Recent News

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded University Research Co., LLC (URC) the first ever Excellence in Mentorship Award during the agency’s Sixth Annual Small Business Conference on Thursday, May 16^th, in Washington, D.C.  URC President Barbara N. Turner accepted the award, which recognized the significant developmental assistance the company provides to its small business protégé, Women Influencing Health Education and Rule of Law, LLC (WI-HER).  The conference provides a venue for small businesses to convene, discuss success stories, network with other small businesses, and receive guidance on business and managerial practices.

With support from the USAID Better Health Services Project (BHS) implemented by URC in Cambodia, the Preventive Medicine Department of the Ministry of Health and its partners are collaborating to expand the availability of cervical cancer screening to the general population.

Last week, the Maternal and Newborn Health in Ethiopia Partnership (MaNHEP) presented project results and celebrated achievements at a dissemination meeting in Addis Ababa. Led by Emory University and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MaNHEP sought to improve maternal and newborn health care in rural Ethiopia using a community-oriented approach. Emory University contracted URC to support Ministry of Health staff in the community and facilities as well as other community members in six woredas (districts) in Amhara and Oromia Regions to use quality improvement techniques to improve care for mothers and newborns.

A URC staff member and partners affiliated with the  U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Translating Research into Action Project (TRAction) will present research findings at a panel event at the Wilson Center on Thursday, May 2nd at 12 pm. Co-hosted by the Maternal Health Task Force and United Nations Population Fund, the event will feature four panelists—all affiliated with TRAction’s work addressing disrespect and abuse during childbirth.

As reforms stimulate economic growth in Burma, the USAID Control and Prevention of Malaria Project (CAP-Malaria) managed by URC in collaboration with Save the Children and Kenan Institute Asia, is creating new partnerships with companies to control the spread of malaria. Many of these companies operate in remote and difficult to access locations that are beyond the reach of public health care services and have high rates of malaria and employ migrant workers from within the country and from neighboring countries. The workers often have no experience with malaria, have limited access to malaria services, and can potentially spread malaria to their home communities in less-endemic areas. CAP-Malaria is assisting companies to provide malaria education and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs), early diagnosis, and treatment to their employees. 

URC and USAID's Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project hosted a discussion, "Putting the Social into Marketing: Personal Engagement Strategies," on Thursday, May 2, 2013, at 10:30am. Richard Burns, Managing Director of the Exp Social Marketing Foundation (ESM), lead the discussion. The event took place at George Washington University's Center for Global Health, 2175 K St NW, Suite 200 Conference Room, Washington, DC.

In recognition of World Malaria Day on April 25, URC, the Center for Global Health at George Washington University (GWU), and the USAID Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project co-hosted a roundtable discussion on new findings in global malaria prevention and control. Entitled “Mosquito Be Dead: Developments in Malaria Prevention,” the roundtable took place on April 23, 2013, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Traditional malaria control interventions are unlikely to be effective in fully eliminating malaria, reports an April article in the Lancet: "As countries reduce their malaria burdens, strategies that address the changing epidemiology, entomology, and anthropology need to be developed, validated, and adopted." One area on the verge of eliminating malaria is the Greater Mekong sub-region, which has seen a rapid drop in malaria cases during recent decades.

The Control and Prevention of Malaria Project (CAP-Malaria), funded by PMI and implemented by URC in collaboration with Save the Children and Kenan Institute Asia, is working with governments and other malaria control partners to systematically control malaria in affected border regions of Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma (also known as Myanmar), aiming to contain the spread of multi-drug resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

In March 2013, URC celebrated successful completion of its Jordan Healthcare Accreditation Project (JHAP), which has helped to achieve sustainable improvements in the country’s quality and safety of health care through accreditation.

URC and its non-profit affiliate the Center for Human Services (CHS) will participate in the 2013 Global Newborn Health Conference April 15–18 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The conference will focus on accelerating the expansion of maternal and newborn health approaches proven to reduce mortality.  

URC’s USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) is pleased to announce the launch of the USAID Care that Counts e-Learning Course for Quality Improvement in Programs for Vulnerable Children.

URC’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project has issued a Request for Applications (RFA) to identify and document innovative targeting methods to improve equity in access to and use of maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services.

URC’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Translating Research into Action (TRAction) Project has issued two Requests for Applications (RFAs) for research on water, sanitation, and hygiene impacts among populations. TRAction is calling for two types of application: an empirical study collecting new data and a desk review of existing data.

URC programs will use World TB Day, March 24, 2013, to raise awareness of TB. The date marks the second year of the two-year Stop TB in My Lifetime campaign. The following is a summary of URC’s participation in TB Day awareness-raising events, with links to additional information.

Tuberculosis (TB) has reemerged as one of the leading health challenges of our time, causing more deaths than any other curable infectious disease. Nearly nine million people contracted TB worldwide in 2010, and 1.4 million died from the disease. TB disproportionately affects poor and vulnerable populations, including those with immune systems weakened by HIV.

URC supports anti-TB activities and national TB programs through integrated and innovative approaches that address systemic barriers to effective prevention and treatment in many of the 22 countries that account for more than 80% of TB cases worldwide. On this World TB Day, URC joins the voices of those recognizing both progress made and challenges that remain in the fight against TB. 

A newly awarded nutrition project to improve the lives of undernourished Ugandans will also provide a pathway for building and sustaining local leadership in food production. The Production for Improved Nutrition (PIN) project, a five-year project to reduce under-nutrition in the north-central and southwestern regions of Uganda, is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by RECO Industries, a Ugandan company. URC will support RECO by providing technical assistance as well as administrative and managerial support.

The Promoting Malaria Prevention and Treatment (ProMPT) Ghana project celebrated successful completion of its mission with government and local partners Friday, after four years of strengthening Ghana’s efforts to tackle malaria. ProMPT’s support made significant and broad-based contributions to the achievements of the country’s National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), part of the Ghana Health Service (GHS). These contributions include supporting the NMCP to improve malaria prevention and treatment, mobilize communities to take action to protect themselves and others, and spread evidence-based practices across the country. Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), ProMPT was managed by URC with its partners the Population Council and Malaria Consortium.

March 8th marks International Women’s Day, a day to recognize and celebrate the achievements of women around the world. As a social determinant of health, gender demands attention in any effort to ensure health equity. URC is committed to delivering gender aware services and to investing in and enhancing the unique expertise and leadership skills of women and girls. Men, women, boys, and girls should have equal opportunities to achieve their full health potential. URC undertakes activities to analyze and respond to the way each group interacts with the health system. Addressing the different needs of these groups in accessing and utilizing services contributes to equity and equality and makes care more cost-effective and patient centered. 

URC’s Underage Drinking Prevention Education Initiatives (UADPEI) project, funded by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and led by prime contractor ICF Macro, unveiled a new iPad application titled Me, You, and Wally Bear: Building Blocks for a Healthy Future, at the Digital Health Communication Extravaganza (DHCX) conference this week. The application is designed to facilitate positive interactions between children ages three- to six-years old and their parents/caregivers.

URC, in collaboration with the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua), is co-hosting the first ISQua African Regional Meeting in Accra, Ghana, on February 4-5, 2013. With the theme, “How to make patient care more effective and efficient: Strengthening health systems through quality improvement,” the event aims to engage sub-Saharan African health care practitioners in an active dialogue on how to successfully advance improvement efforts on the continent.

URC supported Jordan’s Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC) in launching its 2013 National Quality and Safety Goals (NQSGs) initiative—raising the bar for health workers and facilities across the country. The goals, launched during HCAC’s second Quality Conference & Exhibition in November 2012, aim to improve pain management, apply zero tolerance for workforce violence, and introduce medication reconciliation (comparing patients’ medication orders to all medications they have been taking). Thirteen facilities have thus far enrolled to meet those goals, with enrollment ongoing. The NQSG’s initiative was first established in 2009, when the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Jordan Healthcare Accreditation Project (JHAP), managed by URC, recognized Jordan’s need to reduce preventable harm to make patient care safer and improve health outcomes. 

Noting that “the project has worked to ensure that its counterparts have the technical capacity for sustaining [its] interventions,” the USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) closed down its 30-month project in El Salvador in 2012 with the hope “that efforts to reduce inequities and progressively improve the health of the Salvadoran population may continue.” The project focused on maternal, newborn and child health with a view toward helping the country achieve its Millennium Development Goals in that health area and sustainably establishing improvements to its health systems

Mr. Flynn Fuller, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director to Cambodia, visited two sites in Siem Reap Province, Western Cambodia, in December to learn more about the community-based malaria control activities of the USAID Control and Prevention of Malaria project (CAP-Malaria), managed by URC. Western Cambodia, bordering with Thailand, is a hotspot for malaria parasites that are resistant to artemisinin combination therapy (ACT), standard treatment for malaria. CAP-Malaria aims to contain the spread of multi-drug resistant malaria in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, specifically Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Respectful maternal health care will take center stage during a plenary session at this week’s Global Maternal Health Conference in Arusha, Tanzania. The plenary session scheduled for Thursday, January 17, from 9:00—10:30 a.m. East Africa Time will be live streamed at www.gmhc2013.com.

Dr. Min Than Nyunt, Director General of the Myanmar Department of Health, and Dr. Kheang Soy Ty, URC’s Chief of Party of the USAID Control and Prevention of Malaria project (CAP-Malaria), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in mid-December to enable URC to address malaria in Myanmar. The signing took place in Naypyi Taw, Myanmar, on December 20th.

URC staff from several countries will participate in the 2013 Global Maternal Health Conference January 15–17 2013 in Arusha, Tanzania. Improving quality of care to eliminate preventable maternal deaths and disability is the theme of this year’s conference, co-sponsored by Management and Development for Health, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and the Maternal Health Task Force at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, USA. This story highlights our conference presentations, which will provide a sampling of our maternal health work across various projects.

Every year the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) calls attention to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in late November. GOLD’s efforts to raise awareness of this life-limiting disease is joined by health care professionals and COPD patient groups worldwide. GOLD is a global effort to expand understanding of prevention and care of COPD and to advocate for higher quality care for patients living with COPD.

The USAID Malaria Control in Cambodia (MCC) Project, implemented by University Research Co. LLC (URC) during 2007-2011, was a community-based malaria control and prevention project that aimed to reduce malaria in the Western part of Cambodia, home to drug-resistant malaria.  The project focused on four provinces witnessing the emergence of malaria resistant to one or more antimalarial drugs. 

In early December, Dr. Jerker Liljestrand—Program Leader for Maternal and Newborn Health and Family Planning with the USAID Better Health Services (BHS) project, which URC implements in Cambodia—presented at CORE Group on Cambodia’s introduction of a new device to reduce maternal mortality: the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment (NASG). Dr. Liljestrand was accompanied by Dr. Suellen Miller, Professor at the University of California San Francisco and Director of the Safe Motherhood Program at the university’s Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. BHS is training hospital staff to use the NASG. Use of the NASG is expected to result in reduced mortality from postpartum hemorrhage and contribute to further reducing the rate of maternal deaths in Cambodia.

URC provided technical assistance to Jordan’s Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC) to organize the council’s second Quality Healthcare Conference and Exhibition in Amman in November 2012. URC Senior Vice President Dr. M. Rashad Massoud and URC Chief of Party Mr. Edward Chappy participated in the conference.

UNICEF estimates that in Uganda, 150,000 children between the ages of 0 and 14 have HIV (2009 data). Without early diagnosis, enrollment into care, and prompt treatment, half of HIV-infected children die by age two and an additional 25% die by the age of five. The leading cause of HIV infection in children is mother-to-child transmission, whereby infants are infected during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding.

The SUSTAIN project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by University Research Co., LLC (URC), is working with Uganda’s Ministry of Health (MOH) to combat pediatric HIV by implementing prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs; ensuring early HIV diagnosis by testing infants and at-risk children; and providing high-quality care and treatment services, including psychosocial services, for HIV-infected children. The project works in 16 high-volume regional referral and general hospitals.

Dr. M. Rashad Massoud, Director of the USAID Health Care Improvement Project; Ms. Nana Mensah-Abrampah, Quality Improvement Fellow at URC; and partners recently published an article in the International Journal for Quality in Health Care (ISQua). The article, entitled “Charting the way forward to better quality health care: how do we get there and what are the next steps? Recommendations from the Salzburg Global Seminar on making health care better in low- and middle-income economies,” advocates improving the delivery of safe and effective health care in low- and middle-income countries and describes outcomes from a high-level meeting on the topic held in Salzburg, Austria, earlier this year.

Wednesday, November 14th is World Diabetes Day, celebrated every year on the birthday of Frederick Banting, who helped discover insulin in 1922 with Charles Best. This day, made official by a United Nations resolution, serves to raise awareness about diabetes. This year, the theme is diabetes education and prevention. 

“In the Mayan calendar, November 8, 2012, is Oxlajuj Noj, which means the ‘thirteen wisdoms or understandings,’” explained Mr. Francisco Poncio, a Nutri-Salud staff member and an Ajq’ij (“counter/lord of the days” in the Mayan tradition). “I recommended this date for the inauguration of the Nutri-Salud office in Quetzaltenango because it is very auspicious for starting an important enterprise.”

The Nutri-Salud: Guatemala Community Nutrition and Health Care project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by URC, is a five-year (2012–2017) effort to improve the nutrition and health of women and children in 30 municipalities in five departments of the Western Highlands of Guatemala. This area’s population is predominantly indigenous Maya. Quetzaltenango, where Nutri-Salud opened its primary technical assistance office, is the region’s largest urban center.

URC, in collaboration with Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services (MOHSS), recently hosted a conference to transfer the country’s infection control initiatives from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) to the Ministry. Infection control refers to policies and procedures to minimize the risk of spreading infectious diseases, especially in health care facilities. Such procedures include managing health care waste, such as blood, needles, and medical devices.

URC is participating in the 43^rd Union World Conference on Lung Health from November 13-17 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

After a year of operation, the new computerized patient registration system at Siem Reap Provincial Hospital has registered over 15,000 patients and met with the approval of the Ministry of Health (MOH).The system was introduced at the hospital in November 2011 by the MOH, with support from the USAID Better Health Services project implemented by University Research Co., LLC (URC).

URC, through the USAID Health Care Improvement Project, has contributed to the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Safe Childbirth Program, of which a key component is to develop and test a universally applicable Safe Childbirth Checklist. URC staff participated in a 2009 international expert consultation to develop a first draft of the checklist and supported its field testing in Mali in 2010.

Ms. Annie Clark, URC’s Senior Quality Improvement Advisor for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH), presented “Improving Newborn Resuscitation in Uganda” at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA’s) 140^th Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Francisco. Ms. Clark developed the presentation in collaboration with Dr. Youssef Tawfik, URC’s Director of MNCH/Family Planning. The presentation described the challenges of applying newborn resuscitation in developing countries and discussed the contribution of quality improvement in overcoming these challenges, with specific examples from Uganda.

URC is participating in the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research this week, 31 October – 3 November, 2012, in Beijing, China. The symposium provides an opportunity to share our work in the area of implementation science, which is the study of methods to promote the integration of proven interventions into health care policy and practice across different contexts. We are hosting an interactive satellite session, three panel discussions, and a series of oral and poster presentations.

The Underage Drinking Prevention Education Initiatives (UADPEI) project is presenting key results from SAMHSA’s 2012 Town Hall Meetings Initiative at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA’s) 140^th Annual Meeting & Exposition this week, October 27-31, in San Francisco. The project, which is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provides communication, logistical, and technical expertise to the administration’s underage drinking prevention program as part of a national effort to prevent underage alcohol use. URC is subcontractor to ICF Macro on the project.

On September 14, 2012, URC had the privilege to host Dr. Salih Mahdi Al Hasnawi, a former minister of health and current member of the Iraqi parliament. During his visit, Dr. Al Hasnawi discussed his vision for the future of healthcare in Iraq and issues including the need for building quality primary care systems in Iraq.

Cambodian health care workers’ use of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Book is resulting in significant improvements in the quality of maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition services and counseling at health centers. This key finding emerged from follow-up conducted by operational district health staff and the USAID Better Health Services project implemented by University Research Co. LLC (URC). The follow-up coaching and assessment found that midwives and nurses were using the MCH book routinely to provide better quality maternal, newborn, and young child health and nutrition care.

Aligned with the Aquino Health Agenda of providing all Filipinos with access to quality health care, in 2011 the Philippine Department of Health, with technical assistance from the USAID’s Health Promotion and Communication Project (HealthPRO), launched the Lakbay Buhay Kalusugan (LBK) or “Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle” initiative. LBK has the appearance of a fiesta-like caravan that brings maternal and child health information and services to geographically isolated and disadvantaged communities.

URC is participating in the International Society for Quality in Health Care’s (ISQua’s) 29^th International Conference in Geneva this week. 

Through the recently completed Integrated Infectious Disease Capacity Building Evaluation (IDCAP) Project, URC’s non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services (CHS), helped improve outpatient triage—the sorting of patients according to the urgency of their need for care—in 36 rural Ugandan clinics

On May 16, at the request of the Government of Vietnam, URC staff from Cambodia presented at the 6th National Conference on Information Technology for Health in Vietnam. Dr. Mean Reatanak Sambath, the Monitoring and Evaluation and Health Informatics Program Leader for the Better Health Services (BHS) Project implemented by URC in Cambodia, had been invited by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health to share the innovation and achievements of the Cambodian Health Management Information System (HMIS), which has improved the availability and use of health data in the country. The HMIS contains service delivery data from all health facilities in Cambodia, such as the number of antenatal care visits, number of family planning client visits, and number of cases of infectious diseases.

URC has been awarded the Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST) project by USAID. This five-year cooperative agreement will assist countries in improving health care and strengthening their health systems and advance the frontier of the science of improvement globally.

CORE Group approached public health specialists at URC early this year to translate and adapt a newborn health flipbook for use in Benin. The flipbook is a picture-based book used to communicate key messages to low literacy populations.

Many Filipinos, particularly those who are poor, less educated, and living in rural and remote communities, have limited access to health services and information. USAID’s Health Promotion and Communication Project (HealthPRO), implemented by URC, supported the Philippine Department of Health in presenting community theater plays as a health education channel to reach poor, underserved areas with key family health behavior change messages.

The USAID Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) recently issued a report describing the results of a four-country assessment, funded by the US Agency for International Development, of high-impact maternal and newborn childbirth practices in Albania, Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. Conducted between late 2010 and early 2011 and covering 42 maternities, the assessment examined high-impact childbirth and early postpartum maternal-newborn practices. It focused on cross-cutting health system functions and provider and client attitudes, knowledge, and practices.

To help health workers better face the stresses and challenges of their jobs while maintaining their own health and well-being, University Research Co., LLC (URC) through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Health Care Improvement Project (HCI) is working with Swaziland’s Ministry of Health to develop a Workplace Wellness Program. The program held its first Wellness Day event in June, inviting health care workers and their families in the Hhohho Region. The event offered a fun, informal experience where workers and their families could take part in physical activities like aerobics and soccer and also address their health concerns.

A report released by URC’s USAID-funded Primary Health Care Project in Iraq provides a comprehensive view of the state of the Iraqi health care system. Based on surveys of more than 800 people in nine provinces, the report reveals a health system struggling to provide services with limited resources and a population facing a high burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer).

Maternal mortality ratios are declining worldwide, including in Cambodia, where long-held home birth practices are finally giving way to facility births. URC Cambodia-based staff Jerker Liljestrand and Mean Reatanak Sambath explore the reasons for rising facility births and falling maternal mortality and recommend continuing improvement in an article in the June 12 issue of Reproductive Health Matters.

Twenty years ago this week, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action launched the first World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) campaign to raise awareness and promote practices supportive of breastfeeding—the best source of nutrition for infants and young children. Many new mothers, particularly in areas with poor access to education and low literacy, may not be aware of the benefits of breastfeeding. The first hour immediately after childbirth (before the mother leaves the health facility) is optimal for providing her with the support and information she may need to successfully breastfeed her newborn.

University Research Co., LLC (URC) and our non-profit affiliate Center for Human Services (CHS) hosted a successful mini-satellite event, “Better HIV Services, Every Time” during the the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) held last week in Washington, DC. The event took place during the evening on Thursday, July 26, and provided a compelling platform for discussion among conference participants and URC’s technical experts.

The USAID-funded Translating Research into Action Project (TRAction), managed by URC, has released a request for proposals (RFP) to redesign/redevelop the project's website. TRAction is seeking to significantly enhance the website to increase the dissemination and use of information related to TRAction’s research. The project aims to leverage available technological tools to promote sharing, communication, and application of research findings. This is a short-term project to be completed by the end of October, with some maintenance activities to continue after the website is completed.

At Fort Portal Regional Referral Hospital (RRH) in Uganda, almost all women attending the antenatal care (ANC) clinic were receiving HIV/AIDS counseling and testing services, but only 1% of HIV-positive women were enrolling into chronic care services in September 2011. The USAID-funded Strengthening Uganda’s Systems for Treating AIDS Nationally (SUSTAIN) project, managed by University Research Co. LLC , helped increase the enrollment rate to 96% in only 6 months.

URC and its non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services (CHS), is participating in the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) this week, July 22–27, 2012, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.

Of the many people he interacts with every day as volunteer at Tanzania’s Sabasaba Health Centre, Hamis* remembers one in particular. The patient, newly diagnosed with HIV, attended an educational session at the health center on the importance of taking HIV medicines called antiretrovirals (ARVs) every day. Health center staff encourage newly diagnosed patients to bring someone with them to the session—such as a family member or friend—who would remind the patient to take his or her ARVs and provide ongoing support at home. Yet this patient, Hamis recalls, came alone.

As a chronic, complex, communicable and widely-stigmatized disease, HIV poses challenges to health systems that require proven and innovative solutions that are keenly responsive to local conditions. University Research Co., LLC (URC) and its nonprofit affiliate Center for Human Services supports HIV programs that focus on creating better health outcomes for underserved and vulnerable populations. We currently support HIV programs in 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin and North America. URC's projects in Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Uganda provide snapshots of our ongoing efforts to support healthy populations.

More than 25,000 health professionals, activists, global and community leaders, and people living with HIV will gather in Washington, DC, next week to take part in the XIX International AIDS Conference. Conference attendees will share the latest news and research in working towards a world with zero HIV infections and zero AIDS-related deaths, a goal reflected in the conference theme “Turning the Tide Together” and The Washington D.C. Declaration to end the AIDS epidemic.

Due to the long-term effects of HIV/AIDS and poverty, families and communities in many countries cannot provide care and support to large numbers of children. URC staff member Dr. Diana Chamrad will present results Wednesday from URC’s efforts to improve care provided to children orphaned or made extremely vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Hers is one of eleven poster presentations by URC staff taking place during the XIX International AIDS Conference.

Health leaders will gather in London on July 11, World Population Day, to raise awareness and support for family planning. Family planning is a proven, cost-effective way for men and women to make voluntary and informed decisions about the number, spacing, and timing of pregnancy and childbearing. It reduces unwanted pregnancies, maternal and child death, malnutrition, poverty, and the spread of HIV. Since 1980, URC has supported more than 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean in developing successful family planning programs. URC's projects in Afghanistan, Benin, Guatemala, and Uganda provide examples of our ongoing efforts to support healthy populations.

The Cambodian Ministry of Health published its first National Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) for Malaria Microscopy Quality Assurance in May. The SOPs were developed with support from URC, which has worked closely with the National Malaria Center (CNM) through the USAID Malaria Control in Cambodia (MCC) and subsequent Control and Prevention of Malaria (CAP-Malaria) projects.

Three URC staff participated  in a U.S. Government-sponsored evidence summit on community health workers (CHWs) this month. Organized by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the summit convened experts to examine community and formal health system activities that support and improve the performance of CHWs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The experts used evidence—peer-reviewed and “gray” literature, including randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies, case control studies, qualitative studies, and evaluation reports—to identify research priorities and develop recommendations for policy and practice.

Last month, University Research Co. (URC) and the Myanmar Ministry of Health agreed to work together to battle malaria, paving the way for the USAID Control and Prevention of Malaria Project (CAP-Malaria) to begin in Myanmar. CAP-Malaria strives to prevent and control malaria infections and to contain the spread of multi-drug resistant malaria in the border regions of Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar.

URC recently joined the Frontline Health Workers Coalition, an advocacy group whose mission supports the development of skilled and motivated midwives, health extension workers, clinical officers, and community health workers. These frontline health workers are the first—and often the only—link to health care for millions of people in developing countries. The coalition advocates for greater and more strategic U.S. investment in these health workers as one of the most cost-effective ways to save lives and improve global health.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded Bethesda-based University Research Co., LLC (URC) a new five-year, $32 million cooperative agreement aimed to improve the nutrition and health status of women and children in Guatemala. The country has the highest chronic malnutrition rate in Latin America and the Caribbean and the fourth highest worldwide.

John Schafer, URC's new Director of Global Security, will teach Course on Health Emergencies at the University of Hawai'i.

Dr. Stephen N. Kinoti, URC’s Senior Quality Improvement and Research Advisor, and Dr. Peter Arimi, Senior Regional Care and Treatment Specialist for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) East Africa Regional Health Office, co-facilitated the African Patient-Centered Care Initiative (APCCI) Task Force on Leadership and Education Workshop in Mombasa, Kenya, in May.

The border towns of Ranong, Thailand, and Kawthaung, Myanmar, celebrated World Malaria Day May 10 by initiating their new sister city initiative for malaria control, facilitated by URC’s Control and Prevention of Malaria (CAP-Malaria) project. The towns are separated only by the Kraburi River, which residents and migrant workers cross frequently, even daily. Both towns have among the highest rates of malaria in their countries.

U.S. Ambassador to Thailand Kristie Kenney visited the Control and Prevention of Malaria (CAP-Malaria) Project last month in Ranong, which is in southern Thailand on the border with Myanmar. She learned about some of CAP-Malaria’s strategies for cross-border malaria control and motivated local health officials and CAP-Malaria staff to continue collaborating across the border.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has highlighted URC-managed programs in the agency’s report to the U.S. Congress. “Global Health and Child Survival: Progress Report to Congress 2010–2011” summarizes U.S. global health successes in developing countries from January 2010 to October 2011.   

The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics (IJGO) published a new article by URC researchers this month. Co-authored by Dr. Jorge Hermida, Director of Latin America for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Health Care Improvement Project (HCI), the article provides a compelling model for countries seeking to reduce the number of women who die each year during childbirth, estimated at nearly 400,000 globally. As in many other developing countries, the primary cause of maternal death in Ecuador occurs from severe bleeding in childbirth, or postpartum hemorrhage.

URC commemorates the International Day of Action for Women’s Health on May 28th, a day that calls for greater focus on women’s health. A recent report, by URC’s Health Care Improvement Project (HCI), sheds light on the health needs of women of reproductive age in Albania, Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. Funded by the USAID Europe and Eurasia Bureau, the report describes an assessment of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and related health care services for women of reproductive age. The assessment evaluated recommended prevention, screening, and treatment services for NCDs – including cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cervical and breast cancer, diabetes, and mental health conditions ­– in these women.

URC partners will present the Salzburg Call to Action, “Better Health for All, Every Time,” at the 65th World Health Assembly today at a special session on patient safety. The Call to Action proposes a set of seven recommendations developed by global health leaders during a high-level meeting convened by URC and the Salzburg Global Seminar. Launched two weeks ago, the recommendations have garnered more than 400 signatures to date.

Georgia’s First Lady and other national figures officially launched the Tuberculosis Prevention Project (TPP) in Tbilisi in April. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by University Research Co., LLC (URC), TPP will improve the rates of TB detection and strengthen and expand treatment of the disease.