“Showing up’ is the first step to a successful water and food security project. In Hinche Haiti, over the last 11 years, the Goederts’ report that showing up starts with “hearing our names called out by friends upon our arrival”. Americans may not be accustomed to having loved ones waiting at arrival gates; but in Haiti this is the first reminder that relationships are the foundation of all projects. This story serves to honor Haitian and American partners challenged to create solutions to food… Continue Reading
CGHAD
I start this letter with an audible sigh. This morning I am attempting to summarize a year of great learning, great teaching, and great growth, and all of this referring to ‘me’ and what I have learned, what I have been taught and how I have grown. At the feet of students, of Tanzanian health care workers, and of my Dodoma community at large, I have been greatly schooled and been more than generously blessed in the process. As is usually my experience with work… Continue Reading
“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”. African Proverb Three colleagues from the Dodoma Region, Tanzania visited the UNMC campus, hosted by the Center for Global Health and Development at the College of Public Health. Dean Ali Khan welcomed the visitors on their first work day with faculty and administrators gathering as colleagues with joint interests intersecting population-based maternal child health in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Dr. Pinaki Panigrahi and Martha Goedert, Ph.D., arranged tours of the… Continue Reading
Globally, we know that while neonatal mortality has improved over the last decade, 15,000 babies still die each day (UN, 2010). The Lancet’s Newborn series, in 2014, inspired a global crusade to reduce neonatal mortality, among other child survival initiatives. Most regions of the world have seen a 50% reduction in this neonatal mortality rate. However children in some areas of our world are dying at much higher rates, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Asia and Oceania. Half of all newborn deaths occur around the… Continue Reading
Here are some pictures. We are teaching V Scan ultrasound to our colleagues, and you will see that we are preparing for a Rheumatic Heart Disease screening project, because of the high prevalence of RHD and severe consequences for children and adults. I will be working with cardiologist, and with two of my MPH colleagues to accomplish this outreach project for all presenting pregnant patients in 3 out of the 7 districts here, randomly of course! ha! Little babies were scanned at the Dodoma General Hospital. We were scanning after requested… Continue Reading
Haiti Immersion May 2015, team member Helen Baas RNC, UNMC medical students: Amal Hamden, Prriya Maillacheruvu, Alyssa Malley, Ian Parsley, Abby Riese, Santiago Rozo, Steffen Spencer, Shelby Travis, and James Goedert , PhD, P.E., Professor of Engineering, UNL and Martha Goedert, CNM, FNP, PhD, Assistant Professor CoPH, CGHAD This May 2015 immersion partners second year medical students with Haitian partners who have been working in the Central Plateau in projects concerning health (www.midwivesforhaiti.org/) and engineering (Flower of Hope School). The students were selected based on… Continue Reading