Ashley Judd’s Rwanda and DRC Trip Journal- Day 6

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 wrote her experiences in a personal journal. Below is an except from one her last days on the trip.

Day Six:

One day, PSI staff who go door to door visiting people to offer education about family planning arrived at their household while Victor was out. Therese listened keenly, told her husband what she had heard, and they went to the clinic I had visited earlier to learn more. Characteristically, Victor was concerned the birth control might have some hidden, long term detrimental affect on Therese’s health: he had already seen her suffer so much. Eventually learning from medical staff it was safe, they’ve been using an injectable birth control every 3 months.

We sat in the shade of a fine tree as this sweet couple shared their success with family planning.

-Ashley Judd

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

Ashley Judd’s Rwanda and DRC Trip Journal- Day 5

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 wrote her experiences in a personal journal. Below is an except from one her last days on the trip.

Day Five:

There is a weekly call in radio show called “Abajene,” a rally cry for youth, which is hosted by a young idol we have empowered with medically accurate information. For kids without electricity and phones (so many!) our Cinemobile does tours to rural parts of the country gussied up with a audio/visual kit in order to attract kids, give them “infotainment,” and let them use the provided cell phone to call in their teen age dilemmas and inquiries. On site, there is dance, singing, games, recreational pursuits, a football pitch, and job skill training. Within these “services” kids learn everything from personal hygiene, prevention and treatment seeking behaviors (how/when/why to go to a medical clinic), and let us not forget, they have a chance to simply be kids, to play, to run, to forget, for a few precious moments, all their burdens and cares, the back breaking chores that await them at home, and how they will probably be going to bed hungry. Again.

I love this approach, not just because it is holistic, but because it embodies the ideal of collaboration with other grassroots organizations.

-Ashley Judd

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

Ashley Judd’s Rwanda and DRC Trip Journal- Day 2

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 2:

1 in 12 children born here will die before age 1, and then an additional child per 7 will die before 5. Malaria, preventable and treatable, is cause number 1. There are 2 million cases of simple malaria a year in public health facilities and 4 million cases that are not treated at all….children average 23 cases a year. Death by mosquito bite. I think of that the next time you play badminton and get all annoyed. At least it’s not killing you and your babies.
To take this on, we socially market a net called “Tuzanet,” which is pre-treated with the appropriate insecticide and lasts for 3 years. It is available at a very small price which research shows different sectors of society can afford (”market segmentation”), and we give them away for free in many areas as well. This approach of private sector availability combined with recent free distribution of 3 million bed nets to caregivers of children under age 5, pregnant mothers, and the HIV+ helped achieve a stunning 60% reduction in malaria cases in 2007!

For treatment, we have made Coartem available at government 227 registered pharmacies nationwide (registered is important to ensure correct education is given with the sale of the product regarding its use to avoid generation of myths and creation of resistance to meds). We have “over packaged” instructions from the manufacturer, one of my favorite things that we do. We make it a brand, “Primo,” which we “market,” and provide pictorial and local dialect instructions for the low/non literature. Even the photos of the babies guide care givers on correct dosage based on age. It’s a truly wonderful thing and I get very, very excited about over packaging!

-Ashley Judd

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

Ashley Judd’s Rwanda and DRC Trip Journal- Day 1

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 One:

There is tough work to be done. I begin tomorrow the Genocide Memorial and a talk afterwards about the progress Rwanda has made since that insanity. I will meet our host country staff (PSI Rwanda) and begin to learn more about the burden of poor health that continues to unnecessarily cost Rwandans their children, their lives, and stifle their economic progress. Rwanda is the most densely populated African country, and malaria, lack of safe water (only 2.5% of Rwandans have piped water), the great need for family planning, STI’s, HIV, and other preventable diseases and issues keep the entire population subsisting on less than a dollar a day. I will see our programs in action, celebrate what works, and help carry the message of prevention and effective grassroots programs to those who can fund them and help change attitudes and policies for the better.

Gender based violence will be a core theme of this trip. I have already abdicated my day to see the Silver Back Gorillas in order to go to Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo accessible more safely from Rwanda (Dario is not amused but Papa Jack is here and has done his work. We’ll be okay, said to be more stable now, a very large UN presence, too). The refugee camps are filled with masses of women - victims of rape. The gorillas, much as I love them, can wait. I am glad to be here, glad to learn, glad to serve, and am more than a little perplexed as to why me…

-Ashley Judd

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

World Water Day 2008 (T- 3 days)

Our friends at Water Advocates compiled this list of upcoming World Water Day events.

Beginning Sunday, March 16 through Saturday, March 22, restaurants will invite their customers to donate a minimum of $1 for the tap water they would normally get for free. These donations to UNICEF will go towards improving access to safe water and sanitation facilities in schools and communities, while promoting safe hygiene practices in more than 90 countries around the world. Plug in your zip code to find restaurants in your city.

World Water Day 2008 will be celebrated by the UN on Thursday, March 20. In New York you can help bring awareness to the sanitation crisis by “standing up for those that can’t sit down.”

PSI will host a World Water Day discussion about their Safe Water Programs, the successes and challenges, and the way forward on March 20 from 3:30-5:00 PM. If interested, please RSVP to akhanna@psi.org.

Celebrate World Water Day with Water For People on Friday, March 21. Raffles and speakers-including Amy Hart - Filmmaker, WATER FIRST-will make the evening one to remember.

If in Louisville, KY, join Edge Outreach on March 21, 2008 for a night of music, water and film. Join speakers and hear stories of what is being done for those without water and sanitation.

The DC Environmental Film Festival will have several water movies showing on World Water Day March 22. There is also a panel of water experts at 4:00 PM that day from Water Advocates, the Global Water Challenge, Natural Resources Defense Council and ConservationStrategy.

Join the Global Water Challenge, Water Advocates and others at the Student Movement for Real Change event on March 22: “Water is Life: Youth Leading Change on World Water Day”.

In 2007, 69 cities across the United States passed resolutions acknowledging March 22 as World Water Day. Join those interested in promoting World Water Day in a variety of events across the country.

WaterAid America in conjunction with the American Museum of Natural History present a panel discussion exploring the burden unsafe water and sanitation place on women, and the role women can play in water and sanitation development interventions. The discussion will be held on World Water Day, March 22.

Attention runners: join in an effort to raise awareness about the global water and sanitation challenge and help build a borehole well in the Azawak Valley, Niger - sign up for a Run for Water on March 22.

The Global Health Council will hold a briefing on Capitol Hill called “The Link Between Clean Water and Health.” The briefing will be on March 26 at 12:30 PM on Capitol Hill.