About this event
iCHORDS will be hosting a Knowledge Exchange Café on Thursday, January 19th, 2023 from 10:00 – 11:00 am (EST).
Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, and it is most prevalent in poor areas where access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is limited. Repeated infections increase the risk for vision loss, and young children (aged 1-9) are especially vulnerable to infection. Currently, most health education programs do not specifically target the youngest children. However, studies have shown that habits acquired during the first few years of life are more likely to become permanent habits that persist into adulthood. This period of life is thus crucial for adopting healthy behaviours, which can then significantly improve a person’s long-term health by preventing diseases such as trachoma. For these reasons, a pilot was launched in northern Ethiopia that targeted the youngest children. This presentation will highlight best practices and learnings from this project.
View the recording here: https://youtu.be/l5s52xYGths
Speakers and Bio
Liat Rennert, MPH
Born and raised in Haifa, Israel, Liat has a Master’s degree in Public Health specializing in Emergency and Disaster Management from Tel Aviv University. For over a decade, Liat has worked in the development and humanitarian aid fields with multiple organizations including NALA, the JDC and IsraAID. Her field experience includes work coordinating emergency relief and public health efforts in Haiti, Greece, USA, Israel and Ethiopia, where she has lived for the past 5 years. Liat is currently working as NALA’s Humanitarian Program Manager and overseeing the organization’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Northern Ethiopia. She is deeply committed to dedicating her personal and professional life to global development and humanitarian aid.
Yisfalem Ayele
Yisfalem Ayele has been the WASH project coordinator for Light for the World since 2017, successfully coordinating WASH projects inline with sustainable eliminating blinding trachoma program as per the SAFE strategy recommended by WHO. He is a public health professional graduated from Mekelle university in 2017 with Bachelor of Environmental Health from University of Gondar in 2008. He has been working in the areas of WASH and health projects and programs since 2008 at different governmental and nongovernmental health organizations including Light for the World. Since 2017, He was managing NTD program specifically focusing on trachoma elimination program at regional and National level, his role more focused on F&E interventions as per the strategy of FMOH and WHO on accessing WASH facilities and behavioral change component including wash-NTD integration and coordination.
Ran Cohen Harounoff, B.Ed., MA
Ran Is the founder of Early Starters International an organization that promotes international projects in early childhood education and development (Greece, Haiti, Ghana, Ethiopia, Malawi, and Liberia) since the war in Ukraine started Ran and his team created 16 Safe Spaces for young Ukrainian refugee children in Moldova, Prague and Israel. Ran is also a Co-founder of Yalduta the Organization for Change in Early Childhood. Prior to that he founded and managed the Early Childhood Education Department at the Institute for Democratic Education and also Founded the Kindergarten Network Ran’s Kindergarten and The Progressive Primary School ‘Kessem’.He holds a B.Ed. in Early Childhood Education from David Yellin College of Education and a M.A. in Education from the Ben-Gurion University he also graduated from the Organizational and Development Consultation program at the ‘Ofek’ Institute.
About Knowledge Exchange Café:
The Knowledge Exchange Café is a monthly event which will bring together individuals to network and learn from one another’s research and experience. The emphasis in these discussions will be on the social and behavioural sciences as they relate to Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) and how they help reach the WHO 2030 NTD Roadmap goals. Each Knowledge Exchange Café will include time for networking and conversation to facilitate interaction amongst attendees.
About iCHORDS:
iCHORDS (Improving Community Health Outcomes through Research, Dialogue and Systems Strengthening) Community of Practice is a platform for communication, collaboration and knowledge exchange within social and behavioural science research disciplines to address implementation gaps and current issues facing Neglected Tropical Disease programs.
Register as a member here: https://ichords.org/join-community/
