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This blog was originally published by the Joint Learning Network

We all know that working on UHC is a long and complicated endeavor,” said Modupe Ogundimu, the convener of the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) Steering Group, “While it is possible for these goals to be brought together in a high-functioning system, it requires thorough knowledge and experience of what works, what does not, and how to apply the tools necessary for success.”

“That is where the JLN comes in.”

Modupe’s remarks kicked off an interactive 90 minute session at the Fifth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research organized by the JLN on October 10, 2018. Attendees at the session, Solving UHC Challenges through Practitioner-to-Practitioner Learning, met four JLN members from Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, and South Korea, for a mini-demonstration of the joint learning model:

This week, for the first time in its history, the United Nations hosted a high-level meeting on TB, where world leaders agreed on a global plan to step up the fight against TB. Although the final political declaration has won approval, it is now up to countries to take action.

Leading up to the high-level meeting, MSH and PATH co-hosted a side event, Putting Political Will into Action: Public-Private Partnership to End TB. This candid conversation with a diverse panel of experts and activists emphasized the urgent need to forge deeper government, community, and private sector engagement to make meaningful progress toward ending TB, the world’s largest infectious killer.

The panel included voices representing civil society, multilateral perspectives, and patient advocates who are dedicated to fighting the disease.  

More than 1,800 Peruvians have benefited from "¡Qué bien te veo Perú!" – an MSH-Peru program that offers free reading glasses and sunglasses to people with limited resources improve their quality of life, help them re-enter the labor market, and prevent eye diseases.

In July and August 2018, MSH-Peru visited the Puno region to deliver spectacles in 16 communities in the province of Chucuito. The goal was to deliver 4,000 pairs of reading glasses to people over 40 who have trouble seeing up close.

This project was made possible by the generous support of RestoringVision, a nonprofit dedicated to distributing new reading glasses to people in need. Founded in 2003, RestoringVision has built a network of more than 1,400 partners that have collectively served more than 10 million people in 127 countries.

"Many years ago I stopped reading, but today I will read again," said Peregrino Mamani Peralta, 82, who lives in the community of Sutuca Urinsaya in the Province of Lampa, Puno, and suffers from presbyopia. Peregrino was an avid reader but when his vision deteriorated he could no longer enjoy this hobby. Now that he has spectacles, he can read again.

This story was originally published by STAT News.

As the Democratic Republic of Congo works to contain the latest outbreak of Ebola, in what could be a test of the world’s ability to contain the disease since the calamitous outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and 2015, it’s a good time to think about the global infectious disease pandemic that happened in May.

In case you didn’t hear about it, that pandemic killed 150 million people around the world, including 15 million Americans, within a year and caused the U.S. stock market to crash. Fortunately, the deaths and economic cataclysm were just on paper — or in electrons — the result of a daylong simulation with a group of high-ranking U.S. government officials that was organized by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

The simulation revealed just how dangerously unprepared the U.S. and the rest of the world are for a pandemic and provided experiential learning for decision-makers in the Trump administration.