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Excited to Work with Impressive Leaders in Laos

PeacewomenI am thrilled to be working with Dr. Boualaphet Chounthavong and her team in Salavan, Laos. Dr. Boualaphet is one of the leaders of “Our Village” the organization which will distribute the Clean Birth Kits.

She is very impressive with a long track record of hard work in the area and many accomplishments.  A true change maker.  In 2005, She was distinguished as one of 1000 PeaceWomen from all over the world who were collectively nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I hope very much to promote her work in any way that I can.

Here is a quote from the PeaceWomen site about her:

“Boualaphet has a long list of projects in mind, but the lack of resources, including funding, has made them just wishful thinking so far. In any event, she looks forward to the day she can carry out the work she wants to do…One of the unique aspects of her work is her support of women and children playing central roles in development.”

CleanBirth.org on World Moms Blog

Thanks to World Moms Blog for hosting my guest post about CleanBirth.org.  It is amazing to be involved with such a wonderful group of women writers and readers!  I am blessed!

Check it out: http://www.worldmomsblog.com/2012/09/18/social-good-one-moms-mission-to-save-lives-in-laos/

Breastfeeding Education for Laos

We all know breast is best.  In Laos, where I will be distributing and training women in the use of clean birth kits, breast should be the only choice.  The reasons are clear: lack of clean water access, inability to adequately clean bottles and the expense of breast milk substitutes (formula).

OK so assuming that breastfeeding is the only choice and it is a natural thing, why would women need information about it?  Because not everyone in Laos is exclusively breastfeeding.  According to the UN:

Although at least 90% of mothers are reported to breastfeed in Laos, only about 26% of babies are breast-fed exclusively to six months, according to the Ministry of Health.

…“Most mothers in Laos are actually already breastfeeding their children to six months and beyond,” said Dr Khamseng Philavong, Exclusive Breastfeeding Coordinator and pediatrician at the Centre of Mother and Child Health. “So the challenge is not to convince mothers to begin breastfeeding, but to encourage them to do it exclusively to six months. We’re reminding mothers that adding anything else to their children’s diet – formula, rice, juice, even water – is unnecessary and can be dangerous.”

Here’s what they had done to as of September 2008:

It has already involved the training and activation of some 3,000 village-level volunteers, known as ‘breast milk messengers’, who work directly with mothers and local caregivers to provide information and counseling. Trainings and orientations have also been conducted for health staff and officials in an initial nine target provinces.

I will be interested to see how this campaign initiated by the Lao government and “international partners” (including the UN), has played out three years on in the remote areas of Laos where I will be training and distributing clean birth kits.

Clean Birth Kits as “Frugal Technology”

This is an interesting summary from the Lancet about the impact of high tech medical equipment exported to the third world. Makes you think. An astounding 40% of medical equipment in the developing world is broken compared to 1% in the developed world.  Well-intentioned equipment from first world donors accounts in part for this.

Instead of high-end tech, the study suggests that “frugal technologies” like a rural ambulance made of a motorbike and stretcher sidecar are better bets.  The report also points to improvements in sanitation and roads as a ways to positively impact health.

I feel pretty good about the frugality of clean birth kits.  Low tech, focus on hygiene through education.  And they don’t break.

Here’s the whole article:

Technologies for Global Health

Published August 1, 2012

Collaboration between The Lancet and Imperial College London, UK, has resulted in a new Commission, which examines how medical technology should best be used to improve health in low- and middle-income countries. The report concludes that in many cases, medical technology—almost exclusively developed in rich countries—is simply inappropriate for use in poorer nations.

Executive summary

According to hospital inventories, an estimated 40% of healthcare equipment in developing countries is out of service, compared with less than 1% in high-income countries. The inappropriate deployment of medical technologies from wealthy countries plays a major part in this high failure rate.

Instead of relying on hand-me-down technologies from wealthier countries, which can be costly, inappropriate for local conditions, and even dangerous, the authors urge a renewed effort towards developing what they call “frugal technologies”—cost-effective technologies that are developed specifically to cope in local conditions. Examples of frugal technologies which have been developed to meet local needs include: the Jaipur foot, a rubber prosthetic for people who have lost their leg and foot below the knee; PATH’s Uniject injection system, which allows once-only use of needles for injectable contraceptives; and the eRanger, a durable rural ambulance, based around a motorbike and stretcher sidecar (which can be modified to carry one or two people).

The report also advocates a wider understanding of what we mean by medical technologies, pointing out that technological improvement to sanitation and road conditions could also have a far-reaching impact on public health in many low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, the authors argue that advances in technology need to be accompanied by innovation to have a significant effect on health—this includes the development of effective delivery mechanisms and novel approaches to financing.

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