Metta Calana Update, Health of Women and Children in Burma/Myanmar

Speaker(s):  Dr. Terry Smith

Hosted by Dr. John Noe
This is a Hybrid Meeting. Both In-Person and Zoom.  Our guest speaker will be attending LIVE.

Topic:  Metta Calana

Zoom Link Information:

For Zoom Guests:  Please contact the Club IT committee to receive your invitation that includes the access code to our Monday Zoom meeting.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Terry Smith began a non-profit more than ten years ago.  Thier goal was to improve the health of woman and children in eastern Burma/Myanmar.  Our club has followed this journey with Dr. Smith almost from the beginning.

It is an area where 80% of all childbirths occur at home and less than 1/2 are attended by a skilled health worker. The support of Metta Calana has proven to be a crucial means to protect and promote women's health.

Base camp is on the Thai-Burma border.  Dr. Smith does training for health workers in remote locations and oversees the distribution of equipment and medicine that improves the quality-of-care women receive during pregnancy and delivery.  Also supported is Health Care House for women and girls with HIV/AIDS.

Over the last year our Rotary donation has been to provide contraceptive choices to hundreds of women and to provide pregnant women with medicines and nutritional supplements to make their childbearing safer.

Any further donation will go towards a year of work with local clinics to train new health care workers and equip them with the skills and tools they need to serve their community.  The donation would help secure a hemoglobin color scale that will access the presence of anemia in pregnant women.  It will also go towards the purchase of equipment and medicines that will be distributed to the health clinics.