Last week, the Rwandan Adolescent Reproductive Health Initiative honored 78 student artists who are using plays, visual art, poetry, and music to encourage their peers to practice safer sex, use condoms, and seek sexual health care to protect themselves against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. A recent event honoring the young artists brought together students from 13 schools with the support of IntraHealth International and the Imbuto Foundation.

The Southern Africa Human Capacity Development (SAHCD) Coalition recently launched a new website. The website offers tools for responding to the human resources for health crisis facing the region, particularly in managing the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These tools are intended to encourage collaboration, stronger health systems, and creative problem-solving among health workers in the region. The new website offers:  

Imbuto Foundation, in conjunction with IntraHealth Rwanda, yesterday awarded 78 students from different Secondary Schools in the country for their outstanding stage performances aimed at promoting adolescent reproductive health care.

In the Malawian paper The Nation, the Government of Malawi commended IntraHealth International for their work in reducing maternal mortality through the Southern African Human Capacity Development project.

Hundreds of people in Ethiopia’s Amharan region gathered together in early August to learn more about a devastating medical condition, and how to prevent and treat it. As a partner in the Fistula Care Project, IntraHealth International led workshops, organized dramatic performances, and facilitated meetings about the causes and treatment of obstetric fistula during Fistula Awareness Week (August 2-7, 2010).

The African Network for Strategic Communication in Health and Development recently recognized the “Break the Chain” campaign for its excellence in HIV and AIDS communication, and many Namibians have taken the campaign’s message to heart.

Field testing began in August for an innovative tool designed to address the health worker shortage in remote areas of Uganda. CapacityPlus staff Laura Wurts, George Mgomella from associate partner African Population & Health Research Center, and consultant Peter Rockers initiated testing of the rapid retention survey tool, which measures the attraction to and retention of priority human resources for health cadres in rural and remote areas.

On Monday, IntraHealth International hosted TEDxChapelHill, one of 82 independently organized events worldwide that included live broadcasts of TEDxChange in New York. TEDxChange was co-hosted by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and TED to mark the 10th anniversary of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Celebration of health comes to Chapel Hill

The TEDxChapelHill event and 81 other events in 40 countries showed TEDxChange, which marked the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations’ goals for developing nations.