November 2015

High-Impact Practices in Family Planning: Strengthening Leaders and Managers

Photo credit: Rui Pires/Uganda

HIP Brief: Leaders and Managers: Making Family Planning Programs WorkFor years, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and partners have championed and advocated that leadership and management be recognized as a high-impact practice (HIP) for family planning. Proven, promising, and emerging practices in family planning are codified in HIP briefs, publications developed by collaborating partners, with support from the US government, and rigorously reviewed by experts in family planning practice.

November 06, 2015

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Not without Family Planning: Why Reproductive Health Security Must Be at the Center of Universal Health Coverage

Universal Health Coverage

US Global Health Policy

Women & Gender

This Accredited Drug Shop (ADS) in Kibaale district, Uganda, is one of nearly 1,500 small private vendors supported by MSH that provide rural access to family planning commodities, counseling, and referrals.Photo credit: Rui Pires

This week, conference organizers announced that the anticipated 2015 International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) in Nusa Dua, Indonesia would be postponed due to a volcanic ash cloud limiting air travel and presenting health concerns. We stand in solidarity with all those in the region. Although the conference is postponed, the family planning conversation must go on.

Earlier this fall, the 193 member states at the 70^th United Nations General Assembly ratified and launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Now, stakeholders are determining together how to achieve the 17 goals and 169 targets. Management Sciences for Health (MSH) works primarily toward Goal 3: to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages and related targets by 2030.

November 09, 2015

Global Health Impact: Family Planning: A Win-Win-Win for Health

Chronic Diseases

Universal Health Coverage

HIV & AIDS

US Global Health Policy

Women & Gender

Photo credit: Olumade Badejo/MSH

Update, 1/11/16: Join MSH at the International Family Planning Conference, January 25-28, 2016, in Indonesia. Get ICFP2016 details here.

Original post continues:

This blog post is a web-formatted version of the Global Health Impact newsletter: Family Planning: The Win-Win-Win for Health (November 2015). (View or share the email version here.) We welcome your feedback and questions in the comments. On social media, use hashtag #GlobalHealthImpact and tag @MSHHealthImpact. Subscribe

November 12, 2015

Watch Live: Global Launch of No More Epidemics Campaign, November 12

Universal Health Coverage

No More Epidemics Campaign launching November 12, 2015.

Join us online for the global launch of the No More Epidemics campaign, November 12, 2015, 11:00 am - 1:30 pm SAST (4:00 am – 6:30 am ET) from the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Visit NoMoreEpidemics.org to watch the Live Stream

Follow on Twitter at #NoMoreEpidemics.

No More Epidemics® is an international campaign to prevent future epidemics of emerging infectious disease. No single player can solve this problem alone. The campaign addresses this urgent challenge by bringing together nongovernmental organizations, top experts in health systems and humanitarian relief, community organizations, academic institutions, epidemiologists, scientists, and the most innovative companies and philanthropies in collaboration with national governments and international agencies, to influence governments and multilateral institutions to increase their epidemic prevention and preparedness capabilities.

November 12, 2015

Pneumonia Day 2015 in DRC: Make Every Breath Count

Photo credit: Warren Zelman

Despite improvements in child survival in recent decades, children in low- and middle-income countries still suffer from illnesses virtually nonexistent in the industrial world.

Pneumonia is the deadliest of these, responsible for the death of 900,000 children under five worldwide in 2013—more than any other infectious disease.

And more children are killed by pneumonia in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) than in any other country except for India and Nigeria. Every year, approximately 148,000 children under five die of pneumonia, accounting for 15 percent of child deaths in the country.

November 19, 2015

No Room for Complacency: The Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance

Mohan P. Joshi, MBBS, MSc, MD

Antibiotics on the shelves of a pharmacy in Rwanda.Photo credit: Todd Shapera

Picture a scenario where infections become totally untreatable because none of the available antimicrobial agents work. This is not imaginary, but is likely to happen very soon if we don’t act urgently, intensely, and consistently to tackle the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

This week, the global health and development community is commemorating the first World Antibiotic Awareness Week. Spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO) to raise global awareness on the magnitude, reach, and severity of antibiotic resistance; the event comes at a time when resistance to many antimicrobials, not just antibiotics, has now escalated to pandemic proportions and is a serious global health risk that requires urgent attention. In fact, the WHO has labeled AMR one of the biggest global public health threats.

November 25, 2015