#global programs

Over the last decade, the global MBA landscape has undergone a quiet but powerful shift. Once dominated almost exclusively by business schools in the United States and the United Kingdom, management education is now becoming more geographically balanced. Indian business schools, in particular, are emerging as credible global alternatives, offering internationally aligned MBA and PGDM programs…

First-of-its-Kind Human Right to Family Planning Conference

This month, Planned Parenthood co-sponsored the Human Right to Family Planning Conference in Seattle. The first-of-its-kind conference brought together leaders from across disciplines to discuss the serious issues related to reproductive rights and access around the world. Advocates, doctors, nurses, lawyers, politicians, academics and NGOs worked together on the pressing topics in family planning services globally. Marleen Temmerman of the World Health Organization opened the conference and urged for a stronger commitment from the diverse audience to respond to the unmet needs that would prevent maternal deaths and improve the lives of women globally.

Celebrating Fiestas Patrias in Seattle

Fiestas Patrias celebrates the independence of many Latin American countries throughout the month of September. The event coincides National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15-Oct. 15) which recognizes the contributions of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and celebrates heritage and culture.

Strengthening Sexuality Education in Vietnam

In July, two of our educators traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam to work hand-in-hand with staff from the Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP), a Vietnamese a non-governmental organization that we have partnered with for the past two years. With support from Global Programs since January 2014, CCIHP has implemented an innovative peer sexuality education program—for pre-teens aged 11-13—in two secondary schools in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital. There is a great need for sexuality education and increased access to contraceptive methods for young people; as evidenced by this staggering figure: 34.5 percent of sexually active young people aged 15-19 do not want to get pregnant but are not using contraception.

In addition to financial support, we provided training to CCIHP to strengthen their peer education program. During the most recent trip, we worked closely with CCIHP staff to plan for and facilitate a leadership development summer camp for 28 enthusiastic peer educators.

Another highlight of the trip was a one-day training on sexuality education for CCIHP staff and more than 20 representatives from a variety of Vietnamese and international NGOs. At the training, our educators shared key tools and approaches from our successful U.S.-based sexuality education programs, including strategies for creating an education environment that is inclusive of all youth, with a special focus on using language that is relevant for LGBTQ youth. This training was well received by our Vietnamese colleagues, and is an emerging area in our global work.

Reaching beyond the Northwest

In 2014, Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest (PPGNW) worked in partnership with nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations to support programs in developing countries that positively impacted the lives of vulnerable women and families.

Recognizing that family planning and other sexual and reproductive health services play a critical lifesaving role in global health, the PPGNW International Program focuses on three programmatic priorities that lie at the intersection of global health needs and our expertise:

Expanding global access to family planning

Preventing unsafe abortion and related health consequences

Empowering women and youth through sexual and reproductive health education

Expanding access

Globally, there are 222 million women who wish to limit family size or stop childbearing altogether who are not using effective contraceptive methods. If these women had access to family planning options, the number of unintended pregnancies could shrink by as much as two-thirds, which in turn would reduce the number of maternal and newborn deaths each year by hundreds of thousands. By increasing access to contraception options, we empowered individuals to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduced the spread of HIV and sexually transmitted infections.  

Preventing unsafe abortion and related health consequences

Unsafe abortion can be avoided both by preventing unintended pregnancies (through increased access to family planning services), and by increasing access to safe abortion. In 2008, an estimated 21.6 million unsafe abortions were performed globally, many of them in countries where abortion is illegal altogether or strictly restricted. That same year, 47,000 women died due to complications from unsafe abortions; many more suffered long-term health consequences. Unsafe abortion and its consequences are preventable. PPGNW advocates for access to safe, legal abortion and also supports postabortion care services to ensure that women who have unsafe or incomplete abortions get the medical attention and emotional support they need to prevent long-term complications and, in some cases, save their lives.

Empowering women and youth

PPGNW staff trained sexuality educators in the Dominican Republic and Vietnam

Dominican Republic

MAMI, a partnership between the public hospital and a local non-profit HIV and primary care clinic in the southeastern province of La Romana, was created to respond to the high rates of sexually transmitted infections/HIV and adolescent pregnancy. MAMI offers high-quality, teen-friendly services and sexuality education to the poorest youth in the province.

In 2014, during the PPGNW-funded project year, MAMI reached 3,032 in- and out-of-school youth with reproductive and sexuality health education sessions. MAMI has also initiated the first-ever sexuality education in two batey community schools; residents of bateyes are primarily of Haitian descent, face discrimination in Dominican society, and have the poorest health outcomes in the province. Furthermore, since we began our partnership with MAMI in 2010, the number of new family planning adolescent clients served at MAMI’s clinic has increased by an incredible 248 percent. MAMI’s outreach is also enabling more youth to seek testing for sexually transmitted infections and HIV; in 2014, 1,615 youths received HIV testing at the clinic. With our support, MAMI provides these Dominican youth with the critical information and access they need to reach family planning and other services.

Vietnam

In Vietnam, there is a substantial unmet need for sexual and reproductive health education and services. It is estimated that Vietnam has one of the highest abortion rates in the world, and approximately 24 percent of annual births are unplanned. Young people, factory workers who live far from their home communities, and marginalized groups such as rural populations and ethnic minorities face significant challenges in accessing sexual and reproductive health services.

Our collaborative relationship with the Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP) in Vietnam started in 2014. CCIHP is a non-profit community health organization with over ten years of experience working in the fields of gender, community health, and sexual and reproductive health serving disadvantaged and minority groups. Based on a 2012 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report, the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training identified a need for improved sexual and reproductive health education for young people. In 2014, PPGNW and CCIHP worked together to meet this need by implementing a school-based peer education program in two secondary schools with youth aged 11-13; in the pilot year, the program reached more than 1,000 youth in the two schools.

Both peer education programs were enthusiastically received:

“When I first arrived at MAMI, I was shy and afraid what people might think of me. But thank you to the group, my self-esteem is much higher now and I feel like I can be successful in whatever I choose to do. After two years in MAMI’s peer education group, I know where I am, who I am, and where I am going.” - A MAMI peer educator

Spotlight: Pat Conrad

The One Health Institute is an exciting place, full of talented people who are tasked with fixing complex problems that impact our world. I (Desireé) will be chatting with my colleagues and collaborators from the One Health Institute to learn more about the people behind the science. 

To kick off this series of interviews, I sat down with Patricia Conrad. Pat is the Co-Director of the One Health Center of Expertise and the Associate Dean for Global Programs in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Enjoy! 

Let’s start with a fun quote from Pat: 

“People pick dogs that look like their owners, and I would give anything to look like my dog MacAlister. Mac is a Rhodesian Ridgeback with beautiful slender legs and an athletic body.”

Give us some fun facts about yourself. 

I have two sons, Alex and Ian. They are both Wildlife photographers, and I love filling my home with their photos. Some of my other hobbies include snorkeling and practicing yoga. I adore living in the country outside of Woodland with all of my animals. I have two cats, Elaine and Banya, a Jack Russell terrier named Cooper, Nigerian Dwarf Goats (Napolean and Brocket), tropical fish, and of course Mac.  

#1 most played song on your iPod?

Graceland by Paul Simon.

Is there a specific reason that you have a Rhodesian Ridgeback?

Yes, absolutely! It all originates from my first trip to Kenya (1984-88), when I helped a ridgeback puppy who had an abscess under the pup’s chin. I was able to help with the puppy, so as a thank you they gave me a ridgeback puppy. I have loved the breed ever since.

How did you decide to work with wildlife?

I have been interested ever since my first experience working with wildlife in Kenya. In east Kenya I was working with a disease found in cattle called the East Coast Fever. Infectious diseases have always been my focus, and this includes those that are found in wildlife hosts.

What is the best trip you have ever taken?

This is a hard question! I have had the fantastic opportunity to travel many times for work and fun, and a mixture of the two. I would say that the trip I took to Tanzania and South Africa in 2012 with my sons, Alex and Ian was the best.  We visited the Serengeti and followed in the footsteps of a trip that I had taken with their father in the 1980s. We even ended up, through happenstance, staying in the same place. We enjoyed seeing lions (even a lioness with her cubs), exotic birds and beautiful sunsets. 

What is the most rewarding part of the work you do?

Getting the opportunity to work with incredible students. It’s very fun mentoring and helping make their dreams come true. My desire to help students was what inspired me to take the job as Associate Dean for Global Programs. I recognized long ago that I wanted to be where the students are.

I also love working with the gifted and passionate faculty that we have here at the One Health Institute and the Wildlife Health Center. I don’t think any of us ever imagined our work would be so much fun, amidst solving real global problems. We are making a huge impact, and having a blast doing it.

What is your favorite animal?

Well, my favorite animal right now is my dog Mac, and of course Napoleon, one of my Nigerian Dwarf Goats.

Anything else you would like to add?