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Monday August 24, 2009
Reflecting on Kenya
Posted by: CARE at 4:43PM EST on August 24, 2009

Helene Gayle, president and CEO of CARE, reflects on her trip to Kenya.

During the past few days we've learned a lot, visited various sites, dividing into three groups going to communities and through urban areas.

When reflecting on visits to countries like Kenya, I'm always impressed and encouraged by the enthusiasm of the people I've met along the way. In the case of the recent Kenya Learning Tours trip, it gave me great hope to witness health workers, mothers, people with HIV and youth express their commitment to solve health problems and work to overcome extreme poverty. Their names, faces and powerful stories will always be with me to drive my work.

As co-chair of the CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy with Admiral Bill Fallon, we hosted this trip to Kenya to learn and bring back messages to U.S. policy makers on global health solutions. Much can be drawn from Kenya to be applied more broadly as we look to enhance awareness and commitment to health issues around the world. We are seeing improvements but we aren't where we should be. Clearly, there's no quick nor easy fix to get there.

The good news is we know the kinds of things that make health systems work from procurement of medicines to training health workers to good policies that make efforts sustainable. And, as more evidence-based data is collected and analyzed, it will help drive priorities. Moving forward, as we look to solve health problems and increase access to health services, it's important to not solely think about the technical interventions. Donor integration and coordination is also extremely critical. Increased flexibility of investments will be a major driver of success. Ultimately, our goal is to allow governments and communities to use this platform to take on more of an ownership role and make it sustainable. The bottom line is that we need to get this strategy right and efforts should not be about political advantage but rather on the health and well-being of the people, like the one's I've met in Kenya and in so many other developing countries I've visited over the years.

 

A woman in Siaya District (Nyanza Province), Kenya. (2009 Allen Clinton/CARE)

Wednesday July 15, 2009
What do cocoa farmers and school kids have in common?
Posted by: CARE at 5:05PM EST on July 15, 2009

Blog on her recent trip to Ghana by Sarah Blizzard, Development Writer, CARE

CARE works with farmers in the Ashanti region of Ghana to help improve cocoa yields and educational opportunities for children. How do these two seemingly-disparate things go together?

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Monday July 13, 2009
My visit with rural farmers in Wundua, Ghana
Posted by: CARE at 12:26PM EST on July 13, 2009
Blog on her recent trip to Ghana by Sarah Blizzard, Development Writer, CARE

Today, in the predominantly Muslim – and extremely rural community – of Wundua in the Northern Region of Ghana, I met an amazing group of farmers who are being trained by CARE on better farming techniques, including conservation practices.

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Wednesday October 15, 2008
Death from Delivery - It Doesn't Have to Be This Way
Posted by: CARE at 7:17PM EST on October 15, 2008
Healthy women and babies are dying from something natural and manageable – giving birth. In the poorest parts of the world, a woman's lifetime risk of death from complications during pregnancy and childbirth is 1 in 6, compared to as little as 1 in 30,000 in Northern Europe.

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Tuesday September 16, 2008
Time Machines
Posted by: CARE at 12:29PM EST on September 16, 2008
My first lesson in the realities of poverty and global inequality came on a trip to Guatemala when I was four years old.  My father, a doctor, had volunteered for a rural medical project, and brought his young family along.

The country was a riot of unfamiliar colors, smells, and sounds for a child’s senses.  The joyfully clattering melodies of the marimba.  The bustling marketplaces, where meat came not wrapped in cellophane, but on two or four legs.  The destinations called out in sing-song voices by boys hanging precariously from brightly painted buses. “Gua-te, Gua-te, Gua-te-ma-la!” they’d shout, as they departed for the capital.  I had no idea that these children, only a few years older than I, worked to help their families survive, at the price of a missed education.


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Thursday August 21, 2008
Women Helping Women in the Warm Heart of Africa ─ Creating Access to Credit Where There Was None
Posted by: CARE at 5:28PM EST on August 21, 2008

Photographer Phil Borges traveled for two weeks in May to Malawi with colleague filmmaker/photographer Smith Patrick to learn about how women's village savings and loan associations impact families and communities. It was Phil's seventh trip with CARE.

A village savings and loan association is a group of 10-20 members usually women – who save small sums of money each week to create a fund from which they can access loans. The loans are used to start or expand small businesses, and are repaid with interest. With the income from interest and their individual enterprises, women are able to improve the health, education and well-being of their families.


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Tuesday July 1, 2008
Making a Difference - Seeing Results from Our Work on the Hill
Posted by: CARE at 5:40PM EST on July 1, 2008
Saturday June 21, 2008
Why Do I Care?
Posted by: CARE at 1:00PM EST on June 21, 2008
Sean Camoni offers insight and reflection following his advocacy efforts on the Hill for CARE's 2008 National Conference.
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Thursday April 24, 2008
A Nutty Idea that Just Might Work
Posted by: CARE at 2:50PM EST on April 24, 2008

“Extreme poverty can be ended in our lifetime.”

If you believe this, you are:

a) Optimistic bordering on delusional.

b) A rock star with a cause.

c) A liberal policy wonk.

d) A level-headed realist who believes humans have the capacity and creativity to solve tough problems.

Maybe ending poverty isn’t such a nutty idea.

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