Helping Health Care Workers Learn - from Hesperian

"Helping Health Workers Learn, first published in 1982, has become a trusted manual for those working on the frontlines of health worker training and participatory education. Hesperian has just completed the 13thprinting of Helping Health Workers Learn, updated with new resources, technologies and references. You can buy a copy here. We have also made it available on our website as a PDF, for free download. And just in time, since it looks like Community Health Workers are coming back into style...." - https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:35444.11041218655/rid:c689f01a6357ab8c3c67a4d845018f2f

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Good for the U.S. and other countries struggling with high health care costs?  Why can't we have Community Health Care Workers, like developing countries?

Comments?

First Arabic Symptom Checker

"Arabic Medical Portal AlTibbi Launches Breakthrough Symptom Checker and Social Network
by Nina Curley, May 15, 2012 - Arabic medical portal Altibbi.com has just launched two major improvements to its comprehensive diagnosis platform: the first Arab physician's network and a completely Arabic symptom checker. ...." -  http://www.wamda.com/2012/05/arabic-medical-portal-altibbi-launches-symptom-checker

Commments?

Why can't the U.S. have a Health Care System like Africa's Millennium Villages?

"Breakthroughs in Health in the Millennium Villages - Co-authored with Sonia Sachs and Prabhjot Singh -

In Africa's Millennium Villages (MVs), local communities are taking many actions in health care, agriculture, education, and other challenges to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. Their hard work is paying off. In just three years, the mortality rate among children under five dropped by 22 percent. This pace is three times faster than national trends in the rural areas, and is fast enough to achieve the Millennium Development Goal for child mortality (MDG 4). These results, detailed in a Lancet study published today, reinforce the global effort to build effective, low-cost, community-led health care systems that can end millions of deaths of young children and pregnant women each year.

The Millennium Villages are representative of the most impoverished settings across sub-Saharan Africa, where the rate of child mortality is fifteen times higher than in developed economies. High child mortality is caused mainly by diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and HIV infection, all made more severe by under-nutrition, and from unsafe childbirths taking place at home without skilled personnel. These conditions go unsolved because of weak and under-financed health systems. The Millennium Villages strategy is to build a highly effective, low-cost health system to address the range of infectious diseases, nutritional deficiencies, and risks related to childbirth.

The new Millennium Village health system is starting to show notable results. Together with advances in food production and other related areas in the villages, the MV health system shares credit for the rapid gains reported today in the Lancet. Across the 9 countries included in the Millennium Villages Lancet study (Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda), five elements of the new health systems are re-defining what is possible in rural poor settings in sub-Saharan Africa:...." - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-sachs/breakthroughs-in-health-i_b_1498330.html

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Article above talks of Community Health Workers, Procedures and Decision Support, Mobile phones for health management, Low-cost devices for disease detection and management, Verbal Autopsies and Management Responses. 

 Why can't the U.S. have a healthcare system like this?

Comments?

"Safe Pregnancy and Birth mobile app now available for Android phones"

"Safe Pregnancy and Birth mobile app now available for Android phones

In honor of Mother’s Day, we’re proud to announce that our Safe Pregnancy and Birth mobile app is now available for freeas a beta release for Android phones. Click here to download it now from the Google Play app store. In January, we released our app for iPhones; click here to download it from the Apple store. If you don’t have an Android or iPhone, you can preview the app here
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Our app is the only comprehensive app on pregnancy and birth developed specifically for low-resource settings. Life-saving information is presented in clear, accessible language rich with illustrations, and an intuitive and friendly navigation—perfect for working with community health workers or midwives with varied literacy levels. As always, we welcome your feedback.

Hesperian’s other women’s health resources are available in English and Spanish in our bookstore and in our new HealthWiki digital format." - https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:35444.11032140323/rid:320d13d954cd5fa34b5e6d733be84917

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The above is from the Hesperian Health Guides - see link above

Resources for Low-Cost, Affordable, Practical Healthcare

Below is information from the Hesperian book "Where There is No Doctor" - "Addresses for Teaching Materials" - http://hesperian.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/en_wtnd_2011/en_wtnd_2011_resc.pdf


From that link above, here are the links.  You might be particularly interested in these if you are striving for low-cost affordable healthcare, no matter where you live.  Some of these have newsletters you can subscribe to.  The link above explains each of the below in more detail.

• Hesperian Health Guides -  http://hesperian.org/
• African Medical and Research Foundation -  http://www.amref.org/
• Arab Resource Collective -  http://www.mawared.org/ (In Arabic, but Google can translate)
• Child-to-Child Trust -  http://www.child-to-child.org/
• Christian Medical Association of India -  http://www.cmai.org/
• DEMOTECH – Designs for Self-Reliance -  http://www.demotech.org/
• International Development Research Centre (IDRC) -  http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Pages/default.aspx
• International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) -  http://www.ippf.org/en/
• Media/Materials Clearinghouse -  http://www.m-mc.org/
• Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) -  http://www.vhai.org/
• World Neighbors International Headquarters -  http://www.wn.org/site/c.buITJ7NRKsLaG/b.6248395/k.BEF1/Home.htm
• Alcoholics Anonymous -  http://www.aa.org/
• ENDA – Environmental Development Action in the Third World -  http://www.endatiersmonde.org/ (In French, but Google can translate)
• Health Action Information Network (HAIN) -  http://www.hain.org/
• Helen Keller International -  http://www.hki.org/
• Nutrition Center of the Philippines -  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Nutrition_Council_(Philippines) also  http://www.nnc.gov.ph/
• Practical Action -  http://practicalaction.org/
• Teaching Aids at Low Cost (TALC) -  http://www.talcuk.org/

If you have more listings, please contact Hesperian from where all this information came from.  They might consider adding your information or link at some time.  Contact Hesperian at  http://hesperian.org/

Thought for the Day - What can the U.S. and other Developed Countries learn from Developing Countries who are achieving Affordable Health Care?