding the “psychology of global health.” In that session, I have students read a chapter from Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save. In this chapter, he outlines six reasons for “Why We Don’t Give More” in terms of philanthropy.

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