Tag: 2021

Global Health

WiRED Granted Membership in OAS Permanent Council of Civil Societies

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WiRED International is pleased to announce acceptance into the Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) of the Organization of American States (OAS).

WiRED Executive Director Gary Selnow, Ph.D., said, “As a recognized CSO, WiRED hopes to expand our work in Central and South America and the Caribbean. We believe that our educational programs, serving Latin America for more than 20 years, can grow as a critical element to improve the health and well-being of populations in this region. During our years on the ground with our valued partners in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru and Brazil, we have developed and run education programs that have provided a solid foundation on which people can make wise decisions and contribute to their disease prevention behaviors and improved health.”

Community Health Worker Related

WiRED’s Community Health Workers Report from Kenya

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WiRED International’s corps of trained community health workers (CHWs) continue to deliver vital healthcare services in Kisumu, Kenya, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

During three weeks in March, 12 CHWs reached 4,533 people with basic clinical services, health education and health surveillance. The CHWs were not able to assist as many people as is usual in a month because all 12 workers also completed WiRED’s Vaccinator Training Program (VTP).

Climate Change

Earth Day 2021

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The COVID-19 pandemic cruelly demonstrates the vulnerability of human life and how our actions can impact the health of others. Earth Day gives us the opportunity to think about how the health of people and animals is closely linked with the changing climate and intensifying environmental conditions.

Exactly how do climate change and the environment relate to our health?

Global Health

COVID-19 Update

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WiRED International’s Vaccinator Training Program is firing up in Kenya and Peru, and articles will appear soon chronicling its progress. In the meantime, here are some recent updates on the COVID-19 pandemic and the rush to get populations vaccinated as cases rise worldwide.

Scientists expect viruses to keep mutating; sometimes they emerge and disappear and sometimes they emerge and persist. Multiple COVID-19 variants are circulating globally, and CDC is monitoring these variants per the following classifications:

• Variant of interest
• Variant of concern
• Variant of high consequence

Global Health

Breaking News! WiRED Vaccinator Training Begins This Week in Kenya!

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On Monday, March 15, 2021, WiRED launched the first class of our Vaccinator Training Program (VTP) in Obunga, Kenya. Nurse Winnie Nafula and clinician Zablon Kitoli are leading the instruction. Twenty-six students are taking the 45 hours of training, after which they will sit for a final exam, and, if successful, will receive a WiRED certificate. WiRED has already trained 15 Community Health Workers (CHWs), who since the fall of 2020 have made over 6,000 monthly contacts addressing basic health problems and dispensing general health information among their communities. These CHWs have been instrumental in teaching many thousands of people about COVID-19 prevention measures. Soon, they will introduce basic information about COVID-19 vaccines, so the communities will understand the value of the shot and be ready when vaccines arrive.

Global Health

WiRED Launches COVID Vaccinator Training Program

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The COVAX global effort to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to underserved countries is well underway. But what needs to happen to get doses from airports to arms?

WiRED International announces the launch of our Vaccinator Training Program (VTP), based entirely on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) training curriculum but with enhanced features to prepare what we call grassroots vaccinators. The objective of WiRED’s program is to train people at the local level to move vaccines safely from central drop-off points to communities, to prepare the communities for vaccinations, to properly screen patients, to administer COVID-19 vaccinations and to monitor patients after the shot.

Global Health

WiRED Mourns the Loss of Guillermo Guerra

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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.

Global Health

COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Inequity

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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.