Undernutrition is associated with 45% of child deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Supporting women who are able to breastfeed is essential to preventing child deaths. More than 820,000 children under 5 years old could be saved each year if all children were optimally breastfed in their first two years of life. The importance of fathers’ support in this endeavor cannot be understated.
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To help reach the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets by 2025, the public health community must ensure that people living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Access to this lifesaving medication is one issue; staying on it is another, because continuing ART is not always possible due to a variety of circumstances. In a project FHI 360 recently concluded in Nigeria, we demonstrated how machine learning can complement the efforts of health care workers to help people stay on ART.
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Conflict, forced relocation and climate change have disrupted the lives of millions of people around the world. In Ukraine, for example, a year of armed conflict has resulted in the displacement of more than 13 million people and the destruction of much of the nation’s infrastructure, including schools and universities. As a result, the education of many young Ukrainians has been interrupted, as has their ability to build their futures.
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Evidence at the speed of tech
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There are over 200 million women around the world who do not wish to become pregnant and who are not currently using contraception. Helping women to avoid unplanned pregnancies is a best bet in development: It reduces maternal and child death and injury, helps girls stay in school longer, and results in economic growth.
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Antibiotics are the first line of defense in protecting humans and animals against bacteria and other microbes. Microbes, like humans, want to survive. They can do that by mutating to adapt to their changing environment, unfavorable conditions and any threats they encounter — threats such as antibiotics.
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On a sunny August day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a dozen people ages 15–24 sit in a circle on the grass outside of the Prek Leap National Institute of Agriculture. They aren’t discussing the latest viral video or school gossip. Rather, they are exploring how communication strategies can help their families, peers and communities understand the negative effects of some of Cambodia’s most environmentally damaging behavior trends — and how they can live more environmentally friendly lives.
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Tuberculosis (TB) is once again the world’s most deadly infectious disease, silently retaking the top spot from COVID-19 sometime in mid-2022. TB sickens more than 10 million people each year and kills about 1.6 million, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
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Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing humanity, and it is only getting worse. To protect the future of all living things, we need to take collective action. Scientists and policymakers must implement a systemic response to the immediate needs, but it’s also imperative that educators equip young people to tackle the crisis.
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Medical oxygen is a lifesaving, essential medicine. Access to it is vital for treating patients at all levels of the health system, during both routine and emergency care. The COVID-19 pandemic caused surges in demand for oxygen, resulting in critical shortages, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Even in the absence of a pandemic, health care facilities need medical oxygen to treat newborns, children with severe pneumonia, people with chronic and infectious conditions, and patients requiring surgery.
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Twenty years ago, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) was established to lead the global response to the HIV epidemic. Today, PEPFAR is a public health engine: a critical platform for strengthening health systems, preparing for and responding to pandemics, and enabling global health security. Here, we share how PEPFAR made it possible for FHI 360’s teams to effectively respond to COVID-19 in countries with established HIV infrastructure.