A Note From COHI's Founder Sera Bonds:

Dear friends, family, and and COHI supporters,
It is with a contented heart that I resign from my current role as the Director of COHI's Board of Directors. As the humbled Founder of COHI, I served as the Executive Director for five years until Leilani Johnson synchronously came COHI's way.  What a phenomenal job she is doing guiding COHI, demonstrating her clear vision, competent stewardship, and commitment to COHI's mission. This coupled with the depth, integrity, and activity of COHI's current Board of Directors, enables me to step aside, enabling this bird to fly free of the attachment of the one who birthed her. 
In COHI's young life we've all witnessed this organization's ability to maneuver in and out of some of the world's most challenging situations, supporting the empowerment of disaster and war affected women and the health care providers who care for them. It will be one of the greatest honors of my life to have been a part of the creation of this force for good in the world. I am so proud of what we have done, together.

Thank you for this,
Sera Bonds, MPH
Founder, Circle of Health International

COHI's Women's Health Summit

Bridges: Women's Health Care as an Agent of Change
June 4, 2010  Boston University School of Public Health
Circle of Health International’s 1st annual women’s health summit is just around the corner, and  we're excited to present the following panel of women's health experts as guest lecturers:

Monica Onyango, PhD, RN, MPH

Gender-based Violence in Disaster Settings

Sharon Craig Economides, LM, CPM, MMid

The Status of Maternal Child Health in Afghanistan

Gomer Ben Moshe, MA, CNM

COHI Middle East Coexistence Project

Siobhan McNally, MD, MPH

Responding to Women’s Health Needs in post-earthquake Haiti

Abdelhadi Eltahir, MD, MPH

Community Initiatives to end Female Genital Mutilation

Eugene Declercq, PhD

Topic TBA

Terri Clark, PhD, MSN, CNM, RN

Topic TBA

• Raise awareness of COHI and its initiatives, informing friends and community members about where we are going as we continue to grow as an organization.
• Outline the challenges and opportunities providers and organizations face when trying to improve accessibility to women’s health care, especially in times of crisis.
• Provide examples of potential solutions to some of these challenges.
• Build collaborations and offer participants the opportunity to network and brainstorm with students and other women’s health care professionals.
• Present the vision of women’s health care as a force with the potential to change lives and communities for the better.
• Highlight ways women’s health care has been used as a bridge to peace, and a vehicle for promoting social justice.
• Generate discussion of the next steps as we, a diverse group of individuals and organizations, work together towards the common goal of improving the health of women worldwide. 

Celebrate Mother's Day (May 9th) and International Midwive's Day (May 5th) by supporting Mothers and Midwives

COHI is proud to honor and support the midwives around the world who care for childbearing women and often serve as community leaders. To celebrate International Midwives Day and Mother's Day, COHI is proud to share Jessica Alderman's new book and film , From the War to the Womb, which honors the midwives and mothers of COHI's Middle East coexistence program.  This book is a celebration of women, mothers and midwives, and the role they play in creating a more peaceful world.  It's an inspirational gift, and we urge you to consider purchasing the book for that special woman in your life. Help COHI continue to support midwives in their work, worldwide.  

Middle East Update

Visas have been secured for both of our volunteer project coordinators, Aisha and Gomer.  They both hope to be present in June so as to create a shared presence to show their amazing work in the Boston/DC/NY area.  We are currently fundraising for their travel costs and also arranging speaking engagements for them.  Please consider donating to the Middle East Program Here and/or hosting an event in their honor (contact info[at]cohintl.org). Midwives are making an attempted second trip to the Mithaloon Birthing Clinic in the West Bank on April 17th, delivering great news of support to the clinic from our MADRE partner!  Pictures to come soon!

Haiti Update

Haiti Fundraiser Saturday May 1st, Chico, CA.  For more info please visit: COHIChico.tumblr.com
Our Haiti Midwives are doing a fantastic job keeping women safe in Fond Parisien, Haiti.  They're delivering 1-2 babies daily and have been keeping the rest of their time very busy with pre and post natal visits.   We will have two more volunteers on the ground on April 22nd to work with the midwives and general community: one midwife and one public health expert.    They will be setting up a longer-term program for international midwives and public health persons to provide ongoing assistance and guidance for the women's health needs of the Fond Parisien community.  We will be contacting those in our database for these 1-2 week placements.  If you are still not in our database, please send your information including name, resume, availability and MISP certificate (if available) to info[at]cohintl.org.

Tanzania Update

Funds for a maternity center in Tanzania are slowly being pulled together.  Our partner organization there, FLEMAFA, has already procured and cleared the land and is on it's way for the next stage of construction for the Maternity home.  COHI has a volunteer there now, helping with this project and also setting up an internship program for clinicians and students to intern with FLEMAFA, helping them work towards providing safer birthing options for the women of Tanzania.

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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