Circle of Health International

Last updated
Circle of Health International
Founded2004
FounderSera Bonds
Type Non-governmental organization
FocusMaternal and neonatal health
Location United States
Areas Served Sri Lanka, Tibet, New Orleans, Sudan, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Israel, Haiti, Syria, Texas, Oklahoma, Jordan, Philippines, Nicaragua, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Turkey
MethodProviding quality healthcare to communities by partnering with local organizations
Website cohintl.org

Circle of Health International (COHI) is a US-based non-governmental organization founded in 2004, with the mission to work with vulnerable women, children, and refugees during times of disaster through comprehensive women's health worldwide. [1] They cooperate with organizations to help vulnerable women with a community based approach during times of crisis. COHI has worked with midwives and public health professionals in countries like the United States, Sri Lanka, Louisiana, Tibet, Tanzania, Israel, the Philippines, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Nicaragua, Sudan, Haiti, Afghanistan, and many more. [2] [3]

Contents

Activities

In 2016, COHI partnered with the American Refugee Committee to provide maternal and child healthcare in Haiti, [1] midwives in indigenous women's forum in Nicaragua, midwifery students and sexual health advocates in Nepal, a clinic for refugees in Rio Grand Valley on the Mexico/US boarder. COHI assists with human trafficking globally. [4] [3]

COHI is affiliated with organizations including Catholic Charities, [4] Boston University, [3] Harvard, [5] [1] The American Refugee Committee, [1] and the American Israel Political Action Committee AIPAC. [6] [7] COHI is also engaged in the social enterprise community program, known as the COHI Cloth Network, to address women's poverty. [8] [4]

Missions

Tibet

In 2004, COHI partnered with a local host organization, Tibetan Healing Fund, in Tongren, also known as Repkong, Eastern Tibet to aid with the training of midwives in order to create a more sustainable maternal health care system. [9]

Israel/West Bank

In 2004, COHI and their partners worked with Israeli and Palestinian women to address midwifery [10] and Gender Based Violence (GBV). [11] Conducted an assessment based on three main categories.

The assessment included in depth interviews and recommendations for each sector of Israel and the West Bank's diverse populations: religious and secular Jews, immigrant populations (Ethiopian, Russian, Congolese), the Bedouin, and the Palestinian populations of Israel and the West Bank, both Muslim and Christian The results from the assessment were used to advocate for the needs of Israeli and Palestinian women such as better postpartum care.

Funding

COHI is a member of the Alliance for Middle East Peace, [12] [10] which requested $38 million in grant funding from the US House of Representatives under Title VIII (Program of Research and Training for Eastern Europe [13] and the Independent State of the Former Soviet Union) in 2013. Such funding was made available after the fall of the Soviet Union as it recovered from communist societies. [6] COHI also received the Positive Action Challenge Grant from the United Nations in 2016. Their services included providing health kits to refugees in Greece and Syrian midwife training in the Gaziantep and Turkey. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midwifery</span> Pregnancy and childbirth-related profession

Midwifery is the health science and health profession that deals with pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period, in addition to the sexual and reproductive health of women throughout their lives. In many countries, midwifery is a medical profession. A professional in midwifery is known as a midwife.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UNRWA</span> United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians who fled or were expelled during the Nakba, the 1948 Palestine War, and subsequent conflicts, as well as their descendants, including legally adopted children. As of 2019, more than 5.6 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA as refugees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli–Palestinian conflict</span> Ongoing military and political conflict in the Levant

The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is an ongoing military and political conflict about land and self-determination within the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine. Key aspects of the conflict include the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements, borders, security, water rights, the permit regime, Palestinian freedom of movement, and the Palestinian right of return.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arab–Israeli peace projects</span>

Arab–Israeli peace projects are projects to promote peace and understanding between the Arab League and Israel in different spheres. These are part of a broader attempt at a peace process between Palestinians and Israelis. Sponsors of such projects can be found both in Israel and Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ina May Gaskin</span> American midwife

Ina May Gaskin is an American midwife who has been described as "the mother of authentic midwifery." She helped found the self-sustaining community, The Farm, with her husband Stephen Gaskin in 1971 where she markedly launched her career in midwifery. She is known for the Gaskin Maneuver, has written several books on midwifery and childbirth, and continues to educate society through lectures and conferences and spread her message of natural, old-age inspired, fearless childbirth.

The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) was founded in April 1982 to build cooperation among midwives and to promote midwifery as a means of improving health care for North American women and their families. Its stated goal is to unify and strengthen the profession of midwifery, thereby improving the quality of health care for women, babies, and communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frontier Nursing Service</span> American rural healthcare service

The Frontier Nursing Service (FNS) provides healthcare services to rural, underserved populations since 1925, and educates nurse-midwives since 1939.

The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) is an organization founded in 2003 to advocate that it is in the American national interest to promote an end to the Palestinian–Israeli conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It has not been active since 2016.

Issues relating to the State of Palestine and aspects of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict occupy continuous debates, resolutions, and resources at the United Nations. Since its founding in 1948, the United Nations Security Council, as of January 2010, has adopted 79 resolutions directly related to the Arab–Israeli conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Health in Haiti</span>

Deficient sanitation systems, poor nutrition, and inadequate health services have pushed Haiti to the bottom of the World Bank's rankings of health indicators. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, 80 percent of Haiti's population lives below the poverty line. In fact, 75% of the Haitian population lives off of $2.50 per day. Consequently, malnutrition is a significant problem. Half the population can be categorized as "food insecure," and half of all Haitian children are undersized as a result of malnutrition. Less than half the population has access to clean drinking water, a rate that compares poorly even with other less-developed nations. Haiti's healthy life expectancy at birth is 63 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that only 43 percent of the target population receives the recommended immunizations.

Obstetrical nursing, also called perinatal nursing, is a nursing specialty that works with patients who are attempting to become pregnant, are currently pregnant, or have recently delivered. Obstetrical nurses help provide prenatal care and testing, care of patients experiencing pregnancy complications, care during labor and delivery, and care of patients following delivery. Obstetrical nurses work closely with obstetricians, midwives, and nurse practitioners. They also provide supervision of patient care technicians and surgical technologists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Friends Service Committee</span> Quaker organization

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Religious Society of Friends (Quaker)-founded organization working for peace and social justice in the United States and around the world. AFSC was founded in 1917 as a combined effort by American members of the Religious Society of Friends to assist civilian victims of World War I. It continued to engage in relief action in Europe and the Soviet Union after the Armistice of 1918. By the mid-1920s, AFSC focused on improving racial relations, immigration policy, and labor conditions in the U.S., as well as exploring ways to prevent the outbreak of another conflict before and after World War II. As the Cold War developed, the organization began to employ more professionals rather than Quaker volunteers. Over time, it broadened its appeal and began to respond more forcefully to racial injustice, international peacebuilding, migration and refugee issues, women's issues, and the demands of sexual minorities for equal treatment. Currently, the organization's three priorities include work on peacebuilding, a focus on just economies, and humane responses to the global migration crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Two-state solution</span> Proposed diplomatic solution for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

The two-state solution is a proposed approach to resolving the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, by creating two states on the territory of the former Mandatory Palestine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alliance for Middle East Peace</span> Group of Palestinian/Israeli NGOs

The Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) is a group of over 100 leading non-governmental organizations working to foster reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians, and between Arabs and Jews in Israel and the wider region.

Midwives in the United States assist childbearing women during pregnancy, labor and birth, and the postpartum period. Some midwives also provide primary care for women including well-woman exams, health promotion, and disease prevention, family planning options, and care for common gynecological concerns. Before the turn of the 20th century, traditional midwives were informally trained and helped deliver almost all births. Today, midwives are professionals who must undergo formal training. Midwives in the United States formed the Midwifery Education, Regulation, and Association task force to establish a framework for midwifery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midwife</span> Medical professional who practices obstetrics as a health science

A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.

Esther Madudu is a Ugandan midwife. Madudu has had nearly 15 years of experience first at a maternity home in Kumi District, and now working at Tiriri Health Center IV in Uganda.

Midwives in South Africa are nurses who focus on the care of pregnant women and the delivery of babies. Midwives have the ability to work independently in cases of healthy pregnancies and problem-free deliveries; however, they can refer patients to gynaecologists or obstetricians when complications are diagnosed. The majority of pregnant women in South Africa use the public healthcare system, and most of this care is provided by midwives.

Caroline Susan E. Homer is an Australian midwifery researcher and international advocate for women's health rights. She is Co-Program Director, Maternal and Child Health at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne and Visiting Distinguished Professor of Midwifery at the University of Technology Sydney.

Neha Mankani is a Pakistani midwife and a member of the 2023 BBC 100 Women. In addition to promoting the importance of midwives, and raising funds for patient care, she has also worked to draw attention to the impacts of climate change on midwifery, and healthcare more broadly.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hudson, Lynne; McNally, Siobhan; Bonds, Sera; Johnson, Leilani; Dulyx, Jennyfer; Hilbert, Courtney; Bains, Simran; Bedenbaugh, Rachel (2010). "Picking Up the Pieces: Women's Health Needs Assessment, Fond Parisien, Haiti". hhi.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  2. "Circle of Health International". www.idealist.org. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  3. 1 2 3 "The US Treatment of Immigrants Is a Human Rights Crisis. It Has Been for Years. | SPH". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  4. 1 2 3 "Sera Bonds helps refugee women get the care they need". MSNBC.com. 2015-03-13. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  5. "Circle of Health International (COHI)". Maternal Health Task Force. 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  6. 1 2 U.S. Government Information (2013). "State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs – Appropriations for 2013" (PDF). Authenticated U.S. Government Information, GPO.: 3, 9, 21.
  7. Traubman, Len; Traubman, Libby (April 2010). "Jewish and Palestinian women birthing peace" (PDF). Stanislaus Connections. Vol. XXII. A Modesto Peace/Life Center Publication. p. 7. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
  8. "This Foundation Is Improving Maternal Health Worldwide, One Birth At A Time". Refinery29.com. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  9. "Circle of Health International Reviews and Ratings | Austin, TX | Donate, Volunteer, Review". greatnonprofits.org. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  10. 1 2 "Call to Action from Over 350 Organizations to the G7". Alliance for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  11. "Call to Action from Over 350 Organizations to the G7". Alliance for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  12. "Circle of Health International". Alliance for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  13. "22 U.S. Code Chapter 55 - Research and Training for Eastern Europe and Independent States of Former Soviet Union". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  14. "Circle of Health International wins UN Foundations Grant". Alliance for Middle East Peace. Retrieved 2024-06-28.