Global Health Leaders - Sakena Yacoobi

(photo from Claremont McKenna College Website. They recently gave Dr. Yacoobi the Kravis Prize.)

We've all seen the ugly, ugly, statistics about health in Afghanistan. Women and children are especially at risk.

·         Only 14 percent of births are attended by a skilled healthcare worker
·         It has the second-highest maternal mortality ratio in the world: 1,900 deaths per 100,000 live births
·         70 pregnant women die each day, often during childbirth
·         One in four children will not live to see their fifth birthday

Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is one person trying to improve those statictics. She's an advocate for women's rights and head of Afghan Institute of Learning, an NGO which runs educational and health centers. AIL operated underground schools in the 1990s, and is now one of the largest nonprofits in Afghanistan.

Afghan Institute of Learning has trained 13,000 teachers, impacting 390,000 students. It's women's learning centers provide classes from preschool through university level, and offer health education and training in income generating skills. As of 2006, 18,000 people had been trained in the women's centers. Women's learning centers also offer basical medical care including vaccinations, prenatal care, and basic diagnostics.

Skilled local NGOs like AIL are the backbone of the global health system, but they rarely go it alone. AIL gets funding from Abbot Labs, a pharmaceutical company. Direct Relief, a large NGO, provides oversight to the Abbot grant. It also receives funding and training support from Creating Hope International, an NGO based in Michigan, which raises funds for community-based NGOs.