Updates - March, 16 2010

           
            It's been a busy few weeks for COHI in Haiti as our volunteers work to build and maintain a stable, sustainable response to women's health needs in the aftermath of the crisis.  Two of our most exciting developments are the completion of COHI's women's health needs assessment, which can be accessed here and the integration of two Haitian midwives into COHI's clinical team.  These skilled practitioners are recent graduates of Midwives for Haiti's training program.  COHI's Rapid Health Needs Assessment (RHA), led by a COHI epidemiologist and 15 Haitian women, earthquake survivors from the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps near Fond Parisiens,  as enumerators and in basic health promotion. These leaders in their communities are now poised to continue with employment for COHI or other agencies as trained health care researchers assisting in additional field assessments as the recovery work continues.   COHI volunteers also surveyed clinics and other women's health sites.  This data is being used to inform COHI's next steps, and is being shared with many other agencies to develop a coordinated response to the actual needs of Haitian women.
            Maternity care is one of these needs, and COHI's new midwives have been hard at work meeting these needs.  Since they arrived in the Christ Pour Tous clinic they will be based out of, they have been busy setting up schedules and systems for prenatal and postpartum care, referrals for advanced level care, and reaching all the women of the region who need them.  They have also attended 23 births, even receiving a baby who was so impatient to reach their care that he was born in a car outside the clinic!  Five women have been appropriately transferred to a referral facility in Port Au Prince for higher level care, an important function of midwifery care. Our director is currently in Haiti meeting with many different agencies, continuing to lay the foundation for a sustainable, community-led women's health presence in Haiti.
            As births remind us, life goes on, even in crisis situations.  Our volunteers and midwives continue their work caring for women and babies, assembling and delivering clean delivery kits and personal hygiene supplies, making sure health care workers know how to respond to gender-based violence and women's health situations, listening to the women who come forward, promoting and supporting breastfeeding, and remembering the women's health must remain a priority.  And COHI needs your help-we are limited only by what we can afford, and we are encouraging all our supporters to donate or consider hosting a fundraising event.

Fundraisers

Please join us at one or more of these upcoming events:

  Professional Ethics in Midwifery Practice and "Doing Ethics": A Conversation
Midwife  Kirsten Lane has organized an an author talk in Northampton, Ma in support of COHI on Wednesday, April 7, from 6:30-8:30.  Jon Lasser, co-author of Professional Ethics In Midwifery Practice, will join us for a discussion of how to “do” ethics in midwifery practice. It will take place at  Cradle Maternal Wellness Center, 150 Main Street, Top Floor, Northampton, MA 01060

COHI Welcomes New Board Members, Siobahn McNally, Jirair Ratevosian, and Heather Lane

Middle East Coexistence Project
We are very happy to announce that COHI volunteer Jessica Alderman's beautiful photographic collection documenting our coexistence project is available.  From the War to the Womb Midwifery In Israel and Palestine is gorgeous, and available here.
Jessica has also put together a beautiful video documenting the project, which can be viewed here. Great work, Jessica!

COHI's first annual women's health summit
Bridges: Women's Health As An Agent of Change
We're getting very excited for the day we have planned for June 4th, 2010 as we finalize our speaker schedule.  Some of the highlights we have planned include COHI BOD member Sharon Craig, CPM, IBCLC discussing women's health care in Afghanistan, Monica Onyango discussing women's health care in crisis situations, Dr. Abdelhadi of Pathfinders talking about community initiatives in women's health care and updates from COHI projects all around the globe.  There are some other great topics in the works as well, and a finalized summit program will be available on our website soon.  We are also still accepting poster submissions for our lunch-time poster session; please see our website for poster submission guidelines.

Tanzania
Global Baby Steps in Pennsylvania contributed 5,000$ to be used towards the construction of a maternity care home in Tanzania.  Our project partner, FLEMAFA, who is working to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths, has identified transportation delays as a major barrier to women's health in the area, and seeks to improve the situation by constructing a center where women can give birth safely.

Leilani Johnson, MPH
Executive Director
Circle of Health International
90 Coventry Wood Road
Bolton, MA 01740
leilani[at]cohintl.org
Mobile: 512.517.3220
skype: leilanijohnson
www.cohintl.org

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