Maternal and Child Health

Muhammad Saddiq Ahmad ’21 worked with local partners in the rural Chana community in Nigeria to construct a community-based healthcare facility with a solar-powered water supply system to ensure clean water for health facility and residential use. The facility will improve access to quality maternal, child, and neonatal health services, reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in the area.

As part of her work with Erie Health Centers, Emily MacDonald ’18 expanded reproductive health services to one of their school-based health centers and operationalized same-day contraceptive appointment access. This work was through the ICAN! Reproductive Justice Initiative in Illinois, United States.

Lindsey Pollaczek ’19 leads programs at the Fistula Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating the devastating childbirth injury obstetric fistula. Obstetric fistula surgery is highly cost-effective compared with other interventions, highlighting the benefits of prioritizing fistula treatment as part of the global agenda for maternal health care.

After completing her fellowship year, Hope Rhodes ’19 became Associate Medical Director of the Children's Health Center-THEARC, where she has harnessed the power of community partnerships to co-lead many initiatives from within the primary care medical home, including the Healthy Generations Program (serving adolescent parents and their children), reproductive health programming, and early childhood development programming.

Nancy Rumaldo ’21 works with the CASITA Project, which aims to reduce the risk of delay in early childhood development in children under two years old through community-based family coaching.

Joedrecka Brown Speights ’17 researched maternal and child health, including the Black-white mortality gap in the United States. She found that states are achieving varying levels of progress in reducing Black infant mortality and that racial equality in infant survival is achievable but will require shifting focus to determinants of progress and strategies for success.