A nurse takes a child’s measurements during his visit to the clinic.
September 27, 2015, New York, NY – Hope Through Health (HTH), which has worked to improve access to life-saving HIV/AIDS treatment in Togo, West Africa for more than a decade, has just announced an exciting new program in Maternal and Child Health from the stage at the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting.
Until today, HTH only provided HIV/AIDS treatment, but with HTH’s 2015 Commitment to Action, they will expand services to include a new Maternal and Child Health Program, which will work to work to strengthen care for mothers and their children by improving the delivery, management and quality of maternal and child health services at publicly operated clinics in northern Togo. HTH is supporting Togo’s Ministry of Health by training community health workers to deliver proactive screenings and services to women and children in their homes and by providing mentoring and supplies to strengthen the staff and facilities of existing public clinics. HTH believes that our model will dramatically reduce preventable deaths among the more than 5,000 women and children it aims to serve over three years. HTH is also working with the Togolese government to implement changes to national policy that will help the country move toward achieving universal health coverage, one of the key targets of the Sustainable Development Goals recently announced as part of the United Nations post-2015 development agenda.
In preparation for the launch of the new Maternal and Child Health program, HTH’s team in Togo has conducted more than 150 community meetings. “Securing the buy-in and trust of all of our partners – and most importantly, the families we aim to serve – is critical to this program’s success” said Hope Through Health co-founder Dr. Kevin Fiori.
The project is supported by HTH’s implementation and funding partners, including the Togolese Ministry of Health, Segal Family Foundation, and Direct Relief, with technical assistance from Muso, Last Mile Health, Partners In Health, the Department of Family and Social Medicine at Albert Einstein School of Medicine and the Department of Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore.
“The resources and reputation that the Clinton Global Initiative brings to our work in Togo, a country that many have never heard of, are critical to demonstrating how our model of providing community-based, proactive healthcare; paired with improved clinic-based services, is an effective way to build resilient health systems and achieve universal health coverage,” said HTH Executive Director Jennifer Schechter. “We look forward to sharing our results with CGI and our partners in the coming year.”
CHWs look through the new midwife kits after they arrived at the clinic.
About the Clinton Global Initiative: Established in 2005 by President Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), an initiative of the Clinton Foundation, convenes global leaders to create and implement solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. CGI Annual Meetings have brought together 190 sitting and former heads of state, more than 20 Nobel Prize laureates, and hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations and NGOs, major philanthropists, and members of the media. To date, members of the CGI community have made more than 3,200 Commitments to Action, which have improved the lives of over 430 million people in more than 180 countries.
In addition to the Annual Meeting, CGI convenes CGI America, a meeting focused on collaborative solutions to economic recovery in the United States; and CGI University (CGI U), which brings together undergraduate and graduate students to address pressing challenges in their community or around the world. This year, CGI also convened CGI Middle East & Africa, which brought together leaders across sectors to take action on pressing social, economic, and environmental challenges.
About Hope Through Health: Hope Through Health (HTH) is dedicated to transforming health and healthcare systems for the most vulnerable in Togo, West Africa. Combining frontline expertise and rigorous evaluation, HTH saves lives by treating patients and strengthening health systems. Founded by Peace Corps volunteers working in partnership with a local association of people living with HIV/AIDS, HTH was launched in 2004 to improve access to healthcare and promote innovation in health systems. By working in partnership with local organizations, patients, health workers, researchers and policymakers in Togo, HTH develops insights and solutions that are transferable and replicable. For more information, visit www.hthglobal.org and follow us on Twitter @HTHGlobal and Facebook at facebook.com/hthglobal.