On behalf of our 2,200-plus worldwide staff, we wish you, your family, and communities, a happy World Health Day!

This World Health Day, we celebrate the heroes among us: health workers. We envision a world where everyone has the opportunity for a healthy life. Says a nursing officer from Kenya:

My vision is to have the best maternal services in this community.

Watch video [11]

For more than 40 years, MSH has expanded access to quality maternal, neonatal, and child health services [12] by strengthening all levels of the health system.

We support health workers at all levels -- ministries of health, community volunteers, midwives, medicine shop owners, nursing officers, and more -- so that every woman and newborn [12], even in the most remote areas, has the opportunity for a healthy life.

Envision a world where everyone has the opportunity for a healthy life!

When Mearege gets really sick, her husband leaves town. Bedridden and in the care of her parents, Mearege gets tested and learns she--and her daugther--are HIV-positive. Through the support of mother mentors, trained by the Ethiopia Network for HIV/AIDS Treatment, Care and Support Program [16] (ENHAT-CS), Mearege finds solace, guidance, and healing -- and decides to have another child.

Mearege is one of many HIV-positive women in Ethiopia whose lives have been transformed, with the support of ENHAT-CS. Says Mearege:

I was able to have a healthy child because I followed up with the mentor mothers and applied their teaching...

Presented by ENHAT-CS in partnership with the National Network of Positive Women Ethiopians, this video is made possible by the generous support of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief [17] (PEPFAR) through the US Agency for International Development [18] (USAID).

Watch video

This post is part of MSH's Global Health Impact Blog series, Improving Health in Haiti: Remember, Rebuild [23].

As January 12, 2015 marked the fifth anniversary of the Haiti earthquake, Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and its partner organizations, including the Leadership, Management & Governance Project/Haiti, brought together Haitian and US government officials and key global health stakeholders for two days of meetings and events highlighting health progresses made in Haiti since 2010.

Watch video recordings of the summit

Original post continues:

Haitian health leaders meet on Capitol Hill

Today, February 3, 2015, is 10 years since the tragic loss of three Management Sciences for Health (MSH) colleagues, Carmen Urdaneta, Amy Lynn Niebling, and Cristi Gadue, in a plane crash outside Kabul, Afghanistan.

MSH held a remembrance of Amy, Cristi, and Carmen today for all staff, friends, and family. The slideshow below includes photos of and by our beloved colleagues.

Remembering Amy, Cristi & Carmen

The Gadue‐Niebling‐Urdaneta (GNU) Memorial Fund -- established to further the work to which these remarkable women dedicated their lives -- awarded 11 fellowships in their honor, and ended in 2012.

Did you know Amy, Cristi, or Carmen?

You are welcome to add a brief remembrance in the comments below.

This post is part of MSH's Global Health Impact Blog series, Improving Health in Haiti: Remember, Rebuild [23]. 

Management Sciences for Health's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Paul Auxila, reflects on MSH's work improving health in Haiti. Auxila has worked with MSH since 1982.

This video was originally published on YouTube (2010). Shared in the spirit of "Throwback Thursday" (TBT), this post is part of a blog series called Improving Health in Haiti: Remember, Rebuild [23]. 

In 2009, a high rate of HIV & AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, combined with a lack of leadership to address the crisis in Haiti's Cite Soleil area, resulted in a large population of disaffected youth who believed that the situation was hopeless. As part of Management Sciences for Health's (MSH) "Leadership Development Program," funded by the US Agency of International Development (USAID), young participants from the Haitian NGO Maison l'Arc-en-Ciel (MAEC) learned that they can make a difference. In their rap song entitled "Apprends à faire face aux défis," (Learn to Confront Challenges) the young leaders share what they have learned [32] (in Creole with English subtitles).

Watch video:

Post updated January 8, 2015

Join MSH President and CEO Dr. Jonathan D. Quick on This Week in Global Health [36] on Wednesday, January 7, 2015, at 2:00 pm. Dr. Quick will be interviewed by Dr. Greg Martin about global health systems. Tune in to find out more about MSH’s approach [37], why health systems are so important, how to help improve health systems around the world, and more.

Watch live Wednesday at 2pm [38] or find the video later by following this link: http://bit.ly/1zGyjuR [38].

Update, Jan. 8, 2015

Watch the interview with Dr. Quick on YouTube:

My name is Tiglu. I was born and raised in Bahir Dar. When I first learned that I am living with the [HIV] virus, my mind went blank. I was depressed. After that, I started taking antiretroviral treatment. Then they found TB in me...

Meet Tiglu [41], a living example of how partnering for stronger health systems saves lives. In Ethiopia [42], about 790,000 people are living with HIV. Tiglu, a patient at the Bahir Dar Health Center in the Amhara Region of north-western Ethiopia, discovered he is HIV positive three years ago, and started on antiretroviral treatment (ART). He learned later he also has tuberculosis (TB).

“If it wasn't for the trainings given by MSH, patients like Tiglu wouldn't have received proper TB treatment,” said Sister Tiringo Zeleke, a nurse at Bahir Dar Health Center.

“The same is true for ART.”

It was sudden and unexpected. It was also funny: the ball exploded and deflated right under Teferi's foot. But everybody started to worry when the director screamed: “We can’t shoot the next scene without the football! Somebody get me a new one!”

I looked at the young boy actor. Tears were about to wash his gloomy face as the ball changed into a useless piece of flat plastic right before his cloudy eyes. "This is bad!" I said to myself. "The kid might not be willing to act anymore; we might be forced to start the production all over again!"

We were shooting one of the scenes for a TV public service announcement. Producing the TV spot is one of the major activities for the Health for All Campaign [45]–the campaign supporting the popularization of Ethiopia’s New Health Insurance Scheme.

It was ironic: the TV spot promotes preparing for unforeseen emergencies. Yet, once the ball became useless, we realized that we were not ready for an emergency ourselves.

Great news for US-based viewers: The Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership [48] (DCGEP) released the award-winning Pan-African feature film, Inside Story, on September 17 for digital download on platforms such as iTunes [49], Google Play, Comcast, and Amazon. Inside Story premiered in South Africa [50] on World AIDS Day, December 1, 2011.

"Inside Story is making a huge impact on audiences across Africa and we are thrilled to bring this film and its unique approach to the US and the rest of the world," says DCGEP President and Executive Producer Aric Noboa. "Inside Story reveals HIV/AIDS in a way that’s personal, practical and memorable through a lens that is both entertaining and educational. Audiences stand up and cheer in the theater because it’s a great story, and at the same time everyone walks away with a fresh perspective on HIV.”