#whwweek

[indiejeannie]

Piano/vocal recording of "The Finish Line" from the SHELTER collection. Written in 2020 after the spread of #COVID19 and released during #WorldHealthWorkerWeek, this video is dedicated to #HealthWorkers across the globe.(The song is also available on Spotify, YouTube Music, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, and more.) 

[myfurrydefendorstudent]

കൊവിഡ്19 രോഗഭീതിക്കിടെ ഇന്ന് ലോകാരോഗ്യ ദിനം ആചരിക്കുന്നു. BIG SALUTE TO HEALTH WORKERS #worldhealthday #who #april7 #healthworkers #whwweek https://www.instagram.com/p/B-qyPcsBiUW/?igshid=w2y3qoqey2qs

[intrahealth]

Health Heroes + Social Good Summit 

What are the most acute policy issues that face the global health workforce today? 

Gender equity. Global health security. Deliberate attacks on health workers in conflict settings. Ensuring we invest in health workers to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including universal health coverage. 

These were the focus at the inaugural Health Heroes + Social Good Summit, hosted by Plus Social Good, the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, Johnson and Johnson, and the United Nations Foundation, on April 5.

And members of IntraHealth International’s Frontline Health Workers Coalition secretariat team were there to advocate for greater focus on the issues and for the policy changes that will help move them forward. From left: Arush Lal, Casey Bishopp, Temi Omilabu, and Samantha Rick.

Read all about it on the Frontline Line Health Workers Coalition blog, by Temi Omilabu. 

Photo courtesy of Johnson and Johnson. 

[fpvoices]

Sani Aliou, Doctor and Country Representative, Pathfinder International

Niger

As a practitioner, if you are in the hospital, you can see that the root causes of high mortality among the women and children are related to preventable causes, you know? Like malnutrition, which is very important. More than 40% of the children in Niger are malnourished, and this is a very big burden for the hospital. But when you look at the causes of malnutrition, pregnancies that are not spaced are the causes. So having programs that can prevent the root cause of mortality, including family planning, are very important for our country.

Photographer: David Alexander

Interviewer: Elise Walter

[intrahealth]

Why Do Health Workers Count?

Because we need them if we’re ever going to achieve our dream of universal health coverage. 

Because they help keep us all healthy, happy, and productive.

And because they are the bedrock of our health system.

Why else? Tell us what health workers mean to you as we celebrate World Health Worker Week, April 2-8. #HealthWorkersCount #WHWWeek

Also be sure to check out what happens when Health Workers Speak in this gallery of heroic and lifesaving frontline health workers from around the world.

Photo 1: Pape Gaye, president & CEO of IntraHealth International

Photo 2: Rebecca Kohler, senior vice president of corporate strategy and development at IntraHealth International

Photo 3: Maureen Corbett, vice president of programs at IntraHealth International

Photos by Carol Bales for IntraHealth International

[fpvoices]

Anna af Ugglas, Midwife, Technical Specialist, Skilled Birth Attendant, UNFPA

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR)

During my three years in Bangladesh, UNFPA did a lot of good work in developing the curriculum for midwives and discussing the midwifery regulation with the government, and now they have an act for midwives. Most of all, we ensured that the quality of the midwifery education met the international standards. That was a natural process at the time, because Bangladesh started from zero. They had no midwives at the time. This is a totally new cadre to the health system. To develop competent and motivated midwives takes a very long time and a lot of effort and good collaboration as well. The trigger and most fantastic thing with Bangladesh was the commitment by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, which was taken in 2008, to actually educate and employ 3,000 midwives by 2015. That commitment was “make-or-break” to actually move midwifery development forward. With that commitment behind us—it was done in the General Assembly in the U.N.—the government moved forward, and UNFPA was there to technically support them. Today, Bangladesh has more than 3,000 midwives educated and more or less deployed in the health system.

Photographer: David Alexander

Interviewer: Liz Futrell

[worldhealthworkerweek]

Working alone in his unit, Sahr Mortatay Momoh, a Mental Health Nurse, was deployed by the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in 2014 as part of a group of 21 nurses trained in mental health and posted to each district in Sierra Leone. Sahr now runs the Western Area Rural District Mental Health Unit based in Jui, at the China-Sierra Leone Friendship Hospital on the outskirts of Freetown.

Mental health is severely underfunded and under-resourced in Sierra Leone. At the time of his posting, only less than two percent of patients with mental illness received the treatment they needed. But these challenges have not stopped Sahr’s dedication to his job and to helping to reduce treatment gaps.

Sahr’s story was originally shared on the Advancing Partners and Communities (APC) website. APC is a five-year project funded and managed by USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health and implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., in partnership with FHI 360.

[worldhealthworkerweek]

“Even though training others in rehabilitation medicine can be extremely challenging and exhausting, it is worth it when I see patients improving their lives and functionality through rehabilitative treatment,” said Dr. Bouathep. “It is the best part of my work, and it is why I will continue to do this work for the rest of my life. I believe that rehabilitation medicine will only improve in Laos.”

Dr. Bouathep’s story was originally shared on the Advancing Partners and Communities (APC) website. APC is a five-year project funded and managed by USAID’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health and implemented by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc., in partnership with FHI 360.