April 2013

April 02, 2013

Surviving XDR-TB [2]

Marie-Reine Maroun [3]

[2]Photo: E. Delmotte/MSH.

Mildred Fernando lives and works in the Philippines for the USAID [5]-funded, MSH-led, Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program [6]. Mildred spoke at several World TB Day events in Washington, DC, including at a senate briefing and an event honoring TB survivors and advocates (watch video). [7] The interview below first appeared on the SIAPS blog [8].

It all began in November 2001 for Mildred Fernando when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), a preventable and curable disease which caused the death of 1.4 million people in 2011 [9]. She was only 19 years old, working on completing her last semester in college when she contracted TB from her father who sadly succumbed to it two years later.

The Best of Both Worlds: Training Using Live and Virtual Tools [11]

Jarret Cassaniti [12]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

Karen Chio of MSH developed the K4Health Blended Learning Guide in collaboration with Liz McLean of MSH and Sara Mazursky and Lisa Mwaikambo of JHU-CCP (2013).

[11]Karen Chio of MSH developed the K4Health Blended Learning Guide in collaboration with Liz McLean of MSH and Sara Mazursky and Lisa Mwaikambo of JHU-CCP (2013).

Cross-posted with permission from the K4Health blog [13]. K4Health is a USAID [14] project, led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs [15] (JHU-CCP), with partners FHI-360 [16] and Management Sciences for Health [17] (MSH).

VIDEO: Health Workers Help Women in Afghanistan Overcome Barriers to Health Care [19]

Management Sciences for Health [20]

Fragile States [21]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

[19]Overcoming Barriers to Health Care for Women in Afghanistan.

World Health Worker Week [22] (#WHWW" href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WHWW&src=hash" target="_blank">#WHWW [23]) is April 8-12, 2013. Let's show the world just how much [24]#HealthWorkersCount [25]. Watch and share the video, thank a health worker, and donate $10 [26] in honor of a health worker.

"We realized that educating the community was something we had to focus on," says Madina, a trained Afghan midwife, as she describes involving elders and religious leaders in helping to improve access to family planning and perinatal care for women in Khost province, including one woman who came to the health facility suffering complications from a home birth.

Health workers save lives. What will you do to thank a health worker?

Rallying around Country-Led Efforts for Option B+ [28]

Management Sciences for Health [20]

HIV & AIDS [29]

This week’s Lancet returns the spotlight to Option B+, an innovative strategy for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV which was first developed in Malawi [30] with technical assistance from MSH. Four letters respond to the concern that international organizations have too quickly endorsed the Option B+ approach [31] of providing lifelong triple antiretroviral therapy (ART), irrespective of CD4 count, to pregnant women with HIV in high-burden countries.

MSH experts Scott Kellerman, Jonathan Jay and Jonathan Quick argue that [32] “a strong case exists for expanding research on Option B+, but not for impeding countries that pursue it on the basis of available evidence and programmatic experience:”

Supporting State-of-the-Art Skills Development for Rwandan Physicians [34]

Candide Tran Ngoc [35]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

[34]Rwandan physicians receive continuing professional development. (Photo credit: C. Tran Ngoc/MSH)

Maintaining state-of-the-art skills and knowledge is crucial for physicians. But in most developing countries, the lack of structured or ongoing educational activities has pushed medical doctors to travel abroad to benefit from the most recent expertise.

To solve that problem---and improve Rwanda's health system---the Rwanda Medical Council (RMC) launched the continuing professional development program in 2011. The continuing professional development sustains practitioners' knowledge through workshops, seminars, practical sessions, and research.

The USAID [5] Integrated Health Systems Strengthening Project [36] (IHSSP), led by Management Sciences for Health, provided technical and financial support to the RMC for the implementation of the continuing professional development program by developing strategic and monitoring and evaluation plans, helping to run an office, accrediting health professional societies as continuing professional development providers, and preparing the national sensitization campaign.

"Mind the GAPPD": Improve Medicines Management for Pneumonia and Diarrhea [38]

Catherine Jane Briggs [39]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

We know what works to save the lives of children under five years old: We know which antibiotic to give for treating pneumonia, for example. Yet only 31% of children with suspected pneumonia receive antibiotics. [40] And two million children die from pneumonia and diarrhea each year.

The Economic Case for Investing in TB in Indonesia [42]

David H. Collins [43]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

Universal Health Coverage [44]

In recent years, commitments from the government and major donors have led to improved tuberculosis (TB) control in Indonesia, with reductions in both prevalence and incidence. The nation’s economic status has also improved; however, this has caused many donors to reduce their contributions to the nation’s health programs. Compounding this financial challenge is the rising prevalence of drug resistant strains of TB that further tax the health system with the cost of expensive services and medicines needed to care for these patients.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) under USAID [5]’s TB CARE I project [45], is assisting the Ministry of Health’s National TB Program (NTP) to develop ways to increase domestic financing for Indonesia’s TB control initiatives. Possible solutions include: increased contributions from national health insurance and government budgets, corporate social responsibility programs, and improvements in cost-effectiveness and efficiency.

World Malaria Day 2013: Sigue la Lucha---Continue the Fight [47]

Fragile States [21]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

US Global Health Policy [48]

[47]Photo credit: UNHCR/S. Hoibak.

To me, malaria is a very personal disease.

I first came face to face with malaria during the war of my time: Vietnam. I was plucked out of residency after my first year, with only an internship under my belt, and sent as a Navy Medical Officer to war. Medical school and residency prepared me well for much of the trauma I encountered medically, but I was totally unprepared for the large-scale emotional trauma, and for the tropical diseases I had encountered only in books.

I was overwhelmed by the young children with malaria, some of whom literally died in my arms while treating them. Yet, I also witnessed bona fide miracles: children at death’s door, comatose and unresponsive, who responded dramatically to treatments, and ultimately went home to their families.

To address malaria, I focused on promoting prevention (long-lasting insecticidal nets [LLINS] for families and intermittent preventive treatment [IPT] for pregnant women), early detection, and early treatment in the community—what is now called community case management.

That was 40 years ago.

Voice of America Interviews Dr. Stephen Macharia: On Tuberculosis in South Sudan (Audio) [50]

Management Sciences for Health [20]

Fragile States [21]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

[50]Voice of America Interviews Dr. Stephen Macharia: On Tuberculosis in South Sudan (Audio).

On the eve of World Tuberculosis Day, Voice of America interviewed Dr. Stephen Macharia, the TB CARE I country director for South Sudan.

During the interview (transcript, PDF [51]), Dr. Macharia discussed the TB epidemic in South Sudan, TB CARE I project achievements, and the way forward for improving funding for TB services and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) control in fragile states, like South Sudan.

TB CARE I [52] is a USAID [5]-funded project, led by KNCV TB Foundation [53] with partners, including Management Sciences for Health [17].

Voice of America, the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government, produces nearly 1,500 hours of news and programs each week for an estimated global audience of 123 million people.

Reflections on the Knowledge Management Share Fair [55]

Sylvia Vriesendorp [56]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

Cross-posted with permission from the Global Health Knowledge Collaborative [57].

“What is important to you about KM [knowledge management] and why?” was the first question that some 40 small groups discussed, sitting at paper-covered tables with colored markers that invited participants to doodle out loud. The papers and the host at each table captured their conversations, their questions, opinions and exclamation marks.

Within seconds the room was abuzz, with energy, opinions, experiences and wisdom.

Two graphic facilitators captured the essence of the conversation on a 24 by 8 foot mural that slowly filled over the next 6 hours:

[58] (Image from Global Health Knowledge Collaborative)

Read more [55]

Links
[1] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/02/surviving-xdr-tb#comments
[2] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/02/surviving-xdr-tb
[3] https://www.msh.org/users/marie-reine-maroun
[4] https://www.msh.org/blog-categories/health-systems-strengthening
[5] http://usaid.gov
[6] http://siapsprogram.org/
[7] http://www.ghdnews.com/index.php/about-ghd/events/honoring-champions-in-the-global-fight-against-tuberculosis
[8] http://siapsprogram.org/2013/03/22/an-interview-with-an-xdr-tb-survivor/
[9] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs104/en/
[10] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/04/the-best-of-both-worlds-training-using-live-and-virtual-tools#comments
[11] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/04/the-best-of-both-worlds-training-using-live-and-virtual-tools
[12] https://www.msh.org/users/jarret-cassaniti
[13] http://www.k4health.org/blog/post/best-both-worlds-training-using-live-and-virtual-tools
[14] http://www.usaid.gov/
[15] http://www.jhuccp.org/
[16] http://www.fhi360.org/
[17] http://www.msh.org
[18] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/08/video-health-workers-help-women-in-afghanistan-overcome-barriers-to-health-care#comments
[19] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/08/video-health-workers-help-women-in-afghanistan-overcome-barriers-to-health-care
[20] https://www.msh.org/users/management-sciences-for-health
[21] https://www.msh.org/blog-categories/fragile-states
[22] http://frontlinehealthworkers.org/
[23] https://twitter.com//search?q=%23WHWW
[24] https://twitter.com/search?q=%23healthworkerscount&src=hash
[25] https://twitter.com//search?q=%23HealthWorkersCount
[26] https://co.clickandpledge.com/?wid=47105
[27] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/12/rallying-around-country-led-efforts-for-option-b#comments
[28] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/12/rallying-around-country-led-efforts-for-option-b
[29] https://www.msh.org/blog-categories/hiv-aids
[30] http://www.msh.org/blog/2011/08/02/malawis-bold-pmtct-stance-protects-hiv-positive-women-beyond-childbirth
[31] http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)61807-8/fulltext
[32] http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2960834-X/fulltext
[33] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/18/supporting-state-of-the-art-skills-development-for-rwandan-physicians#comments
[34] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/18/supporting-state-of-the-art-skills-development-for-rwandan-physicians
[35] https://www.msh.org/users/candide-tran-ngoc
[36] http://www.msh.org/global-presence/rwanda-integrated-health-systems-strengthening-project.cfm
[37] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/22/mind-the-gappd-improve-medicines-management-for-pneumonia-and-diarrhea#comments
[38] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/22/mind-the-gappd-improve-medicines-management-for-pneumonia-and-diarrhea
[39] https://www.msh.org/users/catherine-jane-briggs
[40] http://www.unicef.org/sowc2012/
[41] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/23/the-economic-case-for-investing-in-tb-in-indonesia#comments
[42] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/23/the-economic-case-for-investing-in-tb-in-indonesia
[43] https://www.msh.org/users/david-h-collins
[44] https://www.msh.org/blog-categories/universal-health-coverage
[45] http://www.msh.org/global-presence/tb-care-i.cfm
[46] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/24/world-malaria-day-2013-sigue-la-lucha-continue-the-fight#comments
[47] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/24/world-malaria-day-2013-sigue-la-lucha-continue-the-fight
[48] https://www.msh.org/blog-categories/us-global-health-policy
[49] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/30/voice-of-america-interviews-dr-stephen-macharia-on-tuberculosis-in-south-sudan-audio#comments
[50] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/30/voice-of-america-interviews-dr-stephen-macharia-on-tuberculosis-in-south-sudan-audio
[51] http://blog.msh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Voice-of-America-Interview-with-Dr-Macharia_with-USAID.pdf
[52] http://www.tbcare1.org/
[53] http://www.kncvtbc.org/
[54] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/30/reflections-on-the-knowledge-management-share-fair#comments
[55] https://www.msh.org/blog/2013/04/30/reflections-on-the-knowledge-management-share-fair
[56] https://www.msh.org/users/sylvia-vriesendorp
[57] http://www.globalhealthknowledge.org/blog/reflections-km-share-fair
[58] https://www.msh.org/sites/msh.org/files/blog.msh.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/GHKC_knowledge_wall_0.png