United States

Changemakers’ mission is to engage students in global women’s health issues by utilizing Jhpiego’s proven methods to sustainably and holistically meet the unique challenges in the communities in which they work. Our dynamic, multi-media curriculum is rooted in Jhpiego’s decades of experience in creating successful global health programs and provides high school students the opportunity to learn these methods through project and problem-based learning.

The Changemakers Curriculum covers a wide array of topics informed by Jhpiego’s decades of experience advancing access, equity and awareness of women’s health globally, including: Equity and health; gender, sex and health; women’s rights; balance of power and women’s health; empowerment of women and access to education; maternal and newborn health; adolescent health; SMART advocacy; Human-centered design; and more!

As part of the innovative, multi-partner Baltimore Health Corps Initiative launched in June 2020, Jhpiego supported the hiring, deployment and training of more than 200 contact tracers, all of whom had lost their jobs or had their work substantially affected due to the economic fallout of the pandemic.

With the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020, Jhpiego’s role expanded to: developing a training for vaccination workers; building a team of community health workers for mobile vaccination clinics; and hiring a team of people to support, manage and advise a community-centered vaccine outreach and education response, also known as COVAX.

The program combined rigorous evidence and practical experience, including results from a cluster randomized trial in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya, with panels on doula healthcare partnerships and scalable workforce models.

A Community Marketplace showcased local organizations (Action on Preeclampsia Ghana, CareFirst Community Engagement, First Shift, Nathalie Doula & Associates, and others), creating space for resource-sharing and local-global dialogue.

The in-person and virtual convening brought together 40+ attendees from government, donors, implementers, and community organizations, alongside an online audience, to drive cross-sector collaboration.