We Build Knowledge to Save Children’s Lives

During the first week of October 2022, CHAMPS Principal Investigator and Executive Director, Dr. Cynthia (Cyndy) Whitney traveled to both the Northern and Southern provinces of Sierra Leone accompanied by Dr. Chris Rees from the CHAMPS Program Office and Mr. Chris Culver from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over the course of this visit, (…)

Approximately 80% of the population residing in sub-Saharan Africa relies on Traditional Medicine (TM). However, literature on factors motivating the use of TM for children under the age of five in these settings is limited. Such information can guide policy formulation for integration of TM into mainstream health care services. This study aimed to describe (…)

Following their presentations at this year’s ASTMH Annual Meeting, Lola Madrid and Markus Breines from the CHAMPS Ethiopia site continued the conversation on neural tube defects in Ethiopia. Lola and Markus shared highlights from the data that revealed these trends, the social-behavioral sciences approach to supporting afflicted communities, and proposed solutions to transform these findings (…)

  American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) hosted its 71st Annual Meeting from October 30 through November 3, 2022. This year’s meeting was hybrid, with sessions held in Seattle, Washington and live-streamed for those who could not attend in person. CHAMPS was thrilled to be joining both in person and virtually from around (…)

Although child mortality trends have decreased worldwide, deaths among children younger than 5 years of age remain high and disproportionately circumscribed to sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Tailored and innovative approaches are needed to increase access, coverage, and quality of child health care services to reduce mortality, but an understanding of health system deficiencies that (…)