December 2011

  • K4Health Highlights
    December 21, 2011

    Change is Coming to K4Health.org (Part 1)

    Simone Parrish

    JHU∙CCP | Web Products Manager

    You might (we hope!) have noticed some changes around here. Our new-and-improved blog platform is part of an ongoing series of enhancements to K4Health’s web products portfolio. These changes are based on feedback from the people who collaborate on and use our products—website visitors, blog readers, Toolkit builders, Photoshare devotees, POPLINE researchers, and eLearning students.

    Read More
    Share
    Add a Comment
  • Health Innovations
    December 20, 2011

    Solar Suitcase Saves Mothers' Lives

    Stephen Goldstein

    JHU∙CCP | Senior Consultant

    In health clinics and hospitals in many low-income countries, midwives and surgeons are often forced to work in near-darkness or with candles and kerosene lanterns. “Lack of a regular and reliable power supply severely impairs the ability to deliver care at an estimated 300,000 health facilities around the world,” according to Dr. Laura Stachel, a Berkeley OB/GYN.

    Read More
    Share
    1 Comment
    Add a Comment
  • K4Health Highlights
    December 09, 2011

    The Power Of Film: Spreading Family Planning Messages In Malawi

    Natalie Campbell

    Management Sciences for Health | Knowledge Manager

    The overhead lights dim and in the dark, the high-spirited rhythm and melodic line of a Malawian song rises and overtakes the quiet buzz of conversation. We are seated in a large auditorium at the International Conference on Family Planning in Senegal and watching the first film focused on the K4Health Malawi project in a festival hosted by Population Services International (PSI).

    The film festival is a rich visual and audio break in an intense day filled with technical presentations and serious conversations about what works in programs that promote reproductive health and family planning.
     
    The District Hospital Band in Nkhotakota performs much of the music that accompanies the film about the K4 Health Malawi Project. Their songs package and deliver important messages to patients about public health, tuberculosis, family planning, and more—affirmingthe information coming from doctors and health workers. The film revealed  the impressive power of music to move an idea into reality.

    Read More
    Share
    Add a Comment
  • Health Innovations
    December 05, 2011

    Countering the Counterfeiters with mHealth Technology

    Stephen Goldstein

    JHU∙CCP | Senior Consultant

    As the mHealth Summit gets underway this week in the Washington DC area amid thousands of mHealth projects taking shape around the world, one particular mobile activity is saving lives by helping to ensure that the contents of medicines match their labels.

    The Problem: According to a  2010 World Health Organization Fact Sheet, it is difficult to estimate the percentage of counterfeit medicines in circulation—WHO cites estimates in industrialized countries at about 1%, and adds that “many African countries, and in parts of Asia, Latin America, and countries in transition, a much higher percentage” of the medicines on sale may be falsely labeled or counterfeit.  Earlier WHO estimates from 2003 cite “up to 25% of the medicines consumed in poor countries are counterfeit or substandard” and many of them are used to treat life-threatening conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.

    Read More
    Share
    Add a Comment
  • K4Health Highlights
    December 05, 2011

    Mobilizing Critical Family Planning Content

    Piers Bocock

    K4Health, JHU∙CCP | Project Director

    She stood there, in beautiful red robes, with a small, serene baby bound firmly to her back. “This document is our bible,” the woman said as she cradled the green volume, in a way that was both matter-of-fact and full of awe. The book she was referring to is the vastly popular collaboration between WHO, USAID, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public of Health: Family Planning: a Global Handbook for Providers. “The Handbook,” as it is known around the world, was first published in 2007 and has been updated with new content this year. More than 500,000 paper copies have been distributed, with tens of thousands of electronic copies downloaded and distributed on CDs and flash drives. The Handbook has also been translated into nine languages.

    mother_and_baby_ICFP

    Here in Dakar, at the 2011 International Conference on Family Planning, the Knowledge for Health (K4Health) Project, led by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Communication Programs (JHU•CCP), has distributed thousands of updated Handbooks in French and English, and taken orders for tens of thousands more. But this Conference has also provided us the opportunity to broaden the reach of this critical content, by launching a portfolio of technology-based versions of the manual. 

     
    During the Conference, the K4Health Project launched the English and French versions of the Handbook in EPUB and Kindle formats, allowing the handbook to be read on a variety of platforms including iPads, iPhones, Kindles, and other eReaders. Perhaps the most exciting product release was the first version of K4Health’s Android App for Contraceptive Eligibility (ACE), based on the Contraceptive Eligibility Criteria from the Handbook. ACE allows a healthcare provider to quickly and simply identify the most appropriate contraceptive methods depending on a woman’s health conditions. Alternately, it can also be used by a provider to learn more about any of the contraceptive methods in the manual, their effectiveness, and their side effects. “This is incredible,” said a young man from Ghana who supervises a cadre of community health workers. “This means that we can carry the handbook in our pockets, even when there is no Internet or mobile connection.”

    Read More
    Share
    Add a Comment

Pages