Laili Harkita’s pregnancy was a tough one. When she finally gave birth at 36 weeks, her baby weighed just 1,900 grams, or four pounds. Jhpiego-trained midwives at Alia Hospital, a private maternity facility in South Jakarta, Indonesia, cared for the newborn, following strict infection prevention protocols. The midwives taught Laili to hold the infant
As a young girl in Bangladesh, Zinat Begum was fascinated by the women aid workers who bicycled to different towns, reaching out to people in need. Their independence intrigued her, “Their lifestyle was different from most people, and they wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. That really fascinated me.” During college, Zinat had
To prepare for and help prevent the next pandemic, global health leaders assert that countries need well-equipped laboratories and experts who are capable of detecting dangerous pathogens and new variants in time to respond. These labs need to be capable of genome sequencing—a technology that determines the DNA or RNA sequence of an organism, enabling
Every day 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Helena’s story shows us it doesn’t have to be this way.
