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BUREAU FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH, PARTNERSHIPS
AND INNOVATION (IPI)
LOCAL, FAITH, AND TRANSFORMATIVE PARTNERSHIPS HUB
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AMERICAN SCHOOLS AND HOSPITALS ABROAD
(ASHA) INITIATIVE
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ASHA/LEPP 2024 PARTNERS MEETING CANCELED |
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The 2024 American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA)/Limited Excess Property Program (LEPP) Partners Meeting scheduled to take place virtually via Zoom from March 13–15, 2024 has been canceled.
Feedback received from the September Partners Survey will inform our future planning. Moreover, ASHA/LEPP will have periodic webinars throughout the year. In addition, the success stories that some partners have submitted highlighting the excellent work will be shared periodically via ASHA’s webinars, our newsletter and biannual report.
Currently, the next ASHA/LEPP Partners’ Meeting is tentatively anticipated to be hybrid (in person and virtual), scheduled for 2025.
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ASHA UGANDAN HEALTH PARTNER HAS
SUCCESSFUL FIRST YEAR
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PHOTO CREDIT: ONEWORLD HEALTH - STAFF AT THE MASINDI KITARA HOSPITAL IN MASINDI,UGANDA CARE FOR A PREMATURE BABY IN THE NEW NEONATAL CARE UNIT.
The OneWorld Health team at the Masindi Kitara Hospital, in Masindi, Uganda transformed a former post-operative ward into a neonatal special care unit to meet growing demand for neonatal services in the region with support from ASHA.
The only government facility with neonatal services lacked essential neonatal care equipment, and its staff were not properly trained to handle sensitive neonatal cases. The team in Masindi recognized this challenge and the need to address this gap in services.
Since its opening in June 2023, the facility has treated 69 infants, providing over 500 nights of care. Going forward, the team aims to target an average monthly service provision for 15 infants. Their goals are to reduce the current 16 percent mortality rate and boost referral numbers, with the aim of establishing the unit as a prominent neonatal center in the region. Throughout this process, the team has learned many valuable lessons including the importance of combining training with infrastructure investments and collaborating with experts from both the United States and Uganda.
In October, a significant collaboration with a multidisciplinary team from Tacoma, Washington, provided intensive training in neonatal care. This collaboration significantly improved the team’s capabilities, aligning local practices with globally recognized standards.
The collaboration involved Kangaroo Care; a practice of skin-to-skin contact with a mother, which is a standard protocol in the U.S. While the Ugandan team was familiar with this practice, they were uncomfortable with the I.V.s connected to the neonates, and did not encourage mothers to use this effective method of care. The U.S. team, with their expertise, introduced an American best practice on how to handle these cases. The Neonatal staff were impressed to observe the vital signs on the monitor improve almost immediately once Kangaroo Care started.
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EXPANDED MEDIA HUB OPENS AT
CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY
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Central European University’s (CEU’s) state-of-the-art media hub was recently upgraded and expanded through an award from ASHA. CEU welcomed officials from USAID and the U.S. Embassy Vienna for a ribbon cutting ceremony in October. The ceremony featured student films developed with the equipment purchased under the award and served as the official opening of this important campus facility.
The Media Hub upgrade consisted of the purchase of eight new audiovisual stations, effectively doubling its capacity. The enhancement and expansion of the hub is part of a wide range of activities, all supported by a $1 million grant from ASHA. These activities are aimed at elevating CEU's status as a world-class university in Vienna.The CEU Media Hub is the home of the Mirabaud Media Lab and Audio Lab, which includes a recording studio and mixing suite. It serves as a resource for students, faculty and staff to produce and edit multimedia projects such as documentary films and podcasts related to their sch olarship and research interests. Enhancing this facility with cutting-edge filmmaking and audio equipment fosters students’ abilities to bring their academic interests to life through media-rich projects. The hub promotes communications skills and high technical standards for media production across the university’s academic programs.
CEU’s student body comes from over 100 countries and is enrolled in English language programs at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. These programs, accredited in both the U.S. and Austria, cover a range of fields including social sciences, humanities, law, environmental sciences, management and public policy.
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HOPEXCHANGE BREAKS GROUND ON NEW MATERNAL
AND CHILD CARE CENTER IN GHANA
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On November 16, 2023, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Virginia Palmer, alongside representatives from the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate, medical professionals, patients, students, and community members, participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for a new, state-of-the-art maternal and child health center funded by ASHA.
This significant event received coverage from approximately 24 media outlets (TV, radio, print, online),reaching over 600,000 people nationwide. The ceremony's significance was underscored by the participation of Ambassador Palmer, Deputy Director of Health of the Ashanti Region Dr. Rita Reindorf, and Ashanti Chief Nana Anninagyei.
Preceding this event, a special graduation ceremony was organized during Premature Week in November. Fifty former preterm and low birth weight babies from HopeXchange, now one year old, were honored with robes and certificates.
Ambassador Virginia E. Palmer said, “If you have a problem and the baby comes early, I hope that you can come to a facility like HopeXchange Medical Centre and get this great care.”
HopeXChange received $1.2 million in ASHA funding in FY 20 to construct and equip a state-of-the-art pediatric hospital that includes a labor & delivery suite, neonatal/pediatric intensive care units, inpatient/outpatient wards, and an adolescent clinic.
a YouTube video about the groundbreaking ceremony can be seen by following this link. HXC USAID Dec 2023 (youtube.com)
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ASHA PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
AMERICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE
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PHOTO CREDIT: ACG. STUDENTS ATTEND CLASS IN ONE OF THE NEW STEM LABS AT THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE.
The American College of Greece (ACG) and ASHA have maintained a partnership spanning 60 years. ASHA funding has since supported services and the purchase of equipment utilized by the entire ACG community, including library books, PCs, and TV broadcast studio equipment.
Recent ASHA funds have funded critical Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) infrastructure at ACG — state-of-the-art STEM and Physics labs — enabling ACG to continue as a U.S.-modeled education pioneer in Greece and showcasing two key American best practices 1) valuing and prioritizing experiential STEM education and 2) creating new opportunities for women in STEM. The new labs are designed to create optimal teaching and learning environments to support the development of new STEM degrees and science programs at ACG. With ASHA support over the last five years, ACG more than doubled the number of STEM major programs of study, from four to ten, and nearly doubled the number of students majoring in STEM fields, from 525 (324 women/201 men) at the start of the project to 1,068 (617 women/451 men) at the close of the project in 2023.
The labs provide hands-on learning space for a broad range of STEM classes, such as Human Biology; Body Anatomy and Current Issues; Environmental Ecology; Molecular Neurobiology; Human Nutrition; Health Information Systems and Technology and more.
These experiential STEM classes form the bedrock of ACG’s new STEM degrees, which are designed to be responsive to an evolving industry demand in Greece and meet students’ related educational needs. A good example is ACG’s first STEM degree in biomedical sciences, which was developed in 2020 in response to student and marketplace demand and made possible as a result of USAID’s investment. Currently, 170 students are pursuing degrees in biomedical sciences at ACG, an increase from 140 in the previous academic year and a significant increase from the 40 students participating at the program’s launch early in the ASHA grant project.
Notably, the ASHA-funded STEM labs at ACG are contributing to female empowerment through an innovative collaboration with a U.S.-based partner. Last summer, ACG partnered with Dr. Angeliki Artemis (Diane) Rigos to expand leadership training for women in STEM. Dr. Rigos, an ACG graduate , furthered her education at Cornell and MIT. Currently, Dr. Rigos teaches chemistry and energy courses at MIT; and she is also the founder of Epistimi, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing and promoting women in leadership roles and in STEM professions.In 2023, Dr. Rigos launched an Epistimi pilot program at ACG’s campus providing leadership training for 14 women who are students or early in their careers in STEMdisciplines. With support from the Henry Luce Foundation, 25 international women will receive scholarships to participate in Epistimi at ACG in 2024.
Read more about the story here.
https://www.acg.edu/news-events/news/acg-empowers-women-in-stemm/)
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Locally Led Development Initiatives are part of the Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships (LFT) Hub.
The LFT Hub focuses on strengthening USAID’s ability to partner with non-traditional and diverse actors including local, faith-based, and community organizations; schools and hospitals; foundations; diaspora communities; cooperatives; and volunteer organizations. Learn more about how LFT is harnessing the power of partnerships through the following:
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