We're thrilled to announce we have been awarded the coveted Great Nonprofits award for 2019!
Awards are sometimes, well, just awards. But this one is special because it's based on the opinions and endorsements of those who know us best. We're grateful for the ongoing support of our donors and fan club which is the wind beneath the wings of all we do!
Read inspiring stories about us and add your own! https://greatnonprofits.org/org/healthed-connect
Children in Zamtan, Zambia, praying
for the hot porridge they're about to receive.
It is with a deep sense of gratitude that we give thanks for YOU, our HealthEd Connect donors, during this season of Thanksgiving.
May you be blessed just as you have blessed others.
The HealthEd Connect Team
on behalf of
the children, mothers,
health workers, families, and
communities you touch
Newborn babies protected by a mosquito net at a clinic staffed by volunteer HealthEd Connect Wasaidizi in Lubumbashi, DR Congo
Our tireless health workers defy a small but mighty death threat every day of their lives. And it's not just for themselves but also for their families and entire communities. Babies, who have developed no immunity, are the ones at highest risk. The threat?
The annoying and deadly mosquito.
According to the NPR Goats and Soda publication, nearly 600,000 people die every year from the Anopheles mosquito alone, making it by far the most dangerous animal on earth. By contrast, shark attacks get big press even though the death toll in 2018 was four.
Treated mosquito nets are one of the best current deterrents and, fortunately, are being made more available by government entities. In the meantime, Herculean efforts continue to be made to find the elusive immunization or other preventative method that will render the mosquito ineffective. Obviously, the sooner the better.
Lunch at the Mapalo Young Peace Maker Community School
There's plenty to be discouraged about in today's news. But there's also some super exciting news!!
According to the UN Goal Keepers conference last month, the world poverty rate is at an all-time low with less than 10% of the world's population now below the poverty line. That is definitely cause to celebrate --- but still sobering when you realize 1 in 10 people is still not obtaining the basic necessities of life. HealthEd Connect is tirelessly working to lift lives through health and education. The smiling faces of the children show the results.
A local hospital in Lee's Summit, Missouri recently posted this celebratory sign:
But we think our Wasaidizi health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo can go one better. A small but mighty cadre of seven volunteer Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), has delivered more than 11,468 baabies in the last six years. No shiny hospital delivery rooms, no back-up surgery suites, no electricity, no running water. And yet these amazing TBAs come out in the middle of the night to safely deliver hundreds of babies. Living in a country with one of the highest maternal death rates in the world, these women defy the odds and totally change the grim statistics in their part of the world.
They may not have a billboard announcing their accomplishments, but we think they're incredible!! And so do countless mothers and babies.
Sherri, Jeannette, Ken, and Jac
HealthEd Connect is celebrating the receipt of an empowering Trust gift while paying tribute to the energetic and far-sighted woman who arranged for this generous gift: Joan Scribner. Joan loved nursing and spent her life working toward the future by enabling the dreams of young people who wanted to pursue a nursing career.
In the 70s she helped establish a Professional Nurses Scholarship Endowment that, since then, has literally changed the lives of dozens of young people. The Endowment, now managed by HealthEd Connect, has provided a total of $48,650 in awards to 24 students in 8 countries including India, Nepal, Zambia, Malawi, Philippines, Honduras, Nicaragua and the U.S.A.
This month, Joan's son Ken Scribner, and his wife, Jeannette, presented a check from Joan's Trust as one of her final wishes. We salute Joan's lasting legacy to make the world healthier by empowering nurses of tomorrow.
You Go Girls!!
Here's to the strong girls every where, who courageously walk hand in hand in the role assigned them by society while dreaming BIG dreams for tomorrow. The world is making slow but steady headway on leveling the playing field for girls. But there's still a long way to go.
“When girls are educated, empowered, healthy and free from violence and discrimination, their communities are more prosperous and stable. Investing in gender equality is not just the right thing to do – it’s the smart thing to do. But girls around the world still face lifelong gender-based inequalities that begin in childhood.”
- Save the Children
Jane holding baby while clinic worker gives immunization
HealthEd Connect actively supports the health workers in Malawi, Zambia, and DRC who are diligently working to encourage moms to have their babies immunized. They've made great strides in overcoming fears and superstitions and in the last 6 months alone worked with the government clinics to immunize 11011 babies. Great job!!
While the developing world is making great strides, the U.S. seems to be going backwards.
An article by Nurith Aizenma in the Sept. 5 issue of Goats and Soda had the following sobering report:
There's mounting evidence that when a person is infected with measles, the virus also wipes out the immune system's memory of how to fight off all sorts of other life-threatening infections – ranging from gastro-intestinal bugs that cause diarrhea to respiratory viruses that trigger pneumonia.
"All of the sudden you end up having not just more outbreaks of measles, but you might have more outbreaks of rubella or flu or any number of other diseases," says Dr. Michael Mina, a Harvard professor who has authored some of the most ground-breaking research into this so-called "immune-amnesia" effect from measles.
