What gland in your body regulates breathing, heart rate, the central and peripheral nervous systems, body weight, menstrual cycles and body temperature? Oh, and this gland weighs less than one ounce. It’s the thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped endocrine gland that makes thyroid hormones.
WiRED International’s community health workers (CHWs) in Kisumu, Kenya, continue to be a beacon for their communities, providing guidance, information and support for health issues. Their work is particularly important in these pandemic times, as they provide health surveillance for other illnesses such as pneumonia and cholera which could be overlooked without their monitoring. From September 1 to September 27, 14 CHWs reached 6,679 people with health services on topics such as malnutrition, hypertension, pneumonia and HIV/AIDS.
Sickle cell disease (SCD), also called sickle cell anemia, is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. WiRED International now offers this new module on SCD, which is based on information from the World Health Organization, National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WiRED International announces a GoFundMe campaign, the launch of WiRED Instagram and the creation of a WiRED brochure.
WiRED’s GoFundMe campaign — “20 for 20 in 2021” — will support our health initiatives in Kenya. COVID-19, 100-year floods, food shortages and a lack of resources to treat physical and mental health needs are a few of the problems that underserved communities in Kenya are facing this year. Our campaign, called “20 for 20 in 2021,” will enable WiRED to train 20 community health workers (CHWs) in Kenya in the year 2021.
WiRED International is pleased to announce the release of a documentary, “Community Health Begins with Knowledge.”
The film, shot on location in Kisumu, Kenya, introduces WiRED’s Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program and demonstrates how the workers provide a critical link between underserved communities and the outside healthcare system. The story of the CHW program unfolds through interviews with the workers and footage of these trained paraprofessionals interacting with people of their communities.
WiRED International’s Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Kisumu, Kenya, continue to play an essential role in community education, providing advice on health issues as well as necessary referrals. In the final week of August, 14 CHWs reached 1,686 people, covering topics such as unsafe drinking water, COVID-19 and teenage pregnancy.
Increasingly, ministries of health, nongovernmental organizations and hospitals are turning to community health workers (CHWs) to fill the gap created by the scarcity of medical professionals in under-resourced areas of the globe.
The Journal of Southern California Clinicians published an article in its recent issue entitled “Introduction and Follow Up of Ongoing WiRED International Program.” The paper was co-written by WiRED Executive Director Gary Selnow, Ph.D., and WiRED Board members Maryam Othman, M.D., M.P.H., and William Crano, Ph.D., and it describes the then-impending launch of WiRED’s Community Health Worker Training Program.
Graduates of WiRED International’s Community Health Worker (CHW) Training Program in Kisumu, Kenya, continue to play an essential role in improving the lives of those in surrounding communities. Since mid-July, 13 CHWs reached 3,360 people and covered health issues as diverse as nutrition and handwashing while also dispelling notions of how COVID-19 is spread.
During the COVID-19 crisis, when life can feel stressful and out of control, you have the power to protect yourself, your family and your community from some of the worst diseases on the planet.
As the world waits for a COVID-19 vaccine, it is important to remember that vaccinations can prevent more than 20 other life-threatening diseases such as polio, tetanus, diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, cancers caused by HPV, pneumonia, meningitis, shingles and more.
The summer is fast coming to a close, but you can help support WIRED International into the fall and beyond by signing up for AmazonSmile.
Buying through AmazonSmile costs you nothing more. By shopping through AmazonSmile, 0.5% of the price of your purchase will be donated directly to WIRED by Amazon. The percentage taken out of each purchase can go a long way in expanding WiRED’s work in low-resource areas of the world — especially through our Community Health Worker Program — as COVID-19 and other serious diseases continue to batter these underserved populations.