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Advocacy in Action

Infancy International presents at the Leon H. Sullivan Summit in Arusha, Tanzania

Infancy International won an award from the Sullivan Foundation to participate in an African Summit bringing the private and public sectors together to solve great challenges facing nations of developing economies and democracies within Africa. Those representing economic development, ecology, education and health convened for 6 days. Infancy International's representatives formed partnerships and advanced the cause with 4,000 delegates, 8 African Heads of State and the Ministries of 18 African Nations. One of the greatest opportunities for advocacy in action came when our Founder and Executive Director, Krista Swanson, PhD addressed the Summit on the issue of building the African health infrastructure to meet the unique needs of infants toward survival and lifelong health and opportunity. A set of recommendations emerging from the subsequent round table discussion were put forth to change policy and lives throughout Africa (see Health Action Paper 7.03.08 [underlined as button]). Those who convened not only formed a vital "think tank" but a "think and do tank." The Summit's Health Forum was such a success that Ambassador Andrew Young is expected to convene an African Health Conference in 2009 to expand on the progress made in Arusha.

Our latest collaborative Action Paper advocating for healthcare reform in Africa distributed to over 800 in positions of greatest influence.

Health Action Paper 7.03.08

Successes in Tanzania

A Feeding Story Under the leadership of Dr. Martina Oneko, critical care infants are gaining important ground.  Our partners in Tanzania are implementing feeding practices that decrease stresses on fragile infants who need to conserve all their energy toward healing and growing.  Best newborn feeding practices not only maximize life-saving weight gain but insure that all the newborn's systems are functioning in a stable way.  Complications with heart functioning are avoided, hypothermia (dangerous losses in body temperature) is avoided, irregularities in breathing (and lowered levels of oxygen to the brain and other organs) are avoided.   Infancy International is currently seeking to assist Dr. Oneko's team to further the strides made by providing feeding tubes to those babies who are not able to breastfeed.  These indwelling tubes will deliver precise doses of nutrition to the babies at optimum intervals, without invasive insertions and removals of tubes, without disrupting important sleep-wake cycles, without requiring infants to swallow milk from cups.  Since Dr. Oneko's team put into place the latest feeding advances, there have been no reported incidents of heart murmurs in these babies.  A great victory!   We look forward to the future victories which will result from this next step.  Your support enables us to make these kinds of differences in the lives of newborns.