From Innovation to Impact: Our Growing Collaboration with Duke University

I would like to join the chorus of accolades for all the finalists of the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development, but especially Duke University. In response to this challenge, Duke researchers designed a heat-sealed pouch, which stores lifesaving HIV medication in doses appropriate for infants. The pouch is designed to be administered to a newborn during the first week of life, including following a homebirth and by a nonclinician, with the aim of preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Health Workers’ Role in Health Service Integration

It’s vital to strengthen the existing health system as a whole. In integrating health services, these initiatives focus on the role of health workers.

A Midwife Crisis

“If we want to stop these women and babies dying, we need to invest in skilled care,” declared Flavia Bustreo, assistant director-general of family and community health at the World Health Organization. Bustreo’s declaration came on the heels of the release of the WHO’s State of the World’s Midwifery 2011: Delivering Health, Saving Lives.

South Sudan: “Transforming from Zero” the Nation, the Health System, the Health Workforce

Over the weekend, the world’s newest nation was born. South Sudan celebrated independence as Africa’s 54th nation state and the United Nations 193rd member.

How—and When—Do You Tell a Child She is HIV-positive?

Telling a child she is HIV-positive is difficult in many ways.  

Last month, I was in Kigali, Rwanda, to give the keynote address at the 6^th International Conference for Exchange and Research on HIV...

The Key to Progress: Health Workforce Lessons from the Family Planning Movement

One of the great privileges of my life has been to know bold leaders in family planning and reproductive health.

Thoughts on Motivating Health Workers

Health workers must be retained, productive, and caring if the huge deficits in access to health workers are to be addressed.

iHRIS and eLearning: A New Direction for Capacity-Building

Kabelo Bitsang of the Botswana Ministry of Health, learned to maintain and customize the iHRIS software by studying online, working with developers around the world, and training in Ghana.

TEDxChapelHill: Open Source Technologies, Local Engagement, and Innovation for Global Health

The Commitment of Health Workers

The first time I met them, they seemed like any other group of health workers—pleasant faces looking up to greet me even though I had interrupted their meeting.