Here at INFO, we love to report about how others are using Web 2.0 to advance the cause of improved global health, especially in the area of reproductive health, family planning and maternal and child health.
Recently I received a wonderful e-mail from the folks at Engenderhealth (see past post on the ACQUIRE End of Project Meeting). EngenderHealth has been using YouTube in order to raise awareness for infant and maternal mortality and the Millennium Development Goals.
The Millennium Development Goals are eight international development goals that the 189 United Nations member states (plus a broad range of international organizations) agreed in 2001 to achieve by the year 2015. They include cutting levels of extreme poverty in half, substantially reducing child mortality rates, fighting epidemic diseases, and promoting global socioeconomic development.
YouTube has organized a global campaign called “In My Name” to raise public awareness of the Millennium Development Goals, in the belief that governments would be willing to do more if they saw how strongly so many of their citizens believe in this kind of effort. The overall campaign features Black Eyed Peas front man Will.I.Am, and his call-out video asks people from around the world to create and upload their own video stating their name, their home country, and a specific request that their own government do more to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Read the rest of this entry »
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Jane Bertrand about building monitoring and evaluation into family planning programs. Dr. Bertrand, who is the director of the Center for Communication Programs, home of the INFO Project, pointed to Colombia’s pioneering PROFAMILIA family planning program, an IPPF affiliate that is the largest not-for-profit FP provider in the country.
In terms of organizations that have done M&E well, let me go back to a pioneer in this area, PROFAMILIA in Colombia in the 60s and 70s. They were way ahead of the competition, and their executive director, Miguel Trias, said at one point, “A day without data is like a minute without oxygen.”
In a recent interview about the Elements of Family Planning Success, Dr. Alan Bornbusch gives examples of national contraceptive success stories in countries including Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. Dr. Bornbusch, a Public Health Adviser in USAID/Washington’s Office of Population and Reproductive Health, Bureau for Global Health, explains the role of the supply chains and gives strategies for averting bottlenecks (supply choke points) in national contraceptive provision programs.
Zimbabwe has an innovative system that Dr. Bornbusch describes in this video. Trucks come to clinics each month with laptops to work with contraceptive supply managers to determine what supply should be for that month. Then, the supply is “topped up” to carry them through the next month.
What is a Facebook page, you ask? It’s a recently-launched feature…
Every Facebook Page is a unique experience where users can become more deeply connected with your business or brand. Users can express their support by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your Wall, uploading photos, and joining other fans in discussion groups. You can send updates to your fans regularly — or just with special news or offers.
We uploaded some videos for you to watch–check out Dr. Robert Blum from the Bloomberg School of Public Health talking about adolescent reproductive health care–and put some photographs up. Check out our album and link in.
Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Government or The Johns Hopkins University.
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