Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Related News

Last week, the Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP) presented project results and celebrated achievements at a dissemination meeting in Addis Ababa. Led by Emory University and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MaNHEP sought to improve maternal and newborn health care in rural Ethiopia using a community-oriented approach. Emory University contracted URC to support Ministry of Health staff in the community and facilities as well as other community members in six woredas (districts) in Amhara and Oromia Regions to use quality improvement techniques to improve care for mothers and newborns.

A URC staff member and partners affiliated with the  U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Translating Research into Action Project (TRAction) will present research findings at a panel event at the Wilson Center on Thursday, May 2nd at 12 pm. Co-hosted by the Maternal Health Task Force and United Nations Population Fund, the event will feature four panelists—all affiliated with TRAction’s work addressing disrespect and abuse during childbirth.

URC and its non-profit affiliate the Center for Human Services (CHS) will participate in the 2013 Global Newborn Health Conference April 15–18 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference will focus on accelerating the expansion of maternal and newborn health approaches proven to reduce mortality.  

URC’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project has issued a Request for Applications (RFA) to identify and document innovative targeting methods to improve equity in access to and use of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services.

Noting that “the project has worked to ensure that its counterparts have the technical capacity for sustaining [its] interventions,” the USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) closed down its 30-month project in El Salvador in 2012 with the hope “that efforts to reduce inequities and progressively improve the health of the Salvadoran population may continue.” The project focused on maternal, newborn and child health with a view toward helping the country achieve its Millennium Development Goals in that health area and sustainably establishing improvements to its health systems

Respectful maternal health care will take center stage during a plenary session at this week’s Global Maternal Health Conference in Arusha, Tanzania. The plenary session scheduled for Thursday, January 17, from 9:00—10:30 a.m. East Africa Time will be live streamed at www.gmhc2013.com.

URC staff from several countries will participate in the 2013 Global Maternal Health Conference January 15–17 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania. Improving quality of care to eliminate preventable maternal deaths and disability is the theme of this year’s conference, co-sponsored by Management and Development for Health, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA. This story highlights our conference presentations, which will provide a sampling of our maternal health work across various projects.

In early December, Dr. Jerker Liljestrand—Program Leader for Maternal and Newborn Health and Family Planning with the USAID Better Health Services (BHS) project, which URC implements in Cambodia—presented at CORE Group on Cambodia’s introduction of a new device to reduce maternal mortality: the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG). Dr. Liljestrand was accompanied by Dr. Suellen Miller, Professor at the University of California San Francisco and Director of the Safe Motherhood Program at the university’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. BHS is training hospital staff to use the NASG. Use of the NASG is expected to result in reduced mortality from postpartum hemorrhage and contribute to further reducing the rate of maternal deaths in Cambodia.

Wednesday, November 14th is World Diabetes Day, celebrated every year on the birthday of Frederick Banting, who helped discover insulin in 1922 with Charles Best. This day, made official by a United Nations resolution, serves to raise awareness about diabetes. This year, the theme is diabetes education and prevention. 

After a year of operation, the new computerized patient registration system at Siem Reap Provincial Hospital has registered over 15,000 patients and met with the approval of the Ministry of Health (MOH).The system was introduced at the hospital in November 2011 by the MOH, with support from the USAID Better Health Services project implemented by University Research Co., LLC (URC).

URC, through the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, has contributed to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Safe Childbirth Program, of which a key component is to develop and test a universally applicable Safe Childbirth Checklist. URC staff participated in a 2009 international expert consultation to develop a first draft of the checklist and supported its field testing in Mali in 2010.

Ms. Annie Clark, URC’s Senior Quality Improvement Advisor for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH), presented “Improving Newborn Resuscitation in Uganda” at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA’s) 140^th Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Francisco. Ms. Clark developed the presentation in collaboration with Dr. Youssef Tawfik, URC’s Director of MNCH/Family Planning. The presentation described the challenges of applying newborn resuscitation in developing countries and discussed the contribution of quality improvement in overcoming these challenges, with specific examples from Uganda.

Aligned with the Aquino Health Agenda of providing all Filipinos with access to quality health care, in 2011 the Philippine Department of Health, with technical assistance from the USAID’s Health Promotion and Communication Project (HealthPRO), launched the Lakbay Buhay Kalusugan (LBK) or “Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle” initiative. LBK has the appearance of a fiesta-like caravan that brings maternal and child health information and services to geographically isolated and disadvantaged communities.

URC is participating in the International Society for Quality in Health Care’s (ISQua’s) 29^th International Conference in Geneva this week. 

On May 16, at the request of the Government of Vietnam, URC staff from Cambodia presented at the 6th National Conference on Information Technology for Health in Vietnam. Dr. Mean Reatanak Sambath, the Monitoring and Evaluation and Health Informatics Program Leader for the Better Health Services (BHS) Project implemented by URC in Cambodia, had been invited by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health to share the innovation and achievements of the Cambodian Health Management Information System (HMIS), which has improved the availability and use of health data in the country. The HMIS contains service delivery data from all health facilities in Cambodia, such as the number of antenatal care visits, number of family planning client visits, and number of cases of infectious diseases.

CORE Group approached public health specialists at URC early this year to translate and adapt a newborn health flipbook for use in Benin. The flipbook is a picture-based book used to communicate key messages to low literacy populations.

The USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) recently issued a report describing the results of a four-country assessment, funded by the US Agency for International Development, of high-impact maternal and newborn childbirth practices in Albania, Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. Conducted between late 2010 and early 2011 and covering 42 maternities, the assessment examined high-impact childbirth and early postpartum maternal-newborn practices. It focused on cross-cutting health system functions and provider and client attitudes, knowledge, and practices.

To help health workers better face the stresses and challenges of their jobs while maintaining their own health and well-being, University Research Co., LLC (URC) through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) is working with Swaziland’s Ministry of Health to develop a Workplace Wellness Program. The program held its first Wellness Day event in June, inviting health care workers and their families in the Hhohho Region. The event offered a fun, informal experience where workers and their families could take part in physical activities like aerobics and soccer and also address their health concerns.

A report released by URC’s USAID-funded Primary Health Care Project in Iraq provides a comprehensive view of the state of the Iraqi health care system. Based on surveys of more than 800 people in nine provinces, the report reveals a health system struggling to provide services with limited resources and a population facing a high burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer).

Maternal mortality ratios are declining worldwide, including in Cambodia, where long-held home birth practices are finally giving way to facility births. URC Cambodia-based staff Jerker Liljestrand and Mean Reatanak Sambath explore the reasons for rising facility births and falling maternal mortality and recommend continuing improvement in an article in the June 12 issue of Reproductive Health Matters.

Twenty years ago this week, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action launched the first World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) campaign to raise awareness and promote practices supportive of breastfeeding—the best source of nutrition for infants and young children. Many new mothers, particularly in areas with poor access to education and low literacy, may not be aware of the benefits of breastfeeding. The first hour immediately after childbirth (before the mother leaves the health facility) is optimal for providing her with the support and information she may need to successfully breastfeed her newborn.

Due to the long-term effects of HIV/AIDS and poverty, families and communities in many countries cannot provide care and support to large numbers of children. URC staff member Dr. Diana Chamrad will present results Wednesday from URC’s efforts to improve care provided to children orphaned or made extremely vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Hers is one of eleven poster presentations by URC staff taking place during the XIX International AIDS Conference.

Three URC staff participated  in a U.S. Government-sponsored evidence summit on community health workers (CHWs) this month. Organized by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the summit convened experts to examine community and formal health system activities that support and improve the performance of CHWs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The experts used evidence—peer-reviewed and “gray” literature, including randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies, case control studies, qualitative studies, and evaluation reports—to identify research priorities and develop recommendations for policy and practice.

URC recently joined the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, an advocacy group whose mission supports the development of skilled and motivated midwives, health extension workers, clinical officers, and community health workers. These frontline health workers are the first—and often the only—link to health care for millions of people in developing countries. The coalition advocates for greater and more strategic U.S. investment in these health workers as one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives and improve global health.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded Bethesda-based University Research Co., LLC (URC) a new five-year, $32 million cooperative agreement aimed to improve the nutrition and health status of women and children in Guatemala. The country has the highest chronic malnutrition rate in Latin America and the Caribbean and the fourth highest worldwide.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has highlighted URC-managed programs in the agency’s report to the U.S. Congress. “Global Health and Child Survival: Progress Report to Congress 2010–2011” summarizes U.S. global health successes in developing countries from January 2010 to October 2011.   

The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (IJGO) published a new article by URC researchers this month. Co-authored by Dr. Jorge Hermida, Director of Latin America for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Health Care Improvement Project (HCI), the article provides a compelling model for countries seeking to reduce the number of women who die each year during childbirth, estimated at nearly 400,000 globally. As in many other developing countries, the primary cause of maternal death in Ecuador occurs from severe bleeding in childbirth, or postpartum hemorrhage.

URC partners will present the Salzburg Call to Action, “Better Health for All, Every Time,” at the 65th World Health Assembly today at a special session on patient safety. The Call to Action proposes a set of seven recommendations developed by global health leaders during a high-level meeting convened by URC and the Salzburg Global Seminar. Launched two weeks ago, the recommendations have garnered more than 400 signatures to date.

After two years of successfully piloting CHS’s Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care (EONC) Network Project in Ecuador’s Pujilí District, Cotopaxi’s Provincial Directorate of Health has announced it will expand the project.

URC has released a request for proposals (RFP) for its Africa Child and Family Initiative under the USAID Health Care Improvement Project. Please visit http://www.hciproject.org/africa-child-family-initiative for more information.

URC staff contributed significantly to programming at the 17^th annual International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare. BMJ Group and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) hosted the conference, held April 17–20 in Paris. Under the theme, “Solutions for Tough Times,” the conference drew a record 1700 participants from around the world.

This week, University Research Co., LLC (URC) and the Salzburg Global Seminar assembled 60 global health leaders from 35 countries in Salzburg, Austria, for a high-level meeting on the topic, “Making Health Care Better in Low and Middle Income Economies: What are the next steps and how do we get there?” Salzburg Global Seminars convene imaginative thinkers from different cultures and institutions to solve problems of global concern. This seminar focuses on how to transform health systems in low- and middle-income countries to make them capable of continually improving.

URC’s Integrated Family Health Project (Projet Intégré de Santé Familiale, PISAF) celebrated International Women’s Day in the rural community of Zagnanado, Benin, on March 8^th. In keeping with this year’s theme, “Empowering Rural Women-End Hunger and Poverty,” and its overall goal of improving the health and welfare of the Beninese people, PISAF collaborated with regional ministries and behavior change communication teams to highlight the importance of preserving the health and welfare of women.

A series of discussions launches today on the ISQua Knowledge Portal, an online forum, in the lead up to next month’s Salzburg Global Seminar, which will convene imaginative thinkers from different cultures and institutions to solve problems of global concern. The forum’s topic matches the seminar’s theme, “Making Health Care Better in Low and Middle Income Economies: What are the next steps and how do we get there?” Portal registration is free, and the discussion is open to all.

Staff members Dr. Edward Broughton and Dr. Sergio Lopez recently co-authored a research article that analyzes whether it is cost-effective to implement a public health strategy that prevents pneumonia infections acquired by children in hospitals. Dr. Broughton is the Director of Research and Evaluation for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Health Care Improvement Project (HCI), managed by University Research Co., LLC.   Dr. Lopez is a Quality Improvement Advisor for Infection Control and Prevention with HCI in Nicaragua. Their co-authors included clinicians from the Manual Jesus Rivera and Bertha Calderon Hospitals in Managua, Nicaragua.

USAID/Georgia Mission Director Mr. Stephen Haykin and URC Senior Vice President and USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) Director Dr. M. Rashad Massoud officially launched HCI Georgia in February at an event in Tbilisi.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) named the USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) one of five winners in its first-ever “Excellence in Evaluation” contest. The contest recognized the best evaluation reports undertaken by USAID-funded projects. The winning report evaluated the results of 27 health care improvement interventions in low- and middle-income countries carried out by HCI, which is managed by University Research Co., LLC (URC).

Dr. Hill has worked extensively in both Niger, a country with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, and in Washington, D.C., which has one of the highest maternal death rates in the U.S.  Over the years, Dr. Hill has observed disrespectful maternal care in many parts of the world regardless of geographic or resource setting.  More disturbing to her, she realized her own capacity for kindness as a doctor was occasionally diminished because of stressful work conditions.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) of Iraq and the Primary Health Care Project in Iraq (PHCPI) recently co-sponsored a three-day national workshop on strengthening primary health care in the country. PHCPI is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by University Research Co., LLC (URC). More than 400 participants attended the event, which was held January 21–23.

URC’s Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project has issued a Request for Applications (RFA) on task-shifting for improving maternal, newborn, and child health services. The RFA calls for implementation research into the use of task-shifting to scale up three interventions: use of medications to promote uterine contractions and prevent postpartum hemorrhage by community health workers, the performance of Cesarean sections by nurses and other non-physician clinicians, and treatment of newborn infection by community health workers.

Ms. Annie Clark, URC’s Senior Quality Improvement Advisor for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH), recently visited Afghanistan to conduct a training-of-trainers session with targeted hospital personnel. The training focused on essential newborn care, active management of the third stage of labor, and newborn resuscitation using the Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) methodology.

The USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) is holding a contest for the best stories about improvements made in a local setting by health care providers and implementers in USAID-assisted countries. The winner will receive an all expenses paid trip to present his or her story as a poster at the Global Health Council conference to be held July 18–21, 2012, in Washington, DC.

An Australian TV station recently featured a story on maternal and neonatal mortality at Malalai Hospital, which has one of Kabul’s busiest maternity wards, with 25,000 deliveries per year.  URC’s USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) is working with Malalai Hospital to improve management of the leading birth complications for both mothers and babies, and improve monitoring and care after birth.

New findings from a focus group funded through URC’s Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project shows that women in Uganda preferred improved, energy-efficient wood stoves to traditional cooking methods. The women said that new stoves produced less smoke, used less wood, and cooked foods faster.

On December 12^th, University Research Co., LLC (URC) and George Washington University’s Center for Global Health sponsored a roundtable discussion, “Informing Feed the Future: Integration Success,” at the Global Health Council. Attended by over 70 participants, the roundtable focused on health and HIV/AIDS programs that have successfully integrated nutrition, food, and agricultural interventions, making effective use of public and private partnerships.

The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH), with assistance from USAID’s Health Promotion and Communication Project (HealthPRO), implemented by URC, successfully completed its first year of the Lakbay Buhay Kalusugan (LBK), or “Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle,” bus tour. The LBK bus travelled to ten different areas across the Philippines, reaching over 30,000 beneficiaries, mostly women and children in remote barangays (villages).

The Cambodia Better Health Services (BHS) project have produced a new film and accompanying learning materials to train midwives in Cambodia in proper delivery practices and care. The film, called “A Safe Delivery,” covers topics such as preventing infection, good delivery and immediate post-delivery practices, communicating with mothers and families, and postpartum and newborn care.

The Quality & Performance Institute (QPI), a division of University Research Co., LLC (URC), signed a collaborative agreement with the International Society for Quality in Health Care, Ltd (ISQua) during the latter’s 28th International Conference in Hong Kong, China. The agreement established an alliance between QPI and ISQua based on their shared goal of improving health care in developing countries.

With assistance from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Better Health Services (BHS) Project sent four Cambodians to the 6th annual OpenMRS (Open Medical Record System) Annual Implementer's Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, in mid-October. The session significantly advanced BHS efforts to strengthen a critical piece of Cambodia’s health system. Managed by URC and funded by USAID, BHS is building the capacity of public and private health service delivery systems; expanding models for health financing; improving the quality and impact of maternal, neonatal, and child health services; and strengthening the control of infectious diseases.

URC’s recently completed NuLife – Food and Nutrition Interventions for Uganda project helped create lasting solutions to integrate nutrition care into the treatment of those infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS, pregnant or lactating women, and orphans and vulnerable children.

The Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), hosted a special event today to launch its support for research to tackle household air pollution. TRAction, managed by Bethesda-based University Research Co, LLC, is overseeing research to guide interventions to reduce pollution exposure.

Today, Cambodia’s Department of Planning and Health Information (DPHI) of the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Better Health Services Project (BHS) officially launched the national Health Management Information System (HMIS) database: www.hiscambodia.org. The web-based database collects and stores health information from health facilities at all health system levels nationwide, facilitating effective public health programming and responsive health policies.

This week, the United Nations is meeting to address the issue of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). According to the World Health Organization, NCDs are the number one killer worldwide, causing 60% of mortality each year. The four leading causes of NCD mortality are cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory conditions.  Due to their long duration and generally slow progression, NCDs and other conditions like HIV are referred to as "chronic diseases."

Several members of the USAID Health Care Improvement (HCI) Project, which is managed by URC, participated in the 28^thInternational Conference of the International Society for Quality in Health Care, Ltd. (ISQua) in Hong Kong, China.  HCI staff will also lead two pre-conference events. 

Assessing one’s own job performance is a complicated task for anyone. It involves evaluating oneself against a standard and spotting areas for improvement honestly and repeatedly. The stakes are even higher for healthcare workers – where consistently meeting standards of care saves lives

URC’s Better Health Services (BHS) project has helped to improve a patient referral system in Cambodia so that women with a complicated delivery get to a hospital and that midwives receive payment for their work.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) launched a National Strategy for Improving Quality in Health Care this week, with the goal of coordinating all health care quality efforts at the national level. This strategy was developed by the ministry’s Improving Quality in Health Care Unit with technical assistance from the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, which is funded by the US Agency for International Development and managed by University Research Co., LLC.

A new study from the USAID Health Care Improvement Project shows that a quality improvement method widely used in the US called collaborative improvement is also effective in low- and middle-income countries.

Health care professionals in the Russian Federation have traditionally had limited access to evidence-based practices due to lack of internet access, few Russian translations, and difficulty obtaining translated material.  The USAID Health Care Improvement Project in Russia is helping to fill this gap through www.healthquality.ru, a Russian-language web portal.

Stella Mwita from URC’s Health Care Improvement Project in Tanzania was accepted as a finalist for the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development, a development partnership which seeks to fund proposals that provide innovative approaches to protecting the lives of mothers and newborns in rural, low-resource settings.

P. Annie Clark, URC’s Senior Quality Improvement Advisor for Maternal and Child Health, demonstrated Laerdal’s Neonatalie, a newborn resuscitation model, and Mamanatalie, a childbirth simulation model at the 29^th Triennial Congress of the International Confederation of Midwives held in Duban, South Africa from June 19-23, 2011.

US Senators Christopher Coons (Democrat, Delaware) and Johnny Isakson (Republican, Georgia) visited the HOMEL Pediatrics Hospital in Cotonou, Benin on Saturday, June 5. They visited URC’s USAID-funded Integrated Family Health Project, a program that has been developing low-cost innovations to save lives of children with severe malaria. 

Disrespectful and Abusive Treatment of Women During Childbirth, an article by URC staff members Sarah Whitmarsh and Maura Gaughan, was recently published in the online Global Health Magazine. The article describes the long-neglected abuse and disrespect many women face while receiving childbirth care in both developing and developed countries.  URC’s USAID-funded Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project aims to understand and document the extent of the problem and ways to reduce the abuse through grants to research organizations.

Several URC staff presented the Global Health Council’s 38th Annual International Conference on Global Health in June 2011.  The theme of the conference was “Securing a Healthier Future in a Changing World” and sessions focused on the challenges of and innovative solutions to address the demographic changes that have shifted the global burden of disease.  It is the world’s largest global health conference not focused on a single disease or health area.

On Tuesday, June 14^th, a new website on community health workers (CHWs) was launched at a satellite reception during the 38th Annual International Conference on Global Health. The website, CHW Central (www.chwcentral.org), is an interactive platform that facilitates information- sharing and dialogue about how to support CHWs, who work in communities around the world providing health education and care.  

Dr. Edward Broughton, PhD, MPH, PT, Director of Research and Evaluation for URC’s Health Care Improvement (HCI) Project, led an interactive seminar, “What Cost-Effectiveness Really Means: Economic Analysis for Non-economists,” at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Washington, DC on June 2^nd, 2011.

USAID’s Health Promotion and Communication Project (HealthPRO), which is implemented by URC, assisted the local Philippine government in creating a program for drivers of tricycles, a motorcycle with a sidecar (passenger-cabin) and a popular public transportation vehicle, to deliver basic health messages to community members.

Stephen Okiror, a Clinical Officer employed by the Bukedea District Local Government in Eastern Uganda, submitted the winning entry in the “Best Improvement Report” contest convened by the USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) during April 2011.   Mr. Okiror’s report, entitled “Improving Patients’ Retention in HIV Care through Adherence to Scheduled Appointments at Bukedea Health Centre IV, Eastern Uganda,” was selected from among 30 entries in the contest.

On March 10th, Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, visited the Kulakov Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology in Moscow, one of URC’s project partners through the USAID Health Care Improvement (HCI) Project in Russia.

University Research Co., LLC (URC) recently implemented a new project titled Diagnosis and Management of Severe Febrile Illness, which focuses on reducing morbidity and mortality of children under five due to severe febrile illness (a type of sickness, such as malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhea, which is characterized by a sudden onset of fever) in the Lake Zone of Tanzania.

Concurrent with Mother's Day, University Research Co., LLC (URC) awarded two research organizations $1.2 million for research on disrespectful and abusive care of women during childbirth through the Translating Research into Action (TRAction) project, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Population Council and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University’s Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program will each receive a two-year $600,000 award to conduct separate research studies of disrespect and abuse of women during childbirth at clinic-based facilities. TRAction and the research awardees will also work with the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood (WRA) on promoting respectful care.

Several members of University Research Co., LLC’s (URC) Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) particpated in the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare April 5-8, 2011, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.  The International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare brings together 2,000 attendees from over 60 countries to take part in sessions that vary from the basic fundamentals of health quality improvement to the latest thinking in how to improve quality and safety.  

The Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) is searching for improvement report from health care providers and implementers in U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) -assisted countries. Improvement reports are short stories about specific health care improvement experiences in a local setting. HCI is specifically seeking stories for its global database on improving health care.

In early March, the Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP) held learning sessions for quality improvement teams in the Amhara and Oromiya Regions of Ethiopia. MaNHEP is a three-year project to demonstrate a community-oriented model for improving maternal and newborn health care in rural Ethiopia. It is based at Emory University's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. University Research Co., LLC (URC) is one of the five partners working on the project.

Dr. Victor Boguslavsky, Associate Director of the Eastern Europe Region for the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, which is led by URC, recently spoke with former Senator Bill Frist about US-Russia collaborations in health as part of a daylong panel hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Last month, in collaboration with the Guatemala Ministry of Health (MOH), the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, led by University Research Co., LLC (URC), hosted the first international Helping Babies Breathe (HBB) training in Latin America. The meeting brought together 21 health professionals and MOH officials from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Guatemala.

The people in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the Philippines face many difficulties in accessing health services such as remote geography, security concerns and limited knowledge of health-related issues. USAID's HealthPRO project has launched a "tele-radio" program in an effort to bridge this information gap.

The Alliance for Malaria Prevention named Ghana Lead Innovator for long lasting insecticidal mosquito nets (LLINs) distribution over the past year. The award recognized Ghana’s pioneering role in national door-to-door LLIN distribution. The National Malaria Control Programme worked closely with Promoting Malaria Prevention and Treatment Project (ProMPT), a program managed by University Research Co., LLC and funded by the US Agency for International Development .

The Philippine’s Department of Health (DOH), with technical assistance from USAID's Health Promotion and Communication Project (HealthPRO), implemented by URC, recently expanded health promotion and service delivery to underserved areas in the Philippines by launching Lakbay Buhay Kalusugan (LBK)  – an innovative customized mobile health clinic to promote family health messages on safe motherhood, child health and nutrition, and family planning throughout the Philippines.

Translating Research into Action (TRAction), a project managed by University Research Co., LLC (URC), with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), published a report on a disturbing topic: disrespect and abusive treatment of women during childbirth, a time of intense vulnerability.

The Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) Project, which is funded by USAID and led by PATH with support from URC, has launched a new set of tools on nutrition and agriculture to help development workers in agriculture maximize nutritional benefits for women, children, and other vulnerable groups.

Four current and former University Research Company, LLC (URC) employees -- Larissa Jennings, Andre Sourou Yebadokpo, Jean Affo, and Marthe Agbogbe -- recently published a research article titled, “Antenatal counseling in maternal and newborn care: use of job aids to improve health worker performance and maternal understanding in Benin” in the journal BioMed Central Pregnancy and Childbirth. 

Five current and former University Research Company, LLC (URC) employees -- Larissa Jennings; Andre Sourou Yebadokpo, Reproductive Health Advisor; Jean Affo, Behavior Change Communications Advisor;  Marthe Agbogbe, Capacity Building Specialist; and Aguima Tankoano, Ghana’s Chief of Party -- recently published a research article, “Task shifting in maternal and newborn care: a non-inferiority study examining delegation of antenatal counseling to lay nurse aides supported by job aids in Benin."

Wondwosen Hailu, a University Research Company, LLC (URC) employee, recently contributed a story to the ChildFund International website.  Wondwosen is a URC Quality Improvement Advisor working with ChildFund’s Strengthening Community Safety Nets (SCSN) project in Ethiopia.

The Global Health Workforce Alliance recognized a URC human resources project that has reduced maternal mortality in 15 hospitals and health centers in Niger. The Alliance, a World Health Organization-affiliate, honored the Niger Human Resources Improvement Collaborative directors and its key implementer, Dr. Saidou Ekoye, at the Second Global Forum on Human Resources for Health. The Collaborative was among 36 human resources success stories and Dr. Ekoye one of 12 health workers honored at the January 25-29 Forum in Bangkok, Thailand. The Collaborative, implemented in Niger’s Tahoua region, is part of the USAID Health Care Improvement (HCI) Project’s work to ensure quality patient care in more than 25 low- and middle-income countries worldwide. URC manages the HCI Project at its headquarters in Bethesda, Md.

Guatemala’s Ministry of Health (MOH) is the first Central American country to receive the prestigious International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001: 2008 Certification for its central administrative and financial procedures.  The USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) provided technical assistance to the MOH during the certification process, which took two years to complete.

Twenty-two-year-old Rosa Delmy Fuentes Hernández is a resident of La Paz, a town located in the municipality of La Union in El Salvador. After reaching a full-term pregnancy, Mrs. Hernández entered the Santa Rosa de Lima National Hospital in La Union, El Salvador in active labor. She had a normal delivery and gave birth to a girl weighing about seven pounds. The hospital obstetrician team’s efforts to encourage breastfeeding immediately following delivery impressed Mrs. Hernández.

Mr. Thabit Obed, a Ugandan coffee farmer who is HIV positive, decided to change the focus of his farming to produce raw materials—groundnuts—for ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) to treat malnourished people living with HIV/AIDS, a key goal of a program called NuLife—Food and Nutrition Interventions for Uganda. NuLife is funded by the US Agency for International Development and managed by University Research Co, LLC.

On Friday, December 10, 2010, RECO Industries, Ltd. was named a 2010 Investor of the Year by the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), for its contribution to the economic and social transformation of Uganda’s community. RECO was the overall winner in the small scale industries category.

In honor of World AIDS Day, the St. Petersburg, Russia City Committee on Social Policy held a press conference on December 1^st, 2010, to share the results of the 4-year program to establish a city-wide system of comprehensive treatment, care, and support for HIV affected families in St. Petersburg.

Lungile Dlamini’s role as a Lay Counselor is part of URC’s work with the national and provincial Departments of Health in South Africa and the Ministry of Health in Swaziland to increase access to HIV Testing and Counseling (HTC). The HTC project, implemented by URC and funded by the Centers for Disease Control, integrates HIV testing with key services – including prenatal and family planning care, services for sexually transmitted infections, and TB care.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) received wide recognition in 2010 for products developed by the Underage Drinking Prevention Education Initiatives (UADPEI), a project of SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP). URC, as subcontractor to ICF Macro on the project, supports SAMHSA's national efforts to prevent and reduce underage alcohol use and plays a key role in developing materials to reach CSAP’s intended target audiences. 

The Philippine’s Department of Health (DOH), with technical assistance from USAID’s Health Promotion and Communication Project (HealthPro), implemented by URC, recently initiated an expansion of its child health communication and service delivery program.

Titled Garantisadong Pambata (GP) or "Guaranteed for Children," the program supplies services and information on health, nutrition, and environment for newborns to 14 year-old children.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s 2010 annual Report to Congress (please hyperlink to report on USAID site) highlighted URC’s contribution to global health efforts, with a particular focus on strengthening health systems.

Beginning 45 years ago with a focus on addressing urban public health issues in the US, URC is now a leader in international health reform, quality improvement, behavior change communication, and operations research.

The United States Agency for International Development awarded the Center for Human Services, URC’s non-profit affiliate, a four-year cooperative agreement, which aims to strengthen and accelerate delivery of proven, low-cost child health interventions in Benin.

URC Senior Vice President and Director of the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, Dr. M. Rashad Massoud, shares his thoughts on the role quality improvement (QI) can play in meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the online Global Health Magazine, published by the Global Health Council.

Through the Migrant Education and Training Support program, the Center for Human Services, URC’s non-profit affiliate, assists state migrant education programs to meet the challenges faced in identifying, enrolling, and providing the children of migrant farmworkers with a continuous quality education.

Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chair of WHO's Patient Safety Programme and Former Chief Medical Officer for the United Kingdom, presented “The Role of Improving Safety and Quality in Addressing the Millennium Development Goals” on September 16, 2010 at the Ronald Reagan Building, in Washington, DC.

The Jordan Health Care Accreditation Council convenes government officials from throughout the Middle East  with hospital administrators, health care providers, and quality improvement (QI) experts to talk about QI in health care.

Dr. Abdallah Aziz, URC Chief of Party in Namibia, co-authored an article on work to foster early diagnosis of HIV in infants in Tanzania, where less than a third of HIV-infected children estimated to need antiretroviral therapy were receiving it.

URC is working in partnership with Emory University to improve maternal and newborn care at the community level in Ethiopia. The project will train community and family members to administer potentially life-saving first-aid skills at the time of delivery.

Calidad en Salud, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by URC, improved the quality of and broadened access to clinical health services, particularly for traditionally underserved populations, in Guatemala’s remote highland regions.

Even simple, incremental changes can notably improve the quality of health services and save lives, URC’s Dr. Rodrigo Bustamante, Chief of Party, told participants at a conference held in September 2009.

A URC conference took a creative approach in conveying project results that successfully expanded the availability and improved the quality of family planning and child health services in Guatemala. The conference featured results from Calidad en Salud, a USAID-funded project that partnered with the Guatemalan Ministry of Health to improve health care services.