Much More Access, in Many More Ways Dear Friends, Later We Coordinated Their Getting Low-Cost Tablets It’S Been a Busy Year for Hesperian
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annual report July 2014 – June 2015 1 much more access, in many more ways Dear friends, Later we coordinated their getting low-cost tablets It’s been a busy year for Hesperian. We released two loaded with the Spanish version of Safe Pregnancy and major new books in English—Health Actions for Women Birth. They learned to navigate the app, gave the trainers and Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety—produced feedback, then took the tablets home to use in their daily and published two new French editions, and helped work. These efforts resulted in a vast improvement in the partners complete translations into Bengali and Dari. reproductive health of Oaxacan communities, especially Hesperian Health Guides are now available in 84 in remote locations. languages—263 titles in all. We’re proud of how easy we’ve made it for people At the same time, an astonishing 4.7 million people, to get good health information. But making that mostly using cell phones and coming from every corner easy isn’t easy—it takes hard work, and lots of it. We of the globe, found critical health information online in accomplished everything described in this annual our expanded HealthWiki. And that’s not counting the report with a lean, hard-working staff of twenty, our people who used our award-winning mobile app, Safe global partners and nearly 12,000 hours donated by Pregnancy and Birth. devoted volunteers. Traditional midwives in Mexico made use of all three One other component is necessary—you. Your pathways. For the last six years, a group of these parteras contribution to our work is crucial, because it makes have been attending an annual, four-day training in the everything else possible. It allows us to deliver practical, small coastal town of Puerto Escondido. They come from often lifesaving information to more and more people, marginalized communities all over the state of Oaxaca to in the languages they speak, in whatever form best suits learn about safe birth techniques, management of natal their needs. We’re very grateful for emergencies and how to ensure that newborns stay healthy. your help doing this, and we’ll make sure every dollar you donate counts. We originally sent the conference participants free copies of A Book for Midwives in Spanish, which they Sincerely, found invaluable. Then they used a local internet cafe to find more women’s health information in the online Spanish version of Where Women Have No Doctor. Sarah Shannon, Executive Director 2 online access explodes PDF files of our books are now our home page—hesperian.org.) available online in 35 languages. More HealthWiki resources are now 5 million than 110,000 PDFs were downloaded available in 13 languages—Arabic, users last year, but even that impressive Chinese, English, Filipino, French, number was far surpassed by the Haitian Kreyol, Khmer, Lao, astounding growth of our HealthWiki. Portuguese, Spanish, Swahili, Urdu One big advantage of the and Vietnamese—and we’re working 4 million HealthWiki is that it’s always up- on Amharic and Luo. to-date (a PDF is only as current as This year 4.7 million people used the date it was downloaded from the HealthWiki, almost four times as our website). And there are other many as last year. Studies show that 3 million advantages as well. 62% of HealthWiki each of those online visitors shared visitors use mobile phones or tablets. what they found with between 11 Arabic, Swahili, Outside the US and Europe, it’s 75%, and 21 others, which means that our others and in places like Kenya and Tanzania, essential health information reached 2 million it’s 92%. HealthWiki material is 50 to 100 million people—just from French optimized for viewing on cell phones the HealthWiki alone. (it resizes automatically to fit small The explosive growth of our Portuguese screens) and it’s designed to handle HealthWiki not only demonstrates 1 million the slow connection speeds of the the relevance and popularity of our developing world. English materials, but it also gives us valuable The HealthWiki is also highly insights into what our audiences are searchable. (Try typing something into Spanish looking for. We use those insights to 0 the search box on the upper right of tailor our content as we move forward. Sep 30 Dec 31 Mar 31 Jun 30 3 two new books Health Actions for Women Women’s health involves more than Cecile Richards, the president of just medicine. People working at Planned Parenthood, calls it: the grassroots inevitably face social “A triumph! No other resource barriers and unexamined practices today provides such concrete tools that have an enormous impact on for engaging communities and health. Those problems are the focus empowering women of all ages.” of a new Hesperian book. Health Actions for Women was field- Health Actions for Women shows tested by groups in 23 countries, who how women and girls—and men and shared their experiences and methods. boys—can educate their communities Every activity is clearly explained and and mobilize them for women’s engagingly illustrated. Translations into rights. It offers a wide range of simple Bangla, Chinese, Khmer, Lao, Nepali activities, innovative strategies and and Spanish are in the works. inspiring stories designed to: Last spring, promotional events • combat violence against women were hosted by Planned Parenthood • improve access to family planning Global in New York City; Global Fund for Women in San Francisco; Our • make childbirth and motherhood Bodies Ourselves, the Harvard School safer of Public Health and the FXB Center • counteract restrictive gender roles for Health and Human Rights in Our new book helps girls avoid • promote sexual health Boston; Health Alliance International the trap of early marriage. • ensure that health services meet and the University of Washington GENET the needs of women and girls School of Public Health in Seattle. 4 Workers’ Guide to Health and Safety Work is how most of us spend most such as low wages, long hours, sexual development, including David Egilman of our waking hours. But in many harassment, abuse of migrant workers and his family, who donated “in honor factories around the world, workers and workplace violence. Its clear, of all the workers who were injured face conditions that harm their health, accessible prose puts this invaluable or killed in the course of enriching endanger their lives and keep them information directly into the hands of others.” poor. those who need it most—the workers Despite the huge effect work has on themselves. people’s lives, too little attention has Of the 90,000 chemicals in common been paid to the hazards it presents. use today, only a few thousand have Our new Workers’ Guide to Health been studied for any health effects at and Safety is designed to remedy that all. The Workers’ Guide details what is omission. Rooted in the experiences known about a hundred of the most of factory workers around the world, common ones, and includes an index it focuses on the three most common of hundreds of other names by which export industries—electronics, they’re known. Another appendix garments and shoes—but its insights covers international labor law. and strategies can be applied to any More than 350 experts and 40 work environment. partner groups in 25 countries Topics covered include electrical, contributed their knowledge and mechanical and chemical dangers, expertise to the book. We’re also shop-floor first aid, ergonomics and thankful to the many individuals 80% of workers in export factories fire safety, as well as social hazards and foundations who supported its are women, often very young ones. 5 our partners around the world Hesperian and the Peace Corps What for over forty years has been “Not only are we using the when it was time to deliver the baby. a very fruitful partnership was materials,” said current Peace Corps Moments after giving birth, she had finally made official. On November director Carrie Hessler-Radelet, “but a hemorrhage and would have died if 24th, 2014, Hesperian and the Peace we’re going to help refine them in the she hadn’t been at the health center. Corps signed a memorandum of field, and get them translated into new Where There Is No Doctor started the understanding in Washington, DC. languages. We’ll not only benefit from chain of events that saved her life.” The agreement expands the Peace using these materials but will also help As our executive director Sarah Corps’ use of Hesperian resources improve and disseminate them.” Shannon put it, “it’s clear that and supports enhanced field-testing During the signing ceremony, Hesperian and Peace Corps have much and review of them by Peace Corps returned Peace Corps volunteers to offer each other. It’s a logical and volunteers and their host communities. shared stories of using Hesperian natural partnership. We’re proud to be books during their years of service. able to support Peace Corps volunteers Hessler-Radelet, who served in Samoa, with our resources on many different was among them: “I’ll never forget the topics, in many different formats, in day I found my host mother weeping many different languages.” because she’d found out that she was Thanks to everyone who was able to pregnant with her ninth child. I went attend the signing ceremony and the straight to my copy of Where There Is reception that followed, hosted by the “People came looking for help day or No Doctor and read the sections on Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of night,”says Jersey Garcia, who served in prenatal and postnatal care, nutrition, Washington, DC.