Resources

People destabilized by armed conflict, including refugees, internally displaced persons, in particular, women and children are at increased risk of exposure to HIV infection (United Nation General Assembly 2001). The above quotation suggests that internally displaced persons in general and…

Health is wealth, so says the adage and this is an undisputed fact for the reason that the well being of a people can holistically add to their development generally. Local communities with little infrastructure seem to be more susceptible…

Over 70,000 Burmese refugees have resettled in the United States in the past decade. While Burmese adolescents quickly acculturate into American society, their perspectives on health are not well-known. The purpose of this study was to identify adolescent Burmese refugee…

This article examines education policy for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, drawing on 44 stakeholder interviews conducted in March 2016. Findings indicate that the idea of children’s rights, enshrined in international conventions, combined with foreign aid, encouraged the creation of a…

Accounts of humanitarianism regularly address the historical influence of religious traditions and commitments in shaping our understanding of this field. Whether focused on ancient writings regarding obligations to others, the religious views and backgrounds of key humanitarian figures of the…

Over the past several decades, an increasing number of refugee children and families have involuntarily migrated to countries around the world to seek safety and refuge. As the refugee population increases, it is becoming more important to understand factors that…

War, conflict, political uprisings and other hardships displace countless families each year. More than half of the world’s estimated 19 million refugees are children (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR], 2007). Some children grow up in refugee camps and…

The Syrian crisis has brought to the forefront the enormous challenges that families face in the context of war and displacement. To date, over 7 million people are internally displaced; at least half of those internally and externally displaced are…

In 2005 Dybicz concluded his review with: “This is how far best practice research has reached: interventions based upon theory” (p. 768). The interventions which Dybicz wrote about were aimed at serving children and adolescents living and working in the…

HIV services provided in the country of Kenya and the percentage of those services provided by the faith-based sector.  This work was carried out as part of a Joint Initiative between the U.S President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the…

Church of Uganda Training Handbook CHURCH OF UGANDA A TRAINING HANDBOOK FOR RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND CHURCH INSTITUTIONS CHRISTIAN-BASED APPROACH TO: Maternal and Child Health Sexual Reproductive Health HIV and AIDS Gender Gender Based Violence Family Planning This hand book offers…

Maximizing a Health System Approach for an Improved Epidemic Response Recommendations from IMA’s Experiences Containing Ebola Outbreaks in the DRC IMA World Health’s work on the frontlines of strengthening fragile healthcare systems often brings us in contact with new infectious…

Good health underpins social, human, and economic development, as well as security. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant disease destabilizes this foundation. Drug-resistant disease, also known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), occurs when microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites)…

Although faith based organizations (FBOs) have had a long presence teaching health personnel and delivering health services to many rural and remote populations in the developing world, their poor visibility for this work can be due to several factors. FBOs…

Religious beliefs and leadership can play important if complex roles in family planning decisions at many levels, but there are significant gaps in understanding how these influences affect family planning policies and programs. The World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD), in…

Community-led Health and Wellbeing Project in partnership with the Diocese of Niassa in Mozambique since 2011. This project is funded through the Australian Government’s Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) as well as from donations from Anglicans in Australia. The goal of this project is that communities…

The Tropical Storm Beatriz that passed through the state of Oaxaca in Mexico left more than 150 landslides, mudslides and floods causing human casualties, material damages and leaving entire communities uncommunicative for more than 2 weeks. The drinking water was…

Food for the Hungry has partnered with USAID to implement a Title II DFAP to improve livelihood and health and nutrition of individuals within vulnerable households in Eastern DRC. FH’s creative social and behavior change communication techniques, and innovative market-oriented…

A special issue focusing on both operational and ethical approaches to healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy, along with several other articles on faith based partnerships and developing community health workers. Click here for full journal

Development in Practice has recently published a special edition issue on Faith and Health in Development Contexts- July 2017. See Full Journal Here Preview of Articles in the special edition: Guest introduction: faith and health in development contexts Christopher Benn Faith…

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has offices in 17 countries across Asia, the most disaster- prone region of the world. ADRA recognizes the importance and urgency of increasing resilience to disasters through an inclusive, integrated community-managed disaster risk…

Episcopal Relief & Development Nets for Life Program Have you ever wondered: how do mosquito nets get to the homes beyond the end of the road? Follow along to learn how Episcopal Relief & Development and its partners in Ghana,…

The purpose of this study is to assess the barriers and enablers to community acceptance and implementation of safe burials in Sierra Leone. The Ebola virus continued to spread in Sierra Leone partly because communities were initially resistant to Burial…

The purpose of this report is to document and discuss the asset-based work of Mukuru on the Move (MOTM), a program developed in collaboration between the Interfaith Health Program (IHP) at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA and St. Paul’s University,…

Collaborating for Sustainable HIV Community Care The Faith, Health Collaboration and Leadership Development Program (FHCLDP) is a multi-sector team-based model that builds partnerships among FBOs, HIV treatment programs, and civil society organizations. The collaboration supports sustainable, community-based HIV prevention and treatment services…

On May 28-30, 2012, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) organized a regional consultative forum in Limuru, Kenya, PEPFAR and Faith-Based Organizations: Partners in Sustaining Community and Country Leadership in Global HIV/AIDS. In collaboration with the Centers…

Islam, like all religions, strongly influences social, economic and political spheres of life. Tenets that are perceived to be Islamic shape the status of and relationship between women and men. These tenets result in women – because they are women…

Religious leaders could help improve uptake of male circumcision in HIV-prevention effort Education of religious leaders had a substantial effect on uptake of male circumcision, and should be considered as part of male circumcision programmes in other sub-Saharan African countries.…

The scale of the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa presented unprecedented challenges for the international humanitarian community, and learning from the successes and failures of the response effort is important for designing future crisis interventions. Lessons…

On World AIDS Day, the World Council of Churches launched Leading by Example: Religious Leaders and HIV Testing, a interfaith campaign that encourages religious leaders to inspire getting tested for HIV and especially to lead by example and have themselves tested for…

In July 2015, The Lancet published a series on faith-based health care. The Executive Summary states that “this Series argues that building on the extensive experience, strengths, and capacities of faith-based organisations (eg, geographical coverage, influence, and infrastructure) offers a…

Stakeholder Health: Insights from New Systems of Health, was developed in 2016 with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a review of best practices in the areas of community health improvement, as well as clinical and community partnerships,…

World Relief (WR) adapted its proven Care Group approach, a peer support approach traditionally used for child survival interventions, to address TB prevention, detection, and support for treatment adherence in southern Mozambique from 2009-2014. A cascade training model designed to…

In May 2012, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), in collaboration with St. Paul’s University (SPU) and Emory University’s Interfaith Health Program (IHP), hosted a consultation on the role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in sustaining country and…

Religion, Women’s Health and Rights: Points of Contention, Paths of Opportunities - a joint UNFPA –NORAD Paper This Report looks at the religious arguments around some of the most sensitive and contentious SRH-related issues, from the perspective of the major…

The  Review of Faith and International Affairs has just published a special series on Religion and Development See Journal here edited by Jill Olivier with a grant from JLIF&LC through DFID support Includes the following articles: Innovative Faith-Community Responses to HIV…

This case study on the 2014 Ebola epidemic highlights the complex institutional roles of religious actors and positive—and less positive—aspects of their involvement, and, notably, how poorly prepared international organizations proved in engaging them in a systematic fashion. Link to…

Andrew Tomkins, Jean Duff, Atallah Fitzgibbon, Azza Karam, Edward J Mills, Keith Munnings, Sally Smith, Shreelata Rao Seshadri, Avraham Steinberg, Robert Vitillo, Philemon Yugi http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60252-5/abstract

Faith leaders, as trusted and respected members of their community, have played a hugely significant, and often unsung, role in the Ebola crisis. In the midst of confusion, fear and panic, communities have often turned to them for guidance. They…

This brief presents the key results of a 2012 review, undertaken as a partnership between the Tony Blair Faith Foundation and the World Faiths Development Dialogue. The resulting report, of which Lynn Aylward is the primary author, is entitled “Global Health and Africa: Assessing Faith Work and Research Priorities.”

Preventable child deaths outrage everyone. Immunization campaigns save millions of children’s lives and therefore unite widely divergent communities. But the untapped potential for partnerships to extend vaccination coverage, especially involving religious actors, is large. Two critical challenges are important and offer great promise: extending newer vaccines (notably against rotavirus and pneumococcus) and reaching underserved populations (“the fifth child”). The support and cooperation of religious communities, at global and national levels, is essential for both—leaders and communities can help address challenges and prevent the grave problems that arise when religious leaders oppose vaccination (such as in Pakistan and Nigeria). In building partnerships there are four priorities: (a) informing populations and building trust; (b) focusing on underserved populations; (c) overcoming barriers to vaccination campaigns in tumultuous countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo where faith networks are especially vital players; and (d) helping through holistic health approaches to “connect the dots” among different public health and welfare efforts to meet the needs of people and communities.

Julie Clague’s presentation to the UNFPA faith meeting for the UN General Assembly, September 2014: ‘A Call to Action: Faith for Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Post 2015 Development Agenda’. It offers a Catholic perspective on ‘Sexual And Reproductive Health And Reproductive Rights: Religious and Cultural Contexts for Development Effectiveness Post 2015’.

Cover page and table of contents may be viewed at Emory University's page on Religion and Public Health Collaboration here. Book may be purchased at Oxford University Press' website here Description from Oxford University Press: Frequently in partnership, but sometimes…

This document illustrates responses to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa by a range of faith-inspired organizations (FIOs) and communities. In addition to these resources, several events have been held with faith actors including a USAID conference call1 October 3 with faith-based and community partners implementing programs in response to Ebola.

The Ebola epidemic in West Africa highlights the special difficulties involved in responding to infectious diseases in fragile state settings with weak healthcare systems. Governments and international organizations are mobilizing rapidly to support public and private emergency systems in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (as well as preparedness in neighboring states), but the needs and speed of the epidemic currently overwhelm available capacities (local and international). Challenges are exacerbated by the epidemic’s fast pace and changing dynamics. Informed predictions point to a continuing escalation of cases and to wide‐ranging, grave repercussions for economies and societies, including threats to basic healthcare and food supplies, across the region. The crisis demands immediate responses along many urgent dimensions but also points to underlying, longer term needs that call for new directions in development strategies. Networks of religious and faith‐inspired actors are a resource that could magnify the impact of urgent responses and recovery plans.

Katherine Marshall Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD) organized a meeting on October 6 Summary of what is…