When cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) started showing up in her community, midwife Taslima Akhtar knew that her work could not stop. Despite having little in the name of personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep her safe from infection, she continued to serve the pregnant and laboring women who came seeking care at the Sarail Upazila Health Complex in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh. In consultation with the health facility manager, Taslima and her colleagues made cloth masks for protection and soldiered on. Taslima is
Jhpiego, a nurse-led nonprofit global health leader and Johns Hopkins University affiliate, has been recognized for prioritizing workplace gender equality with the citation of “high performer” in the 2021 report by Global Health 50/50, an independent research initiative at the University College London Centre for Gender and Global Health. Gender equality: Flying blind in a
When Jhpiego’s new chief nursing and midwifery officer reminisces about her earliest influences, a kindly, senior midwife comes to mind. Her name was Iris, says Dr. Pandora Hardtman. She wore a blue uniform. Navy blue, Hardtman clarifies. Dark and stark. Not like the almost iridescent iris shade of dress (and matching lipstick) that Hardtman happens to be wearing today during a Zoom meet-and-greet with Jhpiego colleagues. And not like the shimmering turquoise of the sea that surrounds the pink sand island of Bermuda where midwives like Iris were a mainstay in bustling health department offices, full of people seeking
