In Memoriam Princeton Nathan Lyman
Africare mourns the death of Ambassador Princeton Nathan Lyman who departed this life peacefully at his home last Friday, August 24, 2018. He is remembered fondly in diplomatic circles as a quintessential American ambassador. He served as ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa. He served in South Africa at a propitious and historic moment as the world was not sure how the country would emerge from the apartheid era and whether it would be able to do so peacefully.
Ambassador Lyman’s skill and quiet presence worked behind the scenes to ensure a successful and peaceful transition from apartheid to democratic majority rule in South Africa. His storied diplomatic career also included roles as deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa, director of Refugee Programs, assistant secretary for International Organization Affairs, and special envoy to Sudan to mediate talks between northern and southern Sudan. He is also a former board member of Africare.
For all the peace Ambassador Lyman helped to forge in the world, it is now his turn to rest in glorious peace.
In Memoriam Koffi Atta Annan
Africare pauses to mourn and celebrate the committed life of Kofi Atta Annan, the 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations and key supporter of Africare.
Mr. Annan, a Ghanaian, was a diplomat and co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. His death is a profound loss to the cause of justice and peace throughout the world. His life is a shining example of what determined, and purposeful leadership can achieve.
He once said this about Africare:
[We] celebrate the achievements of Africare as an organization that epitomizes the best and most inspiring of civil society action: a movement that started from scratch, fueled by the conviction that it is possible to change things for the better. Nowhere is that conviction more important than in the process to support development in Africa. Your work over more than a quarter of a century to bring relief and self-reliance to so many has indeed made a real difference to the people of the continent.
We say this about him now: Well done, Mr. Secretary-General. Rest in eternal peace.
#TheNextEdwinah
Imagine being a child and knowing your family’s best hope for a better life rests on your small shoulders. Imagine seeing your family sacrifice everything just so you can get a good education — and having no more to give when that dream is left unfulfilled. Edwinah didn’t have to imagine this — she lived it.
Over ten years ago, through eyes still yellowed from the lingering effects of malaria, Edwinah saw her family sell nearly everything they owned to pay for her secondary school education. But it still wasn’t enough. Just when it seemed that all hope was lost, Edwinah’s plight came to Africare’s attention. Thanks to the educational support we provided, she graduated from Rwentobo High School and went on to complete her advanced level education at Maryhill High School in Mbarara District, Uganda.
This year, Edwinah was moved to contact Africare to tell us how that help changed her life. From high school, she went on to earn her Bachelor’s degree in environmental health from Makerere University. A Master’s degree in public health from the University of Nottingham followed — both degrees paid for through additional scholarships and grants she earned along the way.
Today, Edwinah works as a Research Associate at Makerere University. She gives others in her village the kind of help Africare gave her when it mattered most. She’s helping her siblings with their education — and doing the same for orphans and young girls in her district. She is mobilizing supporters to help provide scholarships for young people in need.
Her family is doing “much better than before,” she reports. Edwinah is happy, fulfilled and thankful for the support she received from Africare. She says she “will remember every bit forever.”
Monsanto Fund Helps Africare Address Malnutrition in Kenya
Turkana County, Kenya is in the throes of a critical food emergency. Record malnutrition rates, erratic climate and a disruption of traditional food sources have led the World Health Organization to designate the area as an Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis. But, thanks to a grant from the Monsanto Fund, Africare will soon start helping pregnant women, new mothers, infants and young children live healthier lives by increasing access to nutritious foods and nutrition education.
The Improved Approach to Community-based Nutrition in Turkana (IMPACT) Project aligns the Monsanto Fund’s Food and Nutrition strategy and its commitment to addressing malnutrition and alleviating hunger.
Africare’s Malaria Prevention Initiative in Nigeria
Africare in Nigeria will convene a stakeholder summit on April 12th in Abuja to release the results of a six-year malaria prevention program in Nigeria that was implemented with the support of ExxonMobil.
“The Africare MAPS-C project has helped advance our goals of working with partners to provide malaria prevention therapies to communities in Nigeria and helping to improve health infrastructure,” said Kevin Murphy, president of ExxonMobil Foundation. “We were proud to support Africare in training health workers in electronic data capture and timely sharing of health information.”
The Malaria Prevention in Mobil Producing Nigeria Supplier Communities (MAPS-C) project ran from 2011 through 2017 and was focused on four local government areas in Akwa Ibom and Rivers States (Eket, Ibeno, Bonny and Ogu/Bolo) reaching over 90,000 people. Beneficiaries included children under five and pregnant women in households within these communities.
Among the top-line results of the evaluation of the MAPS-C project, it was found that:
- The percentage of under-five children who received Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) as a treatment for malaria increased from 21% at the start of the project, to 74% in 2016
- Percentage of persons with suspected malaria that were tested increased from less than 30% at the start of the project, to more than 90% in 2016.
- Overtreatment reduced from 97% in 2015 to 2% in 2017
- Awareness increased from about 30% to over 80% (the target in the National Malaria Elimination Strategy for Nigeria)
For more details and statistics on Africare’s work, click here Africare-2pgr-v3MAPS-C Nigeria Digital
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Robert Mallett interviewed on Executive Leaders Radio
President and CEO Robert L. Mallett was interviewed by Herb Cohen, host of Executive Leaders Radio. November 17 is the anniversary of Robert’s first year at Africare!
Listen here: https://custom.federalnewsradio.com/executive-leaders-radio
The interview ran November 27 and can be heard multiple times. It starts at about the 41 minute mark.
By Aliza Moorji-Hasham
Communications Specialist
Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program
A U.S. Government supported program used to improve nutrition among mothers and children was formally adopted by the Government of Tanzania as it seeks to accelerate gains in reducing stunting among Tanzanian children under the age of five. The Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program’s National Nutrition Social and Behavior Change Communication Kit (also known as Mkoba wa Siku 1000) was nationalized at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Centre as a part of the Joint Multisectoral Nutrition Review meeting.
The Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program and the launch of the kit has been supported by Africare Tanzania as the prime partner, with a consortium of partners of COUNENUTH, Deloitte, and the Manoff Group.
The kit was distributed to various stakeholders, nutrition partners and NGOs (as pictured), as well as Regional and District Nutrition Officers from around the country.
The Mwanzo Bora Nutrition Program is a 7-year project funded by USAID as part of the Feed the Future initiative. The project’s goal is to improve the nutritional status of children and pregnant and lactating women, thereby reducing maternal anemia and childhood stunting by 20 percent in six regions in Tanzania.
First Maternity Waiting Homes Completed and Opened in Zambia – ZaMs Project
Africare Zambia recently completed and opened its first six Maternity Waiting Homes. Lively community events were open to the community at each site. Local leaders from the area, including government officials, were in attendance. Three homes are in Mansa District, Luapula Province located at Mano, Fimpulu and Lubende Rural Health Centers and three are located in Lundazi District, Eastern Province: Nyangwe, Nkhanga and Mwase Lundazi Rural Health Centers. Jessy Mtenje, Lundazi District Coordinator for the project states, “These homes are set up to be community managed entrepreneurial enterprises with a variety of income generating activities as mechanisms for the homes to be financially sustainable, adequately maintained and also a sources of pride for women in the region”.
In rural Zambia, health facilities are sparse, roads are unpaved and transportation is unreliable. Women often have to travel long distances to reach the nearest health facility, making it difficult for them to get the care they need during pregnancy, childbirth and immediately postpartum. In fact, in Zambia, distance challenges are considered a leading contributor to the country’s high maternal mortality ratio of 224 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births.
Maternity waiting homes, residences near health facilities where pregnant women can stay until they go into labor and immediately after childbirth, can help overcome these distance challenges by enabling women to reside closer to health facilities as they approach the end of their pregnancies.
The government of Zambia has included maternity waiting homes in the country’s efforts to reduce maternal mortality. The goal is to make these homes sustainable by empowering local communities to both effectively manage them and generate income to support their operations through creative entrepreneurial activities, therefore ensuring the homes and the services they provide are available for the long term.
Eden Ahmed Mdluli, Senior Technical Specialist, who supports the project from Africare headquarters in Washington, DC, says “Africare is energized to work within the alliance and collectively achieve more for vulnerable communities in Zambia and elsewhere”.
MSD, through MSD for Mothers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The ELMA Foundation are supporting the Maternity Homes Alliance in Zambia to build and strengthen 24 maternity waiting homes throughout the country – all of which will be located near high-functioning health facilities equipped to provide quality care and manage life-threatening emergencies that can arise during pregnancy or childbirth. Africare, in collaboration with the University of Michigan, and Boston University, in collaboration with the Zambia Center for Applied Health Research and Development, are leading the program, supporting local communities to manage the homes.
The three-year project focuses on the districts of Mansa, Chembe, Lundazi, Kalomo, Choma, and Nyimba, and it builds on the existing efforts of each organization to lower maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa – where more than half of all maternal deaths occur. The project also represents part of MSD for Mothers’ commitment to Saving Mothers, Giving Life, a public-private partnership led by the U.S. Government to reduce maternal deaths in the region.
The program is creating entrepreneurial models of these homes to test a variety of income generating activities to promote their long-term financial sustainability. The program will include an in-depth evaluation to help the maternal health field determine whether maternity waiting homes can be both an effective and sustainable solution to help women overcome distance barriers to quality care.
UYO, AKWA IBOM, NIGERIA | APRIL 25, 2016 – Africare, the oldest and largest African-American led non-profit committed to advancing development in Africa, is joining forces with Fio Corporation, a Canadian technology company, to introduce automated malaria testing…
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Barbara Meier schreibt seit vielen Jahren für die NPAlliance Ratgeber und Testberichte. Dabei legt sie großen Wert auf die Ausführlichkeit sowie Richtigkeit ihrer Artikel. Sie zählt zu den wenigen Experten in ihrem Gebiet und hat sich über die letzten Jahren einen Namen in der Gesundheitsbranche gemacht.