Jhpiego urges continued dedication to global health care for women and
families
07 March 2006
Statement from Jhpiego President and CEO Dr. Leslie
Mancuso:
As International Women’s Day approaches on 8 March,
Jhpiego, an affiliate of The Johns Hopkins University, celebrates the progress and
achievements of women across the globe. Jhpiego works on the front line in
low-resource settings throughout the world to help save and enhance the lives of
women and their families by improving their access to quality health care services.
One example of progress is in Afghanistan, where
ACCESS, USAID's
global maternal and child health program spearheaded by Jhpiego, is preparing a
new generation of midwives to serve Afghan women and help reduce the country’s
high maternal and infant mortality rates. During the years of civil war and the
Taliban regime, the women of Afghanistan could not receive an education or leave
their homes without a male chaperone.
Today, a growing cadre of midwifery
professionals is being trained with a new competency-based curriculum, adopted by
the Ministry of Public Health, which includes classroom studies and clinical work
at area hospitals. These women can practice their midwifery skills in rural health
facilities and hospitals as well as in the home, where most births occur. Along
with our partners, we celebrate a 64% increase in trained midwives over the
past year.
Our objective, however, is not simply to educate a few hundred
midwives. We must foster a fundamental shift in the way midwives are selected,
educated, deployed and supported as key players in reducing maternal mortality.
This goal requires the continued support of our global community. Jhpiego urges
government officials, the public health community and citizens across the globe
not to forget the constant challenges women face in obtaining adequate health
care in developing countries.
Dr. Leslie Mancuso is available to discuss the global women's
health crisis and Jhpiego's programs to improve health services in 50 countries
throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
About Jhpiego
For 35 years, Jhpiego, (pronounced "ja-pie-go"), has empowered front-line health
workers by designing and implementing simple, low-cost, hands-on solutions that
strengthen the delivery of health care services, following the
household-to-hospital continuum of care. We partner with community- to
national-level organizations to build sustainable, local capacity through
advocacy, policy and guidelines development, and quality and performance
improvement approaches.
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