It has been five years since I went to Liberia and Sierra Leone to launch Partners In Health’s Ebola response. The memories from that first trip are very vivid. I remember sitting on empty planes arriving to airports, where most people were trying to leave the countries. I remember repeated Read more…
Cylian B. Kargbo is planning for her future. “My birthday is coming up!” the 12-going-on-13-year-old from Calaba Town, Sierra Leone, proudly announced, looking ahead a few weeks when she would celebrate with, first and foremost, “pizza!” Further down the line, Cylian has even bigger dreams: “I want to be a Read more…
All over the world, millions of girls are denied basic human rights, such as access to health care and education. Since 2012, October 11 has marked the annual International Day of the Girl, a celebration that advocates for girls’ empowerment and human rights. This year, at Partners In Health, we Read more…
Community health workers are the bridge connecting their neighbours, friends, and family to local clinics across the 10 communities in which Partners In Health works in rural Chiapas, Mexico. In July, Compañeros En Salud—as PIH is known in Mexico—launched a new initiative that trained five workers in the provision of Read more…
Three years ago, Winston Appleton had all but given up on life. He slept rough in the shadow of decaying mansions in Harper, Liberia. He lived on a diet of mud and “Italian white”—the Liberian term for low-grade heroin. He talked to himself, using discarded plastic straws to inhale the Read more…
By Emily AntzeSenior Manager, Programs and DevelopmentPartners In Health Canada The Sierra Leone Psychiatric Hospital is made up of about half a dozen long, low buildings with porticoes, built high on one of Freetown’s rolling hills. The grounds are lush and green. One of the Partners In Health staff has Read more…
Oldine Deshommes never has an empty office. The social worker is a go-to resource for every cancer patient passing through the double doors of the Roselene Jean Bosquet Center at University Hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti. Her role is to connect them with support and resources, which she always delivers with Read more…
There was a gentle hum of conversation as Doris Miatta Komba moved swiftly between the beds in Koidu Government Hospital’s emergency ward. The 32-year-old Ministry of Health nurse is in charge of the new emergency department, a critical area of care that didn’t exist until this May. Her attention was Read more…
This opinion piece was written by PIH’s Dr. Dan Palazuelos, director of community health systems, and Dr. Joia Mukherjee, chief medical officer, in anticipation of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage in New York City. We remember when we first met Aminata* from Sierra Leone. Read more…
As HIV care advanced following the introduction of antiretrovirals, clinicians observed a curious phenomenon: Some patients’ health unexpectedly got worse, rather than better, shortly after they began treatment. It seemed that HIV treatment awakened patients’ immune systems, allowing them to fight ailments that previously had lain dormant, or unchallenged, because Read more…