Who are the most important and effective healthcare providers in the developing world? ... Mothers! This was the most powerful statement that I heard at the Global Missions Health Conference last month. This conference in Kentucky was attended by thousands of global healthcare workers. One of the themes of this conference was approaches to community healthcare systems in the developing world. I was able to hear about many experiences and projects as well as acquire resources.


So why are mother so essential to healthcare? They have 24/7 contact with most of the patients in a given community. They are the ones treating day-to-day health issues. And people listen to them! This is such an important concept for our project in Madagascar as we build a "grass roots" health care system. Traditionally, a system is developed by first building a hospital. These systems can work great but they usually require a continual influx of outside money and people often have to walk days to get to the facility. In our approach we are starting with the foundation of the family unit... the mothers. We want to empower families through education in healthcare prevention and treatment. Not only is this cheap and sustainable but it is available right in the home.

Will this work? At this conference I learned about several examples where this approach has had powerful and effective results. (One such example in India you can read about in National Geographic Dec '08.) In rural Madgascar, more than 60% of deaths are easily preventable--the causes are pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea. With some basic education and resources, village health workers can treat most of these cases without a visit to a hospital. With our "grass roots" approach, mothers can effectively provide health care and impact thousands of lives.