WiRED International’s board of directors and volunteers are saddened to report the death of Guillermo Guerra at age 60 from COVID-19 on March 2, 2021, in Iquitos, Peru. Mr. Guerra was a longtime friend of WiRED through his work for Project Amazonas, WiRED’s partner in serving the health needs of low-resource communities along the Peruvian Amazon.
More and more people are getting vaccinated against COVID-19 each day now that multiple vaccines are starting to become available. The question is: Where are they available and to whom? While more than 227.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally, some countries have not seen a single dose, including many communities using WiRED International programs.
Does your mask fit tightly? Do you double mask? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just issued new guidelines on getting the best protection from COVID-19 when wearing a mask.
WiRED International will run a story the first week of every month listing health observances of national and global concern. Each topic can be explored further by clicking on WiRED’s related module(s) listed below. Every module is free of charge and can be downloaded onto computers, tablets and phones.
Update on WiRED Community Health Workers in Kenya CHWs Continue to Grow in Knowledge and Experience Despite a Challenging Year By: Jessie Crowdy; Edited by Allison Kozicharow WiRED International brought our Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program to Kisumu, Kenya, in 2020. Since then, CHWs have been actively tending to the health of the populations […]
As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, children are asking questions. At home, in the classroom, through the news and social media, they are hearing words such as “virus,” “immunity’ and “vaccine” and wondering what they mean.
Scientists all over the world reacted quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic and created a number of vaccines to curb this modern day plague. Unfortunately, because of the unprecedented nature of its scope and challenges, the distribution of the vaccine has proved slow and disorganized. What’s more, many people are confused by unclear information and worry about vaccine safety or even if they should get the shot at all.
At the start of each year since 1999, we have released the plans that guide WiRED International’s efforts for the next 12 months. Last year our objective was to launch a major new community health worker (CHW) training program. After COVID-19 struck, we had to make a number of mid-course corrections to stay on track. By the end of 2020, though, we met our goals to test the CHW training program in four countries. That success was due to the flexibility of a small and nimble organization, good working relationships with partners abroad and, admittedly, a bit of luck.
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, WiRED International is pleased to have achieved many goals, especially the launch of our life-saving Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program in four countries — our largest and most ambitious project to date and several years in the making. CHWs fill in the gaps in low-resource regions where doctors and nurses are scarce, and provide a critical link between the medical community and populations in desperate need of clinical services and prevention training.
2020. The year of COVID-19. Although we at WiRED International know that the pandemic will not end soon, we are heartened by the generosity and dedication we have seen throughout the year from friends, neighbors, colleagues, healthcare workers, essential workers everywhere and in the WiRED community. Our common humanity continues to be tested as we realize our individual health depends on global health.