Ashley Judd visited Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as an Ambassador with Population Services International’s Five and Alive program in late April. She documented her impressions and experiences in a personal journal, which have been transformed into a week-long series of blog posts.

Day Three:

We met the clinic staff, whom I always love to celebrate and honor, and saw the “laboratory” (they do have rapid result HIV tests) and other offices. Everything was so utterly simple and plain; they would be beautiful if I didn’t remember the complex nature of the needs they are struggling to meet effectively. The wards themselves were bare cement rooms with simple aluminum cots lining the walls. Over each cot was painted a number, 1, 2, 3, 4…the beds were all filled and newborn babies slept and nursed everywhere. A few women had visitors from their other children, one granddaddy was there.

The minister and I talked with them about how undeveloped their children’s immune systems are and why mousquitaires are essential. I got to hold a sleeping 2-day old baby, but not for long….he was off, again! I barely got to make good eye contact with everyone. I think that baby was premature, it was very tiny. Low birth weight is a big factor in maternal child health in poor countries. In the pre-natal ward, identical in appearance, the minister spent time chiding the pregnant women, especially the very young, and reinforcing family planning behaviors once their babies are born, as he did on malaria.

Read the rest of this entry, on Five & Alive’s website.

Five & Alive, a program of Population Services International (PSI), provides children and their families with the education, products, services and care needed to improve health and save lives in more than 30 countries. www.fiveandalive.org