Category: Abundant Health Project Stories

Global Health initiative exceeds goal of reaching 1 million children

Posted on | by Abundant Health


November 13, 2020 | ATLANTA

FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE

Dan Curran for Global Ministries

770-658-9586, DanCurran@CurranPR.com

Mary Lou Greenwood Boice Director of Communications, Global Ministries

404-788-0624, mboice@umcmission.org

Working to positively impact the lives of women and children around the world, Abundant Health, The United Methodist Church’s global health initiative, has achieved and exceeded its goal of reaching 1 million children with lifesaving interventions by 2020. According to data reports, the United Methodist contribution to the global effort to end preventable deaths of newborns, children and adolescents reached 1,075,732 children as of October 2020.

Naomi Lebbie, a young woman from Southern Province, Sierra Leone, became a hardworking petty trader although her hope had been to be a teacher. Naomi married young and her first two babies died – one at the hands of a traditional birth attendant and the second she miscarried. It was during her third pregnancy that an outreach team from the Jaiama Health Center, a United Methodist facility focusing on maternal, newborn and child health, visited her village. She enrolled in its prenatal program and, when she developed complications, did not hesitate to stay there for care. A few weeks later, Naomi gave birth to a healthy son. “My dream of becoming a mother has come to reality,” she said.

Since the launch of the Abundant Health Initiative in 2017, United Methodist Global Ministries has invested over $26 million in 50 countries and mobilized millions in partner in-kind contributions, reaching over 1 million children and adolescents with health interventions in thousands of communities across Asia, Africa, North America and Central America. Data from around the world, collected monthly and evaluated each quarter, enables the Global Health unit to provide more comprehensive interventions in response to current challenges.

The United Methodist Church recognizes that every child is filled with promise and potential. Its mission to protect children from preventable causes of death and disease aligns with global efforts. As a sign of its commitment, Global Ministries joined the United Nations-sponsored Every Woman Every Child initiative originally designed to reach 16 million children by 2020. This initiative is supported by government, private sector, nonprofit and faith-based organizations who are committed to realizing healthier, more productive futures for children, their families and communities across the world.

Abundant Health focuses on five core areas impacting the health of children throughout the world: ensure safe births, address nutritional challenges, promote breastfeeding, advance prevention and treatment of childhood diseases and promote children’s health and wholeness.

“As United Methodists, we find care and concern for children rooted in our Social Principles, where we talk about putting children and their families first,” said Roland Fernandes, general secretary (chief executive) of United Methodist Global Ministries, the worldwide mission and development agency of the denomination. “Back in 2016, the General Conference affirmed that children have the right to food, shelter, clothing, health care and emotional well-being, as do adults, and these rights are theirs regardless of actions or inactions of their parents or guardians.

“Through Abundant Health, we are promoting the physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health of children worldwide,” Fernandes continued. “The initiative’s name is derived from the Gospel of John 10:10: ‘I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.’ We are committed to living into our promise to children by imagining abundant health for every child in every place.”

“We go to places where there is no one else, where no one else wants to go,” Interim Global Health team lead and program manager for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health,” Kathleen Griffith said. “When I think of the impact of Abundant Health, I think of the women like Naomi who had a successful pregnancy, people who walk three hours to get to a clinic and the mothers who work so hard to bring their children for immunizations.”

She added, “What is inspiring to me about the Abundant Health Initiative is that so many more children are now more likely to survive their fifth birthday; more children are thriving through healthy meals, substance-use prevention and positive youth development programs. Our support has improved the quality of care for mothers and babies in some of the most challenged places in the world.

“Through the initiative, we help people learn that in order for a child to be healthy, it takes more than prescriptions, more than staff in a hospital,” Griffith said. ‘It takes a holistic community response.”

“Our assistance to improve provider capacity and strengthen health systems has helped revitalize UMC mission hospitals and clinics in many low-income countries,” noted Bishop Thomas J. Bickerton, chair of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). “Clearly, when we harness our efforts across the global UMC network, we make enormous progress toward our shared goals. Our continued success depends on unwavering commitment to effective, equitable and sustainable child health service delivery strategies so that children not only survive but also thrive as they grow into their adult life.”

Approved at the 2016 UMC General Conference, the initiative builds on the success of Imagine No Malaria, the United Methodist health initiative that significantly reduced the number of childhood deaths caused by malaria.

According to Global Ministries’ leaders, the motivation to launch the Abundant Health Initiative emerged in part from an extensive survey of people in 59 countries. Data showed that the top global health challenges are maternal and child health, water and sanitation, hunger and nutrition, and access to health care.

Global Ministries leaders are available upon request for interviews about Abundant Health.

Donations to support the program are being accepted at https://advance.umcmission.org/p-490-abundant-health.aspx.

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About the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church

Global Ministries is the worldwide mission and development agency of The United Methodist Church. Founded in 1819, Global Ministries today supports more than 300 missionaries in over 70 countries, including the United States. It has personnel, projects, and partners in 115 countries. Learn more about Global Ministries by visiting www.umcmission.org or by following www.facebook.com/globalministries and twitter.com/umcmission.

Health access and coverage: an issue of justice

Posted on | by Kathy Griffith

The United Methodist Church’s Abundant Health Initiative is committed to reaching a million and more children with life-saving interventions, a goal set for the 2016-2020 quadrennium. This commitment is only possible through increasing health access and coverage for many thousands of community members within the reach of United Methodist congregations, health facilities and services. Reaching the most marginalized with healthcare is an issue of justice.

Access to health services is not always simple1

In Nepal, a woman has access to a prenatal exam conducted with care and respect early in her pregnancy. PHOTO: UNITED MISSION TO NEPAL 

In Liberia, Mardea was carried for two hours in a hammock, during labor, to deliver her baby at Camphor clinic. In Central Congo, the construction crew at Dingele Maternity Center rushed a woman in labor with complications to the hospital in their truck. In Jalingo, Nigeria, the taxi union has been contracted to transport women with obstetric emergencies to UMC health facilities. In Nicaragua’s autonomous regions, a horse or motorboat are on standby.

But there are so many other places around the world where physical access to health care simply isn’t possible. Tragically, women and children die for lack of transport – a bus, a bicycle, a motorbike, a truck – or the money to pay for the service, the confidence or permission to take it, or, finally, the limitations of staff and services available on arrival at a health clinic.

Affordability is at the heart of the matter for many families. Payment for consultation fees or medicines brings about hardship. They must use rent money, miss meals, walk instead of ride, go into debt or lose a day’s income.

For Bhawana, affordability meant a walk of several hours with her husband and mother-in-law in the hills of Western Nepal. She had gone into labor and needed to reach her clinic as quickly as possible. On arrival, the examining nurse found complications that she was not equipped to help with and immediately referred the family to the district hospital. How would they pay for the transport and hospital fees?

It seemed an impossible and life-threatening situation until they realized they qualified, on the spot, for an interest-free loan from a fund created for such emergencies. This fund was initiated through a Global Health grant and, after discussion and agreement, received equal and ongoing contributions from the community and local government.

Health coverage and health access go hand in hand

Health coverage is the actual delivery and receipt of services, but many people are unwilling to seek services near their home because of the attitudes of health workers. True health coverage is access to health care providers themsleves and to quality care offered with dignity in clean facilities. Many women from lower social classes or those simply lacking resources have given birth in poorly equipped and staffed facilities without basic infrastrature, like water or a decent delivery bed, because of years of neglect.

Justice for these women has been realized through the UMC-supported revitalization of their health facilities to provide maternal, newborn and child health care, among other essential serives. Delivery rooms are equipped and medications are available. Health care workers in UMC health facilities are trainied to provide care with dignity, regardless of the indivudal’s background. In Ghana, pregnant women and patients prefer to travel for miles to access the Methodist Health Facilities: “We prefer to come to the Methodist clinic” they say “because God is there.” God is there through the compassion, love and the quality care they receive.

In the United States, there has been great fear linked to the COVID-19 pandemic – fear of infection and fear of passing infection to one’s unborn child. COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on the African American community, in particular.2 According to The National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, Black people are dying from COVID-19 at a rate 2.4 times higher than white people. This is due to higher rates of pre-existing health conditions, over-representation in frontline and essential worker jobs, unequal access to quality health care and insurance coverage and the greater likelihood of living in hyper-segregated neighborhoods. Systemic injustices impact minority communities in many detrimental ways, including the compromised heath of women and children.

A call for education

Residents of the communities surrounding the Dingele Health Center celebrate fresh, safe and potable water from their new well. PHOTO: CENTRAL CONGO HEALTH BOARD

Sometimes, even when quality services exist and people have access to them, they still might not be utilized. People may not be aware that they have treatable conditions because their illnesses have become “normal” or have a spiritual or contextual diagnosis. Annual bouts of malaria can just be part of life and HIV may be pronounced a spiritual malady or punishment. People may not realize how their avoidance of health care impacts others, like untreated tuberculosis and sexually transmitted infections, undiagnosed Ebola or COVID-19, hidden depression, alcoholism or anxiety. This calls for strengthening health education and the accompaniment of those with such conditions.

Some years ago, in Zambia, a young woman attending HIV awareness meetings conducted by a Global Ministries partner suddenly stood up and called for the group’s attention. She started by saying “I now know the witches who took my two daughters. Their names are HIV and AIDS!” She had never wanted to learn about the virus before because she had believed it was bewitchment. At the meeting, her mind and direction completely changed, and she went for testing and treatment. She now gives other women the testimony of her life – how she lost two daughters who were born HIV-positive because of her lack of knowledge, but that she now has a beautiful HIV-negative son.

Everyone deserves the best health care

Advocacy and funding for other foundational parts of our lives are also essential to personal, family and community health. For example, safe housing, clean drinking water, affordable fresh food, equal education and employment opportunities, affordable childcare and physical security improve the overall health of families and communities. Global Ministries has funded wells and latrines, small and large nutrition and agricultural projects, scholarships and livelihoods – all to address these underlying needs.

At the heart of The United Methodist Church’s Abundant Health Initiative is the desire to bring the best possible health services with the best possible outcomes to communities, and especially to women and children. Although beneficiaries are counted, the goal is not primarily reaching higher numbers. What’s important is offering quality health care with dignity and compassion, mostly to people who have been marginalized. Reaching them is an issue of Christian care and justice. We long for you to join us through your prayers, giving and by care for your community and the world.

Kathy Griffith is the Global Health team lead and program manager for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.

1https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/91/8/13-125450/en/
2https://www.nihcm.org/categories/systemic-racism-is-a-public-health-crisis

Partnerships in health produce peace of mind

Posted on | by Kathy Griffith

The Abundant Health Initiative of The United Methodist Church supports mothers and children through teaching about pregnancy and child care, making improved services more accessible and available, and encouraging community participation. Confidence in this partnership leads to trust, empowerment and peace of mind. In communities from Nepal to Congo, where pregnant women’s and small children’s lives are at risk from everyday problems, let alone COVID-19, this connection is life-changing.

Finding local nutritious food

A partner in Nepal, the Nutrition Promotion and Consultancy Service, has implemented a childhood nutrition program in a difficult-to-reach mountainous area. They share practical information with the community through special events that bring women together to dance, sing, compete and learn about health. As a result, mothers are bringing their very small children for growth monitoring and nutritional assistance and breastfeeding their newborns longer, and supportive home visits are taking place. The field team gives food and cooking demonstrations to mothers’ groups in order to introduce local, affordable and nutritious variations into traditional recipes. After 12 months, most families are eating more balanced meals and community opinion leaders are discouraging the ever popular “junk food.”

Health services, healthy home

In rural Central Congo, women are taking advantage of the open doors of the health facility and ownership of new health knowledge. They understand the benefit of multiple prenatal visits, consent to tests, and request malaria-prevention medication and mosquito nets, which are no longer taboo. Services have been made more practical and helpful through mobile clinics and visits from Community Health Worker visits to screen children, village by village, for malnutrition. Kitchen and community gardens have been introduced, and some have had an opportunity to raise chickens. One of the most welcome interventions has been the drilling of two village wells. No more long walks for dirty water. Peace.

Community commitment

The health system in the autonomous region of Tashba Pri in Nicaragua relies heavily on community health workers. A partner, Accion Medica Cristiana (Christian Medical Action), works with community leaders and members to keep health data, particularly about pregnant women and children. They not only address health needs but also promote health through household water treatment, vegetable growing and the installation of smokeless stoves.

Empowerment

In Liberia, the nurse in charge of the clinic at Camphor assumed her post with very little midwifery experience. The community could easily have lost trust in the clinic’s capacity to provide care. Fortunately, the Abundant Health Initiative’s program officer began to mentor her. The nurse’s self-confidence grew, transforming her relationships with coworkers and patients. She became a better leader and manager. “I have learned to be patient and calm,” she said, and the work goes on. We celebrate her in the year of the nurse and midwife!

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has reduced attendance at many of these vital services. Health workers and community leaders continue to urge pregnant women and young children to seek treatment, deliver their babies at health facilities and breastfeed for as long as possible. They also teach and practice the new set of precautions that has come with the pandemic, not to spread panic, but to bring confidence and safety.  

As knowledge, respect and autonomy increase through health partnerships in these countries and more around the world, we pray for continued peace of mind for mothers and children.  

To support the work of Abundant Health, give to Advance #3021770.

No longer a generation of anguish but a generation of hope

Posted on | by Kathy Griffith

Ending the AIDS pandemic is a collective responsibility. It is a life-saving ministry and movement in which the church plays a vital part. There are eight projects under the Abundant Health banner that have leading roles in reaching young people who are least aware, most at risk, and perhaps most afraid of stigma. 

United Methodist Health Board section marches in the parade, World AIDS Day 2019, Kitwe, Zambia. Photo: Courtesy Zambia UM Health Board

The United Methodist Church’s Health Board in Zambia joined local partners in Kitwe, and the rest of the world, to organize and commemorate World AIDS Day 2019 in December. It was themed “Communities making a difference, pressing toward ending AIDS.” 

The celebration began with a candlelight service, helping participants remember people lost to AIDS and to have renewed hope for life. The district commissioner, Binwell Mpundu, gave an inspiring message. He said, “We are no longer a generation of anguish but a generation of hope. A hope that by 2030, Zambia will have zero new HIV infections.” He declared the goal attainable with collective action from all stakeholders. 

United Methodists taking part in World AIDS Day activities in Kitwe, Zambia, started off their participation with a candlelight service of remembrance for those who lost their lives to AIDS. Photo: Courtesy Zambia UM Health Board

The day was filled with activity for the people of Kitwe – aerobics, a march, a fun run and tug-of-war, but also with HIV education, counseling and testing, and condom distribution. Everyone was called upon to participate in the fight against AIDS; everyone can offer a hand to stop it. The general public was encouraged to go for testing, refer others for testing, take preventive measures and take antiretroviral medication consistently. 

The church is part of the wider community. It can make a significant difference in this life-saving campaign. The health board actively works with the Zambian Ministry of Health and other organizations in the mining city of Kitwe to spread information to prevent HIV, improve access to testing and treatment, and to work against stigma. It recently trained 74 young people as Peer Educators. They are starting to reach out to their friends at school, college and university, establishing clubs and communicating through drama, song and radio, urging everyone to know their status and to treat each other with dignity. The health board is the only organization there reaching out to adolescents. 

Project manager, Mrs. Phiri, describes Zambia Health Board HIV and AIDS projects to the district commissioner and other delegates at the World AIDS Day 2019 commemoration in Kitwe. Photo: Courtesy Zambia UM Health Board

The Zambia UMC Health Board is part of a national campaign to pursue UNAIDS’ 90–90–90 target. The objective for this campaign is: 90% of people living with HIV know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their HIV-positive status access treatment and 90% of people on treatment have suppressed viral loads. In 2019, the health board launched the U=U campaign: The Undetectable virus is Untransmittable. 

As the Zambia Health Board, we are proud of being part of this noble cause and making contributions to Zambia’s vision of ending new AIDS infections by 2030. 

Betty Tshala, Health Office/Board Coordinator 

Kathy Griffith is the program manager for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Global Ministries. This article was adapted from a report by Betty Tshala, who serves as the Health Office/Board Coordinator, Zambia UMC Health Board, and as a UMC missionary with the Mujila Falls Project in Zambia.

Communities make the difference

Posted on | by Abundant Health

World AIDS Day, Sunday, December 1, 2019 

By Kathleen Griffith 

World AIDS Day is on Sunday, December 1st this year, but for 37 million people around the world, living with HIV and AIDS is an everyday reality. Millions who don’t know their status are at risk of infection or spreading infection, which also affects the millions they support and nurture through family and community life. The United Nations theme for World AIDS Day 2019 is “Communities make the difference.” Let’s remember our brothers and sisters as we meet on this special Sunday, the first day of Advent, and let us form the community that makes a difference for people living with AIDS. 

Stop Stigma 

People of every age group are affected by HIV and AIDS but in many places, young people are disproportionately affected. The Abundant Health Initiative supports small projects that reach out to young people through communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the United States. Students in high school and college, pregnant teens, young people who share needles, those experimenting with sex or sexual orientation, rich and poor populations, rural and urban populations – all have sacred worth but are affected by our stigma and judgement. In communities where Global Health works, our partners hear: “Stigma keeps many of us from being tested and treated.…Fear of rejection keeps us hidden…To lose our community is to lose our lives.” 

(Zimbabwe, credit Africa University)

Stigma shuts the door to HIV counseling and testing for many. Fear of the results and fear of leaked information keeps trust levels low. In the silence, myths grow and infection spreads. 

PJ is 19 years old and lives with HIV. He feared being tested for HIV and put it off. When he understood he was positive, he didn’t know what to do or what he’d say to his mother and brother. Staff members of Mary Johnston Hospital (Manilla, Philippines) helped him find treatment but also to find hope. They taught him that, with treatment, there is a good chance to live a long, healthy life. His family would come to understand and accept him again. PJ became a Peer Educator and a teacher of HIV101 in his local community. “I know the hospital staff are instruments of God to spread love, knowledge and awareness so that, soon, stigma and discrimination will be gone.” 

According to “The Lancet,” the Philippines is facing the fastest growing HIV epidemic in the western Pacific, with a 174% increase in HIV incidence between 2010 and 2017.

On World AIDS Day 2017, staff of Kissy UMC Hospital and UMC school children joined a march through their capital – Freetown, Sierra Leone – to promote awareness about rising rates of HIV cases, especially among young people. The turnout was high. HIV testing booths were positioned along the route. The city’s mayor encouraged people to embrace those living with HIV. “Stigma must stop”, he said. “When stigma is reduced, there will surely be a reduction of HIV transmission.” 

According to the Sierra Leone UMC Conference Health Board Coordinator, knowledge about HIV and AIDS in Sierra Leone is limited. The government has expanded access to services, but uptake has been poor. People are reluctant to know their status when treatment and support are lacking, and they face discrimination and social marginalization. 

Community awareness meeting (Malawi: credit, WorldHope Corps)

Know and Go 

Felister, a successful farmer and the mother of two HIV negative children in Malawi, is HIV positive. She and her husband were both positive when they married, but sadly, he abandoned her when their children were young. Though devastated, Felister started life all over again and has done very well. She is now rearing chickens and pigs. She also grows potatoes. She knows that being HIV-positive is not the end of life. Taking the medication properly is what makes her body strong. She attends clinic regularly and receives community support. Felister is determined to nurture her children and provide for them on her small farm in northern Malawi. 

Felister’s community support for living with HIV included a Global Health and World Hope Corp partnership that raised awareness about HIV and the importance of getting tested, as well as Katete Hospital, where she receives her medications. One of the first steps for raising awareness in any community is to know what services are available and how to access them. Could your congregation become such a resource for someone in your community? Does your church have space to partner with a local clinic to provide an HIV “Know your status” event? Start with members of the congregation who are nurses, doctors, other health professionals or a parish nurse to explore possibilities with a local health clinic or hospital. See what develops. 

Pray and Promote 

Churches and communities can respond in many ways. Their leadership and advocacy keep people at the center. Pastors, church members, teachers, neighbors, peer educators, networks of people living with or affected by HIV – and you too – can make a difference through your prayers, welcome and love. People at risk for HIV infection may also experience mental health concerns and substance use disorder, leading to lowered inhibitions in relationships. Even loneliness and simply the need to be loved or connected with someone can lower inhibitions. Young people who have no place to stay may sometimes engage in risky sexual encounters in exchange for shelter and the cost of food. 

Farai Danny Mhlanga is a Peer Educator at Africa University in Zimbabwe. In this role, he and his Peer Network have reached out to people of different cultures and traditions, people like themselves but also some who are marginalized with whom they wouldn’t normally associate. Together they’ve developed leadership and communication skills – like debate, dance, drama, music and public speaking – to engage young adults on this difficult subject. It has taught them to be the change Africa needs. It’s given them hope that this epidemic can be stopped. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION Resources: United Methodist Global AIDS Committee ; CDC-HIV resources; UNAIDS; AVERT-Global info Information: UMC Abundant Health Giving: United Methodist Global AIDS Fund-Advance 982345

Empowering UMC and Ebola Prevention: A Message from Democratic Republic of the Congo

Posted on | by Abundant Health

By Megan Klingler

In 1976, along the Ebola River, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a rare and deadly virus was first identified. The Ebola virus, named for the river near its discovery, has since led to multiple outbreaks across several African countries, Europe and even the United States of America. The exact origin of the Ebola virus is unknown; however, it is believed to be an animal-borne disease and harbored in bats. The bats carrying the virus can then transmit to other animals like monkeys, deer and humans. After the transfer to a human, the Ebola virus can easily spread from person to person.

Megan Klingler demonstrating the appropriate way to remove an Ebola protective suit. Photo: Courtesy of Global Health unit

Ebola virus disease, or EVD, is typically spread by love, care and compassion for a sick person. Often healthcare workers, clergy and family members of those that are sick are at the highest risk of being infected. EVD is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids or through contact with objects that are contaminated with infected body fluids. It can be spread from a person who is sick with EVD, from the corpse of a person that died of EVD, contact with an animal with EVD or from breast milk or unprotected sexual contact with a recent EVD survivor. 

A public health emergency

On August 1, 2018, the DRC announced a cluster of Ebola cases discovered in the North Kivu province in the East Congo Episcopal Area, marking DRC’s tenth Ebola outbreak since 1976. Unlike previous Ebola outbreaks in the DRC that were contained to remote areas, the spread to urban centers and the increased mobility of people caused this outbreak to easily spread.

Photo: Courtesy of Global Health unit

On July 17, 2019, almost one full year later, Ebola reached Goma, a busy DRC border city with an estimated two million people and an international airport. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced this outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern.” The outbreak was not only a threat to the neighboring countries, but to the world, and had grown to be the world’s second largest Ebola epidemic on record with more than 2,400 cases.

Shortly after the WHO announcement, Bishop Unda of the East Congo Episcopal Area requested assistance from the General Board of Global Ministries. Within 24 hours, Dr. Damas Lushima, the East Congo Health Board coordinator, received a protocol from the Global Health unit on actions to reduce exposure to the Ebola virus developed by the WHO, the African Union, the Liberian government and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015. It also contained practical recommendations to screen, isolate and refer potential Ebola cases.  

Visiting Congo 

Megan Klingler, Global Ministries’ Global Health unit’s primary health care specialist, volunteered to offer technical assistance and support to the East Congo Health Board’s Ebola response. Klingler, a public health nurse, had previous experience as a team leader for Ebola responses in Nigeria and Sierra Leone and worked for the CDC as a course facilitator for U.S. healthcare workers going to Ebola zones.

Klingler using Glo Germ during an hands-on activity to demonstrate the importance of hand-washing. Photo: Courtesy of Global Health unit

Klingler’s trip objectives were to empower the East Congo Health Board’s members with the knowledge and expertise to disseminate information on Ebola prevention among UMC health facilities, communities and churches. The first training was conducted fully by Klingler and for subsequent trainings, the East Congo Health Board slowly took over the curriculum.

Trainings were held for members of the UMC healthcare staff, church clergy and lay leaders. The topics included “Ebola Signs and Symptoms,” “Ebola Myths and Facts,” “Screen, Isolate, Refer”, and “Infection, Prevention and Control.”  

Dr. Damas Lushima, East Congo Health Board Coordinator demonstrating the proper way to check body temperature. Photo: Courtesy of Global Health unit

Ebola Initiative 

For 24 days, the team traveled throughout East Congo by road, boat and plane and worked all day from early morning to late night. Despite the many obstacles like bad roads, a cancelled flight, denied visas, and the car breaking down, the team stayed strong and determined to reach all sites and provide the training promised by Bishop Unda’s team.  

The trainings were held in five cities: Goma, Beni, Bukavu, Uvari and Kisangani, and directly reached over 360 participants. The presentations were mostly interactive, with hands on exercises and case studies. Due to working with medical professionals and clergy, the topics were tailored to each attendee’s role and were presented in multiple languages to ensure full understanding. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered at most trainings. The average starting score was less than 30 percent and the average final score after training was at about 90 percent, demonstrating a large gain in knowledge.

The true number of beneficiaries of these trainings is unknown and expanding daily. At a church service in Goma that followed the Clergy and Lay Leaders training, the pastor used his leadership position to speak on the importance of proper hand hygiene and demonstrated how to wash your hands correctly to the congregation, encouraging all to follow him. The bishop’s wife and Maternal Neonatal Child Health Coordinator, Dr. Marie Claire, visited a UMC orphanage in Goma where the orphans were taught how to wash their hands. Examples of the tear down effect were demonstrated multiple times throughout the trip. And even when the team’s car got a flat tire, the Congolese soldiers that surrounded the car were taught about Ebola, the importance of hand hygiene and were encouraged to discuss myths they had heard about Ebola.

Ebola updates

As of September 28, 2019, the DRC Ministry of Health reported a total of 3,188 Ebola cases, including 2,129 deaths. Although this is not positive news, there may soon be more relief. A second Ebola vaccine is coming to DRC. The outcome of the first Ebola vaccine has been very positive, but the quantities have been low. The hope is that with this new vaccine, more people can be reached.  

Additionally, in early August before the trainings took place, two experimental treatments were found to be up to 90 percent effective in treating Ebola when used early in the sickness. This is an additional reason in why the UMC trainings were so important: the trainings not only demonstrated how to prevent contracting Ebola, but how to identify and educate the community to seek medical help in the face of emerging Ebola symptoms.

Next steps and moving forward

With the Bishop’s support and presence, the East Congo Health Board has conducted additional Ebola prevention trainings in Kindu following Klingler’s departure. This demonstrates the success of the trainings and determination of the East Congo Health Board and church leadership to spread the knowledge of prevention to their community in which they serve.

Megan Klingler is the Global Health unit’s primary health care specialist.

Imagine No Malaria: Promoting Abundant Health for All

Posted on | by Abundant Health

By Tatenda Mujeni

Just over 10 years ago, United Methodists globally decided to take on an audacious goal of imagining a world without malaria, leading one of the largest commitments by a faith-based organization to end the disease. Our faith was literally put into action as we distributed millions of mosquito nets, tests and malaria medications to prevent and treat for malaria. Thousands of community volunteers and health facility workers received training in malaria prevention and treatment. We also revitalized their places of work by renovating health facilities throughout Africa. 

Child in Mozambique receiving ACT (anti-malaria Drug). Photo: Courtesy of Global Health unit

At General Conference 2016, The United Methodist Church celebrated these successes of the Imagine No Malaria campaign. There was much to be celebrated. Through the support of our generous donors and the tireless efforts of our partners on the ground, United Methodists significantly contributed toward a global effort to control and end malaria. 

Although we have made great strides in the communities we work in, the fight to end the disease is far from over. After years of steady decline in malaria infections, there was a global surge of the disease in 2016. Each year, over 200 million people are infected by malaria leading, to more than 400,000 deaths from this preventable disease.

Bishop Lunge of Central Congo passing out mosquito nets. Photo: Courtesy of Global Health unit

What next?

What happens beyond Imagine No Malaria? The simple answer is: we continue our efforts until we reach our goal of imagining a world with no malaria. 

As we celebrated the end of active fundraising of the INM program in 2016, the denomination was introduced to Abundant Health for All as the health focus for the next quadrennium. Through the Abundant Health initiative, United Methodists take a holistic approach towards health, focusing on mental, physical and spiritual well-being. Globally, through the commitment to Every Woman Every Child, the Abundant Health program aims to reach one million children with life-saving interventions by 2020 and reaching millions more beyond that date. Malaria is still one of the leading causes for disease and death in children under five. Preventing and controlling malaria is therefore promoting abundant health in this vulnerable population.

Health worker in DRC South Congo promoting intermittent preventative therapy in pregnancy (IPTp) malaria prophylaxis. Photo: Courtesy of Global Health unit

Over the past three years, the INM program has contributed to the abundant health goal of reaching one million children with life-saving interventions through ongoing facility-based prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria. In over 200 UMC health facilities throughout Africa, we ensure that all pregnant women receive life-saving malaria prophylaxis and mosquito nets to prevent malaria and the adverse effects of the disease during pregancy. We also ensure that every child under five that attends a UMC health facility receives a mosquito net to prevent the disease and ensure timely diagnosis and treatment if they have malaria. Through supporting and promoting Abundant Health for All, we are moving closer towards our dream of imagining a world with no malaria.

Tatenda Mujeni is the Global Health Malaria program manager. 

Inviting Deaf and Hard of Hearing People to Church – Deaf Awareness Week

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By Rev. Leo Yates, Jr.

Deaf Awareness Week is soon approaching, and United Methodist churches should extend their hand of welcome to Deaf, hard-of-hearing, late-deafened, and Deafblind persons in their community. This week is observed during the last week of September (in 2019, the 23-29th), beginning on Monday and ending on Sunday. Deaf Awareness Week originated in Rome, Italy in 1958 through the efforts of The World Federation of the Deaf. Deaf communities around the world began adopting this international observance as a way to honor the history and heritage of Deaf and hard of hearing people, affirm diversity, to educate society about deafness, and celebrate Deaf culture.

 Historically, Deaf ministries have been an extension of their Deaf community, in part, due to their support of Deaf education and mission. For instance, during the mid-nineteenth century, The Episcopal Church ordained its first Deaf deacon in the U.S. The Methodist Church was the fourth denomination to have a Deaf pastor to serve a Deaf congregation in Chicago, which was close to the turn of the 20th century. Click here for a brief outline of Deaf Christian history and click here for a more comprehensive account. 

Photo courtesy of The UMC Committee on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries

Communication barriers and cultural differences often exclude Deaf and hard of hearing persons from the life of the church. For example, when this writer’s Deaf parents moved from Maryland to Virginia, the fourth church that was contacted agreed to provide a sign language interpreter. Recently, a Deaf couple in the Southeastern Jurisdiction shared they are only able to worship twice a month because their church is unable to afford a sign language interpreter on a weekly basis. In most cases, there is a cost for sign language interpreters. While it’s the church’s responsibility to hire and pay for interpreters, most Deaf and hard-of-hearing people donate to their congregation, and thus support the cost indirectly (click here for a brief guide about interpreters). One Deaf ministry holds an annual fundraiser to support their interpreting ministry. Certainly, budgeting and prioritizing the Deaf ministry is vital to sustaining it. So is awareness; a cultural difference can be seen during a Christmas Eve service when lights are dimmed and candles used. This makes it challenging to see a sign language interpreter.

The Apostle Paul emphasized to the church in Corinth (and us) that the body of Christ needs all of its members (1 Cor 12:12-31). Like other denominations, The United Methodist Church recognizes the need for Deaf, hard-of-hearing, late-deafened, and Deafblind individuals to be better represented in the life of the church. General Conference continues to support funding for Deaf ministries. This funding is overseen by Global Ministries, which includes small grants to support new Deaf ministries. 

Deaf Awareness Week is a strong reminder for churches to be accessible and inviting for Deaf and hard of hearing people. For example, offer captioning (display it on a TV screen or project it with PowerPoint), have all-encompassing bulletins (Scriptures, prayers, announcements, music), use multimedia (Deaf people can’t hold hymnals while signing), ensure adequate lighting, and consistently use a sound system during worship: all of these are inexpensive ways to improve accessibility. Click here for more ideas. After all, 1 in 3 persons over 65 have some degree of hearing loss and improving communication access in worship and in the life of the church can support hard-of-hearing and late-deafened people to remain active, some of whom are the bigger givers.

So, how can your church observe Deaf Awareness Week?

As a part of its Disability Ministries, Emmanuel UMC in Laurel, MD, is observing Deaf awareness by offering a month-long sign language class, has a sign language interpreter on most Sundays, uses multimedia, and will include Deaf awareness in its announcements. For activities and ideas, check out the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Ministries Committee’s Deaf Awareness Weekweb page. For general information about Deaf Awareness Week, click here. For a series of brief guides and congregational resources, click here. 

Rev. Leo Yates, Jr. is the consultant for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Ministries Committee.

Shade and Fresh Water encourages youth in Brazil to make healthy choices

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Having a place to hang out with good friends in a supportive community that provides fun and creative activities is a universal best practice for helping youth find meaning and purpose. Global Ministries’ Global Health unit takes a keen interest in partnering with organizations that help children and youth maintain good health and avoid the temptations that unhealthy environments foster.

Celebrations at a Shade and Freshwater Christmas party in São Gabriel, Brazil. Photo: Mark Greathouse

The Shade and Fresh Water project, a ministry of the Methodist Church in Brazil, has provided afterschool programming for children for more than 18 years. Across the country through churches in over 50 locations, Shade and Fresh Water reaches 2570 children and youth. “Our mission is to form a large Methodist network of support and protection for children and adolescents,” the mission asserts. Brazilian Methodists support this mission ministry with more than 2000 volunteers from their congregations and the communities they serve.

Partnering with Global Health in 2019-2020, Shade and Fresh Water plans to improve a project in the Northeast Region (Methodist Conference) of Brazil and another in Rio de Janeiro, increasing the consistency and quality of the programming and contributing to positive development opportunities for youth in Brazil’s poorest communities.

A place to grow in positive ways

Shade and Fresh Water grew out of the work of the Methodist Community Center in São Gabriel, an older ministry based in Belo Horizonte. Gordon and Teca Greathouse served there for much of their 40-year missionary careers and continue serving in the city of Belo Horizonte in retirement. Before the church expanded the afterschool and children’s education work to create Shade and Fresh Water in 2000, the São Gabriel Methodist Community Center served as a place where children with nowhere to play but the streets could come in for acceptance and affection, engage in sports, arts and music and experience a place of Christian welcome and care. 

Youth from Shade and Freshwater programs in Brazil perform at the 2016 General Assembly of the Methodist Church in Brazil. Photo: Courtesy Shade and Fresh Water

Over the past two years, Shade and Fresh Water has scaled up its services to include programs for youth ages 15-18. This new level of programming, in partnership with Global Health, provides healthy alternatives for older teens as they try to discern who they are and what they want to do with their lives. 

Vinicius Guimarães dos Santos started attending Shade and Fresh Water when he was 6 years old. His mother searched for a place that could keep her son safe after school while she and his father were still at work. 

Music was what attracted dos Santos to the afterschool program. But once he was there, he says he learned discipline and self-esteem too. His talent and hard work eventually earned him the opportunity to represent Shade and Fresh Water with a group of children that traveled to the U.S. to perform at the Virginia Annual Conference. Dos Santos had never traveled in an airplane and was overwhelmed by the way he was received.

Until recently, children aged out of Shade and Fresh Water when they turned 15, but dos Santos stayed on as a volunteer. Eventually, he received a scholarship to study the flute. Today at age 23, he works as an educator with the program and is involved in the expansion to reach older teens. “Kids need programs that support them and help them discover who they are,” says dos Santos. “Without that, many get lost and people lead them in the wrong way.”

Dos Santos feels that music teaches youth confidence and pride in themselves. “Kids often get involved in drugs because it makes them think they are the big guys on their street. But music is a better alternative. They can feel pride without the drugs.”

Becoming citizens in the greater community

Taynara (left), who attends the Shade and Fresh Water project in Liberdade, is thinking about becoming a doctor and a police office to keep her community safe and healthy. Photo: Mark Greathouse

Shade and Fresh Water builds curriculum around seven different areas of programming for children and youth. The core curriculum includes Christian education, support for academic education, and sports and recreational activities. These three activities are required in all official Shade and Fresh Water projects. Complementary curriculum includes citizenship; culture, music and the arts; holistic health; and technology, mainly computer literacy and access. 

While many church-related programs cover the same bases, citizenship is a unique Brazilian choice for children’s programming. Shade and Fresh Water describes citizenship as: “the ability to assert our rights and values and act in accordance with our duties. Working with citizenship in Shade and Fresh Water is directed toward the development of values and attitudes that promote creative ability and critical thinking.” The goal is to help children and adolescents in their quest to improve their living conditions, learn to make decisions, build healthy relationships and recognize themselves as active subjects and participants within their social group. Basically, this curriculum is teaching children to work together to change the world.

For 9-year-old Thaynara, this kind of curriculum has encouraged her to set high goals: “My plan to make our country better is to not throw trash in the streets and to make sure people are safe. When I grow up, I want to be a doctor and a police officer. My friends tell me I am crazy, but I would be fulfilling my dreams, right? The project has taught me songs, parties, and the word of God. Before I didn’t really like to go to church, but now I go almost every day.”

Saving the planet, keeping people safe and healthy, songs, parties, the word of God and a strong faith community – Shade and Fresh Water for Thaynara. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Christie R. House is the senior writer/editor for Global Ministries.

Abundant Health includes mental health in worldwide ministry and outreach

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In Clarksville, Texas, a town of 3,000 residents, the school district has lost more than half its enrollment in the last decade as more middle-class residents opt out of the local school system for better-resourced facilities in other counties. The Clarksville School District, down to 500 students who are generally from low-income ethnic minority families, struggled to compete for Texas state education funds, which are tied to enrollment numbers. The district had no licensed counselor to cover students in all grade levels. At a Clarksville elementary school, Teddy’s* grandmother was concerned about his sometimes violent, disruptive behavior. “His negative thoughts prevent him from paying attention to the teacher because he thinks, ‘I’m going to fail anyway,’” she stated. Can the United Methodist Abundant Health Initiative help someone like Teddy?

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Supporting mothers and babies for a healthy start

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World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated during the first week of August each year. The United Methodist Abundant Health Initiative supports mothers in their decision to breastfeed as a vital and practical way to give babies a good start in life. Other ways to help newborn survival rates include ensuring access to health care and supporting mothers’ groups in which women help one another. Abundant Health workers in many places around the world seek to create the right conditions for mothers and babies to thrive from the start. Education starts in the community when volunteers talk to their neighbors and continues for mothers and their children with every prenatal and postnatal visit.

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Community Health Workers: United Methodist Agents of Change

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United Methodist Volunteers, also known as Community Health Workers, are women and men of all ages living in difficult-to-reach places. These frontline workers are trusted community members, having an in-depth understanding of the community they serve. They are also blessed with patience and compassion to alleviate complex medical and social needs.

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Meeting health needs in Mozambique

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By Christie R. House*

When missionaries David and Elizabeth McCormick first arrived in Maxixe, Mozambique, to begin work with Chicuque Rural Hospital, the hospital was straining to meet the needs of its patients. The grounds, buildings, and even some medical equipment and medicines had extensive damage from Cyclone Dineo in 2016. David McCormick took over as the hospital administrator, working with the United Methodist Health Board of the Mozambique Episcopal Area.

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Baby by baby – treating and preventing malnutrition in Central Congo

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By Christie R. House*

Traveling to any of the three United Methodist clinics in the northern Kasai region of the Central Congo Episcopal Area that are part of the Abundant Health Initiative can be challenging. The lack of main roads into the area means international Methodist visitors fly into Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A regional flight can get them as far as Kananga. Then, they rely on the Central Congo missionary pilot, Jacques Umembudi, to take them farther. Diengenga, the largest of the clinics, is not on a Google map, but Captain Umembudi knows the way.

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