Vital

News & commentary about the global health workforce

Community Health Workers Make a Difference for Pediatric HIV Clients in South Sudan

Lawrence Monday links health facilities and communities to extend HIV care and treatment services.

Collaboration with Ugandan Students Expands Reach of Software Systems in the Health Sector

Working in the field of global health we often hear the global health workforce shortage: we don’t have enough doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, community health workers in developing countries. This is true, but what we hear less about is how we manage and support the people we do have.

News from Indonesia: A Bold Vision for Driving the Reproductive Health Global Agenda

Recently, I was in Indonesia for the International Conference on Promoting Family Planning and Maternal Health for Poverty Alleviation.I know that most of us working in reproductive health, especially family planning, fervently agree that ensuring universal access to care and services needs additional resources and attention.

HIV Testing Campaign Taps into Tanzania's Uhuru Torch Celebrations

Many young people came out to learn their statuses during the 2nd annual HIV testing campaign in Tanzania's Shinyanga region.

Door-to-Door, Family-to-Family HIV Counseling and Testing

Bata Geleto walks up to a small mud house in Shashemene, a town in the southern region of Ethiopia. She carries a large, blue bag and an umbrella to protect herself from the sun as she walks house to...

Clean Water and Sanitation: Basic Necessities for All Global Health Work

Although in many developed countries running water that is safe for drinking and bathing and working toilets are ubiquitous, a third of the world’s population goes without these luxuries.

Violence in the Workplace: A Reality for Many Health Workers

Workplace violence is psychological and physical abuse that affects occupational health worldwide. It takes many forms—physical assault, verbal abuse, sexual or racial harassment, bullying, or mobbing. All studies on the subject have demonstrated serious consequences for individual health workers, for health organizations, and for the larger society.

Week Two in Ethiopia, Another Woman Saved

Things might have turned out differently had Shashitu delivered a month earlier. Things might have turned out much worse.

Building Local Health Systems with Information Systems

On my trip to India last month, I didn’t plan to focus on maternal health care, but walking through the maternity ward in Bihar, I couldn’t help but worry about the long lines and hours that keep a woman waiting to see a doctor.

Wash Your Hands—A Simple Action with Exponential Benefits

Today, on Global Handwashing Day, Change.org has launched its 3rd annual Blog Action Day appropriately themed this year around water. There is much to be said about the global water shortage and its...

Family Planning: An Essential Health Service Here and Everywhere

Wonderful to see Anu Kumar, vice president of Ipas, critiquing the bordering-on absurd contradictions between the United States government’s domestic and global policy on family planning in her recent Huffington Post article, “Does the U.S. Care about Women? That Depends on Where They Live.”