Subject: IHD Newsletter - December 2013
From: Diana Silimperi <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Dec 2013 14:42:37 +0000

Dear IHD Colleagues,

December greetings! Below is our monthly IHD update outlining recent happenings in the division. As always, we look forward to receiving any feedback you may wish to share with us. My warmest wishes for the holiday season and may the new year bring joy, good health, and peace to you and yours!

Dominican Republic MOH Takes Reins of Maternal and Child Health Centers of Excellence

Speaking at the USAID/Maternal and Child Centers of Excellence end-of-project event on November 26 in Santo Domingo, the Minister of Health of the DR, Dr. Wilfredo Hidalgo, and the US Embassy Chargé d'Affaires, Daniel Foote, lauded the achievements of the Abt-led project. Those achievements include a reduction in the number of maternal deaths of 46% and infant deaths of 42% at 10 target hospitals. The USAID-funded Centers of Excellence Approach and Certification System is now transitioning to an official MOH program funded with Dominican resources and the Dominican government anticipates receiving a loan from a multilateral bank to continue the work. The program will scale up the model to other facilities, including the private sector. Contact: [email-masked].

Full Access, Full Choice: Abt at ICFP 2013

Abt experts in family planning and reproductive health delivered 25 presentations about Abt’s work across the world during the 3rd International Conference on Family Planning on Nov. 12-15 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The presentations focused on, for example, the private sector’s role in family planning service delivery, barriers to the use of long-acting family planning methods, and integrating family planning and HIV services. At a reception sponsored by Abt, Guest of Honor Her Excellency Wro. Roman Tesfaye, First Lady of Ethiopia, highlighted her country’s remarkable success in expanding access to family planning services in Ethiopia over the last five years. The ICFP brought together more than 3,300 family planning implementers and researchers from 120 countries. Read more on Abt’s participation at the event.

Advancing Human Resources for Health for Universal Health Coverage

Four IHD staff (John Palen, Sarah Dominis, Damas Butera, Ann Lion) attended the Third Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, held November 3-6 in Recife, Brazil. The Forum, organized by the Global Health Workforce Alliance and sponsored by the Government of Brazil, WHO, and the Pan American Health Organization, convened health workers, government officials, and policy experts and advocates from around the world to discuss key issues on HRH as the foundation for universal health coverage. Read the final political declaration on HRH summarizing the major issues presented at the conference.

Observing World AIDS Day 2013: Getting to Zero

“The only constant thing [in HIV and AIDS] is change. We must respond or risk failure,” said Dr. Joseph O’Neill, speaking at Abt’s Dec 3 World AIDS Day event.  O’Neill, a key architect of the U.S. government’s largest domestic and international HIV and AIDS programs, spoke at a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities of HIV/AIDS programming along with Abt Principal Associate Liza Solomon of U.S. Health, Senior Health Economist Carlos Avila of IHD, Jane Thomason, CEO of Abt-JTA, and Abt Executive Vice President Jay Knott. Read about Abt’s work in HIV/AIDS worldwide in the newly released Compendium.

Keeping Your Information Protected – Mandatory Security Training by Dec 31

Earlier this year, all Abt staff completed a one hour General Security Awareness online course on how to manage and protect information. The required GSA training has been streamlined to 30 minutes to target the most important security topics for our day-to-day tasks and will be conducted each year in December. Training and materials are provided in Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.  A charge code will be provided at the end of the training. Contact the IT Service Center with any questions and please complete by Dec 31!

Integration of International Operations Functions and Staff into Departments

Per Jay Knott’s December 4 correspondence, services and functions previously managed by the International Operations Department have been absorbed by departments and international divisions. IHD is working with respective departments and the staff that have been absorbed into IHD to ensure that services and functions continue without interruption and there is no dip in quality or responsiveness. Please contact IHD management if you have any specific questions about the transition.

Tracking Staff Travel to Promote IHD Reputational Capital

We are exploring as a division how to better keep track of the travel schedules of COPs and other senior project staff coming to Bethesda so we can schedule appointments and events to share project successes with clients and partners. We are hoping to include international travel updates as a standing item on the biweekly project director/portfolio manager meeting agenda so the information will automatically be captured in the meeting notes.

December and Upcoming Events

Dec 7-11 – International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) – Cape Town

Dec 9-11 – mHealth Summit – Washington, DC area

Dec 17 – Promise Renewed presentation ([email-masked], MCH Technical Work Group)

Dec 18 – Division Leadership Lunch (RSVP to Christina Ramey required)

Dec 19 – Global IHD staff meeting, 9-10:30 EST

SAVE THE DATES in 2014!

January 14, Bethesda and January 23, Cambridge – Innovations Expo

March 12 – Global IHD Staff Meeting