From : Sarah Armstrong <Sarah_Armstrong@abtassoc.com>
To : All IHD Field <all_ihd_field@abtassoc.com>; All IHD COE MCH <All_IHD_COE_MCH@abtassoc.com>
Subject : IHD Newsletter
Received On : 14.10.2014 14:20
Abt's Global Health Impact

 

Hello to all

 

I thought you might be interested in seeing the latest E-Newsletter for EXTERNAL audiences that we send out quarterly.  The one below focuses on EPCMD and last time it was on UHC.   Next one’s subject is TBD and will go out in about three months.

 

Please let me know if questions/comments.

Thanks!

 

Sarah Armstrong, International Health Communications

 

 

 

News from Abt's International Health Division

View this email in your browser

 

Abt Associates Expands Efforts to
Reduce Burden of Malaria in Africa:
Wins Major Contract to Work in 15 Countries


Building on Abt Associates’ work to eradicate and reduce the burden of malaria across Africa, USAID has awarded Abt a three-year, $268 million contract to continue work on the President’s Malaria Initiative-funded Africa Indoor Residual Spraying (PMI AIRS) project. The PMI AIRS contract builds on Abt’s current work on the AIRS project, which has protected millions of people, including 2 million women and children under 5, in Africa from malaria.

 

 

 

 

SHOPS Marketing Partnership Increases Sales of Zinc and Reduces Childhood Diarrhea


Sales of zinc products, such as Zintab - a zinc sulfate tablet - to curb childhood diarrhea, have more than tripled in remote regions of Ghana as a result of a successful marketing partnership with M&G Pharmaceuticals managed by the Abt Associates-led, USAID-funded Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) project.

 

 

 

 

Shifting and Improving
Gender Norms for Maternal Health


“Today the picture has changed drastically, to where it is now everyone’s responsibility to make sure that no woman should die when and after giving birth. I saw the need for male involvement not only as a community leader, but also as a father. As custodians of culture and tradition, our main role as community leaders is to talk about negative cultural and traditional beliefs and practices that may affect the [health] program." -Chiyendeyende Adams Zimba, Group Headman of Lukwizizi Community Rural Health Center

 

 

 

 

Projects in Mali Contributed to Reduction in Child and Maternal Mortality


Mali is experiencing steady improvements in the use of health services and health impact indicators in key, highly populated regions, where Abt Associates led the implementation of a two-phased flagship USAID health bilateral projects across Mali with a primary focus on improving service delivery at the primary care level – the Assistance Technique National (ATN) project, from 2003 to 2008 and the ATN Plus project from 2008-2013.

 

 

Welcome to the third edition of Global Health: Innovation to Impact.

This quarter focuses on the work we do towards Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths (EPCMD).

As a pediatrician, this is an area that is so very near and dear to my heart. So much progress has been made over the past twenty years and I am proud to be part of an organization like Abt Associates that continues to improve health and save lives.

Our projects are focusing on increasing coverage of key interventions that address the primary causes of maternal, newborn and child mortality.  

Abt is helping to:

• Strengthen the systems which are critical to delivering high-impact maternal and child health services;

• Use cutting-edge technology to prevent and control infectious diseases that impact this population; engage the private sector to increase reach and improve self-sufficiency of families;

• Collect and use evidence to inform policies that enhance maternal and child health services.

The goal of ending most preventable child and maternal deaths is within reach and we welcome you to share your comments on this critical subject.

Diana R. Silimperi, MD 
Division Vice President

 

 

New Faces

 

Dr. May Post joined Abt as the Family Planning/ Reproductive Health Strategic Lead within the company’s International Health Division.

 

 

Lowrey
Redmond
joined Abt as the New International Health Business Development Director to develop and implement new business systems and procedures.

 

 

Conferences

 

Abt showcased its work and technical expertise in both international and U.S. HIV and AIDS at the 20th International AIDS Society Conference. Abt's satellite session Improving Outcomes Along the HIV Care Continuum: Getting Services to Hard-to-Reach Populations in Vietnam, Mozambique and the United States featured IAS President-Elect Chris Breyer.

Abt's experts delivered two oral and seven poster presentations. Investments in HIV and AIDS was a successful study presented at the conference demonstrating that HIV and AIDS investments are truly paying off by reducing incidence and mortality: evidence from panel data analysis, by Principal Associate Carlos Avila.

 

 

 

Abt staff presented research and findings and hosted a satellite session on translating such research into policy at the Third Annual Global Symposium on Health Systems Research from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3 in Cape Town, South Africa.

 

 

 

 

Abt experts will be presenting at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) Conference November 2-6 as well as the annual conference of the American Public Health Association (APHA) November 15-19.

 

 

 

New Publications and Presentations

 

Increasing health equity and access to skilled birth delivery services for the poor through community-based health-care interventions: evidence from northern Nigeria

July 7, 2014
Ekechi Okereke, Ibrahim Yisa, Adekunle Akerele, Benson Obonyo, Mike Egboh
The Partnership for Transforming Health Systems Phase 2 (PATHS2) project introduced and supports community based interventions such as safe motherhood initiative demand side (SMID) and an emergency transport scheme within northern Nigeria. This study evaluates the effect of PATHS2’s community based interventions in addressing transportation as a barrier to accessing skilled birth delivery services in health facilities.

 

 

 

The Role of Health Systems and Policy in Producing Behavior and Social Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Examination of the Evidence

September 10, 2014
Luis F. Vélez, Mary Sanitato, Donna Barry, Martin Alilio, Franklin Apfel, Gloria Coe, Amparo Garcia, Michelle Kaufman, Jonathan Klein, Vesna Kutlesic, Lisa Meadowcroft, Wendy Nilsen, Gael O'Sullivan, Stefan Peterson, Daniel Raiten, Susan Vorkoper
This article appears as part of the journal supplement Population-Level Behavior Change to Enhance Child Survival and Development in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of the Evidence, which applies high standards of evidence to the review of health communication and behavior change programs. The supplement is part of USAID’s Call to Action to end preventable child deaths.

 

 

 

Abt-led study demonstrated association between malaria control and pediatric blood transfusions in rural Zambia: a time series analysis

July 17, 2014
Alison Comfort, Janneke H. van Dijk, Sungano Mharakurwa, Kathryn Stillman, Payal Hathi, Sonali Korde, Allen S. Craig, Nancy Nachbar, Yann Derriennic, Rose Gabert, Philip E. Thuma
Does the scale-up of malaria control affect the use of pediatric blood transfusions? Are there spillover effects from the scale-up of malaria control of use of blood transfusions in other patient wards? Answers to these critical questions are explored by Abt experts.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your interest in Abt Associates
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