Category: APHA IH Section

Getting Ready for this year’s Annual Meeting!

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section

Section members, get excited! The APHA Annual Meeting is less than a week away and promises to be filled with all of the learning experiences and networking opportunities that we so look forward to every year. Below are a few announcements and opportunities.

CBPHC Workshop:Effective CBPHC Tools for Effective Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

American Public Health Association International Health Section
Community-Based Primary Health Care (CBPHC) Working Group
15th Annual Pre-Conference CBPHC Workshop 2013

Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston MA
ROOM #107A
415 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210
Saturday, November 2, 2013 – 8:30 ‐ 5:00

Workshop Leader:  Dr. Elvira Beracochea
Link to check for updates:
https://apha.confex.com/apha/141am/webprogram/Session39065.html

Every year the CBPHC Working Group organizes a one‐way workshop. This year the workshop continues a process that started with the review of effective CBPHC programs conducted by Dr. Henry Perry and Dr. Paul Freeman and Working Group members.  Effective CBPHC practice is the cornerstone of effective public health programs and essential to deliver quality maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) services in the community where families live. Therefore, this year we have focused the Annual CBPHC Workshop on effective MNCH tools and approaches that help CBPHC managers and health providers deliver services efficiently and consistently to all. The proceedings of these workshops will lead to a toolkit of effective CBPHC tools for use and modification by all public health professionals in the international health field.

The organizers:
Dr. Elvira Beracochea, President and CEO of MIDEGO, Inc., and Dr. Laura Parajon of AMOS Health and Hope lead the working group and organize the workshop.  Dr Elvira is a physician and public health expert with over 25 years of international experience implementing PHC programs and consulting in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. She is the author of “Health for All NOW” (MIDEGO 2007), “Rights Based Approaches to Public Health” (Springer 2010) and “Aid Effectiveness in Global Health (Springer 2013). Dr. Elvira will moderate the workshop and discuss basic principles of effective Global Health Aid and Rights Based Approaches for improved CBPHC practice. Dr Laura and her husband the co‐founder of AMOS Health and Hope has 12 years of experience working in PHC using a community based participatory research approach. She lives and works in Nicaragua in PHC, and will be sharing her experience with community health
workers in the context of PHC in rural communities.

Kathleen McDonald, Program Manager Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kathleen McDonald leads respectful maternity care programs for the Women and Health Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health. She joined the Initiative in March 2012 as the Project Manager for the Hansen Program on Maternal and Child Health and provides technical assistance on respectful maternity care to the Maternal Health Task Force. Previously, she managed an obstetric hemorrhage clinical trial in Zambia for the Safe Motherhood Program at the University of California San Francisco Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. With a strong background in management, training and operations in both the non‐profit and private sectors, Ms. McDonald has worked closely with frontline health workers, administrators, and local and national health officials in the US and sub‐Saharan Africa. She holds a MPH from Boston University, a Graduate Certificate in International Development from Johns Hopkins University SAIS, and a BA in Psychology from the University of Maryland.

CBPHC is now an area with increasing prospects for young professionals. This workshop will provide skills and context for this subset of participants. Dr Elvira will moderate the presentations of various experts about ways to succeed in your CBPHC career. The goal of the 2013 annual CBPHC workshop is to share Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) knowledge and effective practices to help current and future CBPHC practitioners advance in their practice and improve the effectiveness of their CBPHC programs.

The workshop draft agenda includes experienced international health experts and professionals from the MNCH field. Activities will allow the maximum networking and discussion between participants to discuss ways to use the tools and approaches presented can be applied for maximum impact. If you are interested in this working group or getting involved, please contact Dr Elvira at Elvira@midego.com

Experienced and young professionals are especially encouraged to attend. Those interested in international CBPHC are also invited to attend our business meeting on Sunday, November 3, 2013 from 7:00 am until 8:00 am at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. See here for updates: https://apha.confex.com/apha/141am/webprogram/Session39069.html.

To register, please contact: Sandy Hoar (e‐mail: hoar@gwu.edu)
The registration fee including morning coffee is $35 (students $25). To facilitate planning, please register ASAP and indicate if you will be joining us for dinner afterwards. For further information contact: Sandy Hoar, Laura Chanchien Parajon (email: lauraparajon@amoshealth.org) or Elvira Beracochea (email: elvira@midego.com)

Submission of Electronic version of MCH Tools, please contact: Lanice Williams (e‐mail: lanice.williams@gmail.com) Please email electronic links and names of various MCH tools and toolkits that you are using and have been valuable to your field of work. We will be using this information you submitted to create an inventory document which will be distributed to all workshop participants.

Sponsored by:
The CBPHC‐Working Group ‐ International Health Section – APHA
The Maternal Health Task Force ‐ Harvard School of Public Health

Booth Sign-Ups

1) International Health Section Booth in Exhibition Hall
For the International Health Section booth in the Exhibition Hall if you are an international health professional please sign up for your chosen hours at:
http://www.doodle.com/i9ns9twhacqzafx7

2) APHA International  Global Health Connections Welcome Booth in the Registration Hall
For the Global Health Connections Welcoming booth in the Registration hall sign up for your chosen hours at:
http://doodle.com/bk6xs4cixdssps8z (for experienced section members
http://doodle.com/ysuibme4ztpaucch (for new professionals)

Any questions please contact Enrique at: enrique.seoane@mcphs.edu

mHealth for Mothers: Video Review

by nsoleye, posted in APHA IH Section

mHealth, defined as the use of mobile technology to support healthcare, is arguably one of the hottest global health trends right now. With rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications, along with the continued growth of cellular networks, mHealth has the potential to address some of the biggest healthcare challenges in the world, including access and affordability. It’s becoming more and more integrated into healthcare systems as it can significantly cut costs and increase the reach of healthcare services in both middle- and low-income countries.

This video, released last month at the Social Good Summit during UN General Assembly Week in New York City, provides the following example of the kind of impact mHealth can have in developing countries:

  • Challenge – Most women around the world only have one prenatal visit with a healthcare worker. However, one billion women in developing countries have access to a mobile phone.
  • Solution – Use SMS and voice messaging to provide mothers with important information in their native language at each stage of pregnancy and throughout the first full year of the child’s life.

During my last trip to Nigeria I had my first personal experience with mHealth. Upon arrival, I purchased a basic Nokia bar phone and SIM card. While playing around with the phone, I stumbled upon the Nokia Life Tools app which is a standard, built-in feature on some models of Nokia bar phones. The app provides healthcare, entertainment, agricultural, and educational information. The healthcare section peaked my interest as it includes sections for MNCH advice, men’s health, women’s health, and chronic disease information. First, you enter basic details about yourself (sex, age, language, etc.), then you scroll through and subscribe to whichever topics you’re interested in. The MNCH advice section parallels the example in the video above. It delivers weekly developmental information during pregnancy via SMS and continues with child development tips for the first few years after pregnancy. The only costs associated with the app are standard text messaging fees.  

In addition to patient education, health workers and providers also use mHealth for data collection, disease surveillance and management, treatment support, direct care, and more. Developing countries are definitely embracing the movement and driving innovations in mHealth, making it an exciting field with the potential to transform healthcare all over the world.

Eliminating Rabies: WHO Video Review

by nsoleye, posted in APHA IH Section

Did you know that rabies kills more than 60,000 people each year? About half of all victims are children. This year on World Rabies Day, September 28, the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declared their promise to eliminate human rabies, a neglected tropical disease.

Rabies is a viral disease, spread from animals to humans through saliva. The most deaths from rabies occur in Africa and Asia, with the majority of cases transmitted by dogs. But rabies is preventable! Education and awareness, animal and human vaccinations, and community surveillance are some strategies for prevention and elimination. With lots of attention on the usual global health priority areas, it’s nice to see these three international organizations coming together to raise awareness and fight a neglected tropical disease.

Read their statement and watch this short video for more information. 

Ethiopia Has Reached MDG 4

by nsoleye, posted in APHA IH Section

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are goals the United Nations and its global partners established in 2000. There are eight goals focused on addressing worldwide social issues including poverty, health, hunger, inequality, education, environment, and sustainability with the target to make measurable improvements in all these areas by 2015. 

Earlier this month, UNICEF released a report outlining trends and progress towards MDG 4, which is to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015. The report highlights work being done to meet this MDG, as well as challenges and disparities that have slowed progress. 

One of the biggest takeaways from the report is that Ethiopia has already achieved MDG 4 despite facing major obstacles such as a severe shortage of health professionals (there is only one doctor for every 36,000 people). The driving forces behind this achievement included strong commitment from the Ethiopian government, support from external organizations, and the use of innovative programs to reach communities throughout the country. Ethiopia joins Bangladesh, Liberia, Malawi, Nepal, Timor-Leste, and United Republic of Tanzania as another high-mortality country that reached MDG 4 before 2015. 

This news is quite timely considering the 68th session of the UN General Assembly opened last week with a focus on defining a post-2015 development agenda. As 2015 approaches, I am eager to see increased analysis of MDG progress and heightened discussions among members of the international development community about what’s next for global health. Stay tuned!

CBPHC Workshop: Saturday, November 2, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, Community-Based Primary Health Care

Please read and share the following announcement about the Community-Based Primary Health Care Working Group’s annual pre-conference workshop.

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday November 2nd, 8 30 – 5 PM

EVENT: Community Based Primary Health Care APHA Pre-Conference, “Effective CBPHC Tools for Effective Maternal, Newborn and Child Health”

LOCATION: Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 415 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Current and future practitioners of CBPHC, and anyone interested in improving the health of poor and vulnerable populations in global health

GOALS OF THE WORKSHOP:

  • Share maternal, newborn and child health knowledge and effective practices to improve the effectiveness of your CBPHC programs for greater impact in reducing child, newborn and maternal deaths
  • Learn from experienced health professionals about career paths in CBPHC
  • Network and collaborate with other public health practitioners

We will be sending more information on the agenda in the coming weeks.

REGISTRATION: To register, please contact: Sandy Hoar at hoar@gwu.edu
The registration fee, including morning coffee, is $35 (students $25) and is due on the morning of the conference, November 2nd. To facilitate planning, please register ASAP, but certainly by October 11th, and indicate if you will be joining us for dinner afterwards.

To register, contact Sandy Hoar at hoar@gwu.edu.

Hope to see you at the conference!