Building Local Health Systems with Information Systems

On my trip to India last month, I didn’t plan to focus on maternal health care, but walking through the maternity ward in Bihar, I couldn’t help but worry about the long lines and hours that keep a woman waiting to see a doctor.

Wash Your Hands—A Simple Action with Exponential Benefits

Today, on Global Handwashing Day, Change.org has launched its 3^rd annual Blog Action Day appropriately themed this year around water. There is much to be said about the global water shortage and its...

Family Planning: An Essential Health Service Here and Everywhere

Wonderful to see Anu Kumar, vice president of Ipas, critiquing the bordering-on absurd contradictions between the United States government’s domestic and global policy on family planning in her recent Huffington Post article, “Does the U.S. Care about Women? That Depends on Where They Live.”

Mobile Phones: Changing Girls' Lives One Call at a Time

In a world where 1 in 3 women experience a form of violence in their lifetimes, phones can be a lifeline for a woman who is threatened or needs help.

MDG 8,Target F: Last but Not Least, Technologies and Global Partnerships for Development

Earlier this week, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria announced its new pledges totaling $11.7 billion from many donor governments as well as other private sources like Chevron, the United Methodist Church, and the Gates Foundation.

Following the Leaders: Global Fund Helped Make Country Ownership a Reality

Yesterday, donor countries and corporations pledged a record-setting $11.7 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The largest pledge came from the United States government—$4 billion over the next three years, which is an increase of nearly 40% over past commitments and the largest increase of any donor country.

Ensuring a Legacy: The Health Workforce Component of the Global Health Initiative

When we talk about the “health workforce crisis” or “human resources for health,” this abstract language can obscure the suffering of people in need.

Key Elements of a Health Workforce Strategy for the Global Health Initiative

In sub-Saharan Africa, a woman is likely to deliver her baby without a skilled birth attendant, making her chance of dying unacceptably high.

Revisiting Zambia: Still So Much to Do

Last month, I was in Zambia, a country especially close to my heart. I was born in Zambia and lived there through the end of high school.

For Manuela

Sexual violence is a reality of the developed and the developing world. Globally, one in three women experience sexual violence in their lifetimes.