Supporting Sierra Leone, reaching Bangladesh, and detecting diseases

The info hub for the hub of global health

New Year’s resolutions

Welcome back to Field Notes! As we head into another uncertain year, it’s important to focus on good health and embrace self-care. Fred Hutch has seven evidence-based ways to manage your health throughout the year.

For those other New Year’s resolutions you’re trying to stay on top of, Providence has 10 tips for following through. If you made resolutions this year, good luck!

Mission accomplished

Congratulations to Bloodworks Northwest for accomplishing its bold goal of 10k blood donors in 2021! New and repeat donors have helped to save lives by rolling up their sleeves and giving blood.

However, the work isn’t done. Because of factors like the holidays, bad weather preventing donors from traveling to collection sites, and staffing gaps due to COVID-19, there’s a severe blood shortage. If you’re able to, make an appointment today to help save lives. Let’s see how many blood donors we can get in 2022.

Catch it on YouTube

For anyone who works with kids, is a caregiver for a child on the autism spectrum, or just wants to learn more, Seattle Children’s is hosting a series of live-stream classes called Conversations About Autism. You can catch the conversations on the third Thursday of every month at 7:00pm on Seattle Children’s YouTube channel or on Facebook Live. If you miss any, the recordings will be posted on the YouTube channel.

Reaching Bangladesh

CARE Bangladesh is using the Amplio Talking Book for the Joint Action for Nutrition Outcomes project. For this project, Talking Books share knowledge on nutrition, climate-smart agriculture, health, WASH, and gender equality. Watch the video to hear the device’s welcome message in Bengali!

Supporting Sierra Leone

The quality of health care in the Kono District of rural Sierra Leone has improved greatly, thanks to Partners In Health (PIH) and its work with the Ministry of Health & Sanitation. PIH-supported clinics are partnering with traditional birth attendants, supporting family planning, and combating gender-based violence—and have seen a drastic rise in women trusting them for health care. More clinicians have been trained, infrastructure has improved, pharmacies are stocked, and health service costs are reduced or eliminated. Now, more women have affordable access to critical care.

Detecting diseases

The Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (WADDL) at Washington State University detects animal diseases, combats outbreaks, and protects the nation’s food supply. It recently received grant funding to develop and implement a new notification system to alert agencies of emerging diseases and outbreaks in animals. It also received a grant to detect emerging aquatic diseases. Recent history has proven how critical it is to detect emerging diseases in animals, especially when they could pass to humans.

People on the Move

Burt Yaszay was named Chief of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at Seattle Children’s.
Hala AlMossawi joined RTI International as Vice President of Global Health.
Jeffrey Leek was named Vice President and Chief Data Officer at Fred Hutch.
Jorge Elguera was named Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer at RTI International.
Marc Cummings is the new CEO and President of Life Science Washington.
Tumaini Rucker Coker, Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at University of Washington Medicine and Seattle Children’s, was appointed to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

Zoomin' around town

Feb. 1: Join Fred Hutch for Renew, Refocus, Reduce Risk—a virtual deep dive into the evidence-based strategies to manage your health mentioned above.
Feb 4: In honor of World Cancer Day, register for Cancer Care in Rwanda to hear how PIH works side-by-side with local communities to provide cancer services.
Feb. 16: Join the RTI International Innovation Showcase featuring a welcome by RTI’s new President and CEO, Tim Gabel, followed by a live discussion by RTI experts on using science to respond to climate change and sustainability, and closing with an awards presentation.

Anytime

Check out Amplio’s blog and video to hear from Gilbert Nkpeniyeng, one of the first Talking Book listeners, to hear how it impacted his life.
Read SightLife’s blog, A Year of Possibility, for exciting plans for 2022 such as exploring new technologies to increase eye donation in the US and India, adapting clinical training programs to broaden its global impact, and expanding its prevention work in Nepal.
Listen to the Coping 101 radio program as Nathan Hale High School students share their questions about addiction, substance use, and recovery with Dr. Ray Hsiao from Seattle Children’s.

"If we end inequity, we end the pandemic."

–World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in his New Year speech