Nutrition agents increase demand for CMAM services in Borno

Doctors Without Borders treats malnutrition in areas of Nigeria facing food shortages due to violence and insurgency. When safe, it runs a mobile clinic to provide basic health care, including nutritional support, particularly to children. When communities are not safe enough to enter, the organization trains community members in basic patient care and provides them the tools to run basic tests and treat malnutrition. Community health workers are also trained to treat patients, dispense medications, and educate caregivers about child nutrition.

Legacy of Legends, a nonprofit that helps families overcome traumatic experiences that often stem from poverty, opened the Frayser Clinic to provide free wellness exams to children. The clinic is run out of a local church and is open twice a month to help families access care. At each visit a doctor assesses a child’s physical health, mental and behavioral health and the clinic provides families with information about social services and connects them with a healthcare navigator, who helps families understand their child’s health insurance and reconnect them to a primary care physician.

be artsy's Rato Baltin project uses culturally relevant education, menstrual kit distribution, and engages religious leaders to challenge discriminatory practices against those who menstruate. Since launching in 2017, the group has reached 80,000 people and distributed over 5,500 menstrual cups, while simultaneously helping shift perspectives around menstruating.

Discovering Hands trains blind women as Medical Tactile Examiners to detect breast lumps through highly sensitive touch. Originally developed in Germany, the program expanded to India in 2017, addressing both a shortage of mammography equipment and cultural stigma around breast examinations. A 2023 pilot study of 104 patients confirmed MTEs perform as accurately as trained doctors, with some data showing they detect tissue changes 30% better than physicians. Patients also report they’re more comfortable seeing the MTEs, breaking down barriers that previously led to delayed diagnoses.

At various camps for internally displaced persons, the Gender Equality Peace and Development Center built three permanent safe spaces for women and girls that have experienced gender-based violence. The Center is not only a safe space for these people to go but also empowers them by teaching them new skills, providing access to health care and a sense of community.

Awareness is growing that community health workers (CHWs) are an effective way to address social determinants of health and reduce health inequities. The success of CHWs is due to the fact that they share life experiences with their patients and their ability to build trust. For example, the cadre of CHWs working in rural and urban Appalachia go into their patients’ homes to provide fundamental care – like monitoring vital signs and blood sugar -- and discuss quality-of-life issues – like nutrition and exercise. Being in the home allows them to gain insight that doctors in an office don’t have access to.

In Colombia – where having an abortion can be stigmatizing, in some cases illegal, and now even more difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic – a clinic has set up a national hotline to help women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant aaccess to safe abortions at home. So far, the clinic has connected with 700 women.

The King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan and the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon were both established in order to help children from all different regions battle cancer, but since war broke out, they have been helping many more patients. In order to keep up with demand, the centers expanded and launched fundraising campaigns, which allowed the centers to continue to see a significant increase in survival ratings amongst patients.

Fistula repair surgery has become routine in the state of Kebbi in Nigeria thanks to the implementation of a health center that has made treatment easier for women to access. The center aims to address both medical and societal causes, by addressing underlying issues and patient-centered health practices.

Cooperation between state public health and religious institutions expands access to family planning resources for women. In areas of Rwanda where the Catholic Church operates some of the only healthcare centers, the Rwandan government has circumvented the prohibitive cost of building new facilities by partnering with the Church. Although the Catholic institutions refuse to provide access to birth control, they have agreed to refer women to small governmental health clinic outposts that supplement the Church’s care by distributing birth control.