NEW YORK, NEW YORK, Feb. 09, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Catholic Medical Mission Board (CMMB) has released its 2021 Annual Report “A Call to Mission,” highlighting our unwavering response in addressing maternal and child health inequities through healthcare services and health systems strengthening. In fiscal year 2021, CMMB reached over 1.12 million people around the world with critical health and social services. CMMB distributed over $300 million worth of medicines and medical supplies to 37 health partners for facilities in 22 countries.
Through the challenging times of COVID-19 and its impact on already fragile health systems, CMMB has continued delivering high-quality healthcare to the most vulnerable communities around the world with dignity, respect, and love. This year, our signature maternal and child health program, known as CHAMPS, expanded the number of families reached with a package of preventative and curative health services and social services to 641,149 people. CHAMPS has made critical impacts in reducing preventable illnesses and deaths. As COVID-19 threatens decades of progress on reducing global poverty, CMMB’s approach to listening to and responding to communities’ needs allows the needed agility to address emerging challenges while ensuring basic health services are consistently available.
“We selected 'A Call to Mission' as the theme for 2022, our 110th anniversary year. We have not wavered in our response and in our invitation to others to join us in answering the call – in whatever way people are able to help. CMMB continues to address the pressing needs for health care and medicine around the world. And given the current global health crisis, there has never been a more important time to serve and to address the inequity in health services for the world’s marginalized communities,” said Mary Beth Powers, CMMB president and CEO.
“Examples abound in this report regarding the innovations and strategies that CMMB and our partners employ to improve the quality of care available to communities in need. These range from the construction of newborn care clinics to teaching techniques like kangaroo care, where skin-to-skin contact with the mother can stabilize an infant’s breathing, heart rate, and temperature, and dramatically decreases infant deaths” said Ms. Powers.
This year, through our maternal and child health program, known as CHAMPS program, 24,865 women gave birth in a health facility with a skilled birth attendant and 33,658 children under one year were fully immunized. Collaboration with community leaders and hospital staff has helped to strengthen, deepen, and expand the availability of services from the household to the hospital.
“The interaction between community health workers and mothers who seek to promote the health of all children and women is critically important to the success of these programs. All these partnerships are the foundation of a functioning sustainable health system and are developed through the work of CMMB,” said Sister Rosemary Moynihan, outgoing Board Chair.
“This year the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the reality of our global interconnectedness, dependency on each other, the reality that all people and jobs are essential to the wellbeing of the whole–something our work has made apparent as well. We have seen our world shrink. As Pope Francis reminds us, we are all brothers and sisters; all created by God in the image of God. There are no strangers–just people we have not met," said Sister Rosemary.
Read our 2021 Annual Report here: https://cmmb.org/2021-annual-report/
For questions about the information contained within this press release or about CMMB and its programs, please contact the Director of Communications, Luke Dougherty at LDougherty@cmmb.org
About CMMB
CMMB (Catholic Medical Mission Board) provides long-term medical and development aid to communities affected by poverty and unequal access to healthcare. Focusing on women’s and children health, we deliver sustainable health services in Peru, Haiti, Kenya, South Sudan, and Zambia. For over a century, we have worked to strengthen and support communities through healthcare programs and initiatives, the placement of volunteers, and the distribution of medicines and medical supplies. CMMB has delivered over 3,000 shipments to 88 countries over the last ten years, with a total value of more than $4 billion worth of medical aid.
Learn more at: https://cmmb.org/
Attachments
- CMMB Health Worker with Mother and Child at Health Facility in Mwandi, Zambia
- 2021 CMMB Annual Report
