USAID Global Health Newsletter - August 2017

NUTRITION and BREASTFEEDING

August 2017

A Cambodian woman breastfeeds at a USAID-supported village fair for World Breastfeeding Week this year. Photo credit: Igor Dashevskiy World Breastfeeding Week World Breastfeeding Week is an annual, global celebration that takes place the first week in August. Organized by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), this event encourages breastfeeding to improve the lives of mothers, children, and families around the world. The theme of the 2017 World Breastfeeding Week was "Sustaining Breastfeeding Together," which emphasized the importance of multi-level partnerships to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many of which breastfeeding supports. Each year, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) missions across the globe recognize and celebrate World Breastfeeding Week. From breastfeeding-themed plays and pop songs to village fairs and country-wide meetings, each country offers unique ways they support and promote breastfeeding during this global event. View this photo story to see how some countries celebrated this year. Read the full story about World Breastfeeding Week. Mothers in Uganda Lead the Way to Improved Nutrition Acting as farmers, caregivers, and meal managers, women in Uganda are the gatekeepers of nutrition and health for their families. Harnessing these women's critical role, the USAID-funded Lead Mother initiative gets women involved in improving farming communities' nutrition through increasing consumption of more nutritious crop varieties, and these efforts are yielding significant results. View the full story. Boosting Nutrition and Well-being in Rwanda A holistic approach to health and nutrition is helping Rwandans break intergenerational cycles of poverty and live, long healthy lives. Read more about the Community Health and Improved Nutrition project.

GLOBAL HEALTH VOICES
	PODCAST –"Importance of Breastfeeding" This month's podcast is a conversation about the importance of breastfeeding with Jeniece Alvey, Global Health Fellow and Nutrition Advisor for Maternal Child Health and Nutrition at USAID's Bureau for Global Health, and Clifton Kenon, Health Science Specialist with USAID's Office of Population and Reproductive Health.

HIGHLIGHTS AND LOOK AHEAD 2017 Acting on the Call Summit: Overcoming Critical Barriers to Maternal and Child Survival Global Health experts met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, August 24–25, for the annual Acting on the Call Summit, hosted by the Governments of Ethiopia and India and supported by USAID, UNICEF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, non-governmental organizations, and private sector actors. The global meeting celebrated our progress, shared best practices and lessons learned, as well as identified crucial next steps in reaching the 2030 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals as they relate to the Every Woman, Every Child Global Strategy for Women's, Children's and Adolescents' Health. Read more for full coverage and content of the event. Hear more about the event and maternal and child survival progress to date from Barbara Hughes, USAID's Director of Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Watch this new video to learn about Saving Mothers, Giving Life, a public-private partnership that has achieved a fifty percent reduction in maternal deaths in target areas. View the full collection of Acting on the Call content on the Crowd 360 Hub. View the full story. World Mosquito Day Mosquitoes kill nearly three-quarters of a million people each year worldwide and sicken millions more. August 20 was World Mosquito Day. USAID took this opportunity to highlight our efforts to fight diseases transmitted by mosquitoes for an entire week (August 20–26). Learn more about our work on vector-borne diseases. H1N1 Flu and Dengue Fever Outbreaks in Asia Recent reports of an H1N1 flu outbreak in Burma and a dengue fever outbreak in Vietnam are putting our infectious disease experts in the region on alert. View the full story. USAID GH Media Mentions July 2017 ZAP Helps Households to Take Action against Mosquitoes The Fight against Fatal Childhood Diseases in Haiti Gets a Boost The War against 'Goat Plague' Hopkins to Use $300 Million Federal Grant to Promote Public Health Programs in Developing Countries USAID Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week by Supporting Mothers in Kyrgyzstan SMS Reminders Boost HIV Drug Intake USAID Support Improves Leadership and Management of the Health Workforce Campaign Launched for People Living with HIV Global Health Science and Practice Journal revamps their website