Article Type: Story
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Taking steps to prevent a diphtheria outbreak in Yemen
In Yemen, a brutal civil war has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis. The conflict, which began in 2015, is crushing the country’s health care system and opening the door to infectious disease outbreaks. Yemen is already experiencing the world’s largest cholera outbreak in recent history. Now, an anticipated diphtheria outbreak is posing an increasingly greater…
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DREAMS Innovation Challenge inspires girls to dream big
When Isabel Ndindi stepped onto a bus taking secondary school girls from the Zomba district in Malawi to a girls’ leadership conference, she did not know that it was a step toward a transformation in her beliefs about education and women’s leadership. “Before the conference,” Isabel said,” I thought that only boys should continue their…
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A teacher in Ghana receives new tools to boost early grade reading
Raphael Ayeriba is a primary school teacher and curriculum lead at Bambaya Presbyterian Primary School in the Yendi Municipal District in northern Ghana. For 11 years, he and other early grade teachers have had difficulty helping pupils learn to read. Teachers like Raphael have had inadequate reading materials and training in instructional approaches to facilitate…
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Guide: Enhancing the performance of health care systems
Frontline health workers in low- and middle-income countries face significant challenges to providing high-quality services: inadequate staffing, wide gaps between evidence and practice, low demand for health services and too little use of data. To help workers address these problems, FHI 360 created the Quality Improvement Handbook, which offers step-by-step guidance on using evidence-based models…
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Assistive technology helps young children with disabilities to thrive
Participation in everyday activities is critical for children’s development and learning, yet disabilities prevent more than 1 million U.S. children from full engagement. The Let’s Participate! project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs, helped infants, toddlers and preschoolers with disabilities to participate more actively through the use of assistive…
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HIV survey in Nigeria yields data to improve HIV programming
In Nigeria, the Akwa Ibom AIDS Indicator Survey (AKAIS) broke new ground by generating more accurate data than previously available. The new data will be used to improve Akwa Ibom State’s response to HIV, while the survey serves as a model for a similar countrywide HIV survey. The population-based, cross-sectional survey, which was conducted between…
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Better health care for mobile populations in East Africa
Living in one country and working in another is common for many people in the region served by the East African Community, an intergovernmental organization of six partner states – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. People in this region also cross borders to obtain health services. Health systems near the borders are…
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What is conflict-sensitive education and why is it necessary?
Developing, implementing and evaluating education programs in conflict settings must be done thoughtfully, after careful analysis of each context and its unique dynamics. All aspects of these programs, including monitoring and evaluation, should be examined to ensure that they do not inadvertently contribute to inequality or exacerbate existing issues. In this conversation, Joseph Sany and…
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How do technology and screen time affect early childhood development?
It’s a common dilemma that parents face: Should we expose young children to potentially “mind-numbing” screen time, whether it is a tablet or phone? Is this harmful to brain growth and the development of cognitive skills? According to FHI 360’s Jacqueline Hess, Director of Disability Studies and Services & Early Care and Education, it is…