Honoring the World’s Number One Healthcare Provider: Mothers

Mothers are the world’s primary healthcare providers, and the home is the world’s primary healthcare facility. Although formal health systems and facilities are necessary, effective work at the household level can both improve the overall health of populations and help the formal health system focus on those conditions that cannot be addressed by families and communities alone

Future Generations Graduate School has focused on strengthening the evidence base for community-based health through its experiences running programs and doing research with students, alumni, faculty, and partners. Central to this is the empowerment and education of mothers so that they have the knowledge and support to become more effective providers of child healthcare services as well as addressing many social determinants of health in their families and communities. Evidence of the impact of such efforts from around the world includes dramatic reductions in infant mortality rates, increased immunization rates, improved nutritional status, and many related social changes such as improved transportation and expansion of the voice of women in community life.

How can we move towards a more equitable and inclusive state of health for the world? There are myriad ways, but further supporting mothers is one of the most powerful. We know that primary healthcare interventions such as hand washing, breastfeeding, oral rehydration therapy, and use of insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) that can be implemented in homes and communities tend to be more equitably available to all households in communities, especially the most vulnerable and difficult to reach sub-population groups. We also know that, if families are bypassed by or cannot access healthcare services and knowledge, their health outcomes suffer. These situations are deeply unjust, often avoidable, and can undermine efforts to move the health of the entire global population forward by leaving sub-populations vulnerable to infectious diseases and by putting strain on the formal health system through costly and often avoidable interventions.

A mother’s job is not just during business hours, or just when she feels like it. We honor every mother who contributes to the health of her children, family, and community every single day. Here is a way you can help show that respect and appreciation, too: This Mother's Day, please consider shopping on  smile.amazon.com By using the Future.Edu account. A percentage of what you spend will come back to Future Generations so that we can continue to support mothers throughout the world. Use this link: https://smile.amazon.com/ch/20-4093450. Thank you. Happy Mother’s Day.