Welcome to the latest *pre-launch* ORSZCA Update.
We have two big announcements and one call to action.
1. ORSZCA Co-chairs confirmed
We are pleased to announce the ORSZCA Co-chairs. They are Dr Morseda Chowdhury, Director, Health, Nutrition and Population Programme, BRAC, Bangladesh and Samy Ahmar MSc, Head of Health, Save the Children, UK.
Dr Morseda Chowdhury, BRAC, Bangladesh
As Director of HNPP in BRAC, Dr. Morseda Chowdhury heads the largest non-governmental healthcare network in the world with ~50,000 community health workers (CHWs) serving a 110m population in Bangladesh. Currently, the program reaches around 10m people through CHWs with Essential Health Services (EHS) and Reproductive Healthcare which includes Orsaline and zinc packages for mothers, children and adolescent girls.
With nearly 20 years of work experience and PhD from Sydney School of Public Health, Dr. Morseda brings decades of experience in Public Health from practical project management to strategic research. Her specialty lies in reproductive healthcare, nutrition, communicable and non-communicable diseases through community-based healthcare at national scale.
As ORSCZA co-chair, she brings the insight of practical ground-level realities of a nation-wide program combined with academic research for advocacy with the Government.
LinkedIn
Samy Ahmar, Save the Children, UK
Samy Ahmar is Head of Health at Save the Children UK, where he and his team oversee a global portfolio of maternal, newborn, and child health projects in 20 countries with a focus sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Samy has 14 years of experience in international development, global health and evidence-based programming. Recent work includes diarrhoea-control in India and Nigeria, adaptive MNCH programming in rural DRC, the development of evidence-based strategies for pneumonia control in nine countries and the development of global health partnerships with a private sector organisations. Samy’s blog page is here.
LinkedIn
Leadership like this will ensure that co-packaged ORS and Zinc gets the attention it needs to trigger the step-change in the coverage of ORS and Zinc we are seeking.
2. ORSZCA launch date set
Our Co-chairs will introduce themselves at the ORSZCA Launch webinar which has been set for 19-Jan-22 at 9am EST. Please hold the date – add the event to your calendar using the links below. We thank the Child Health Task Force for their offer to host the launch and a formal invitation will be sent in due course with the details of the interactive agenda and speakers.
Add the ORSZCA Launch webinar to your calendar:
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3. Call to action: A letter to UNICEF on Co-pack pricing – template provided
We are pleased to have started a positive dialogue with UNICEF Supply Division on their co-pack pricing but this has stalled, so we are asking ORSZCA members to consider writing to the Director of UNICEF’s Supply Division, Ms Etleva Kadilli, to ask for her support on this issue. To help with this we have provided a template letter here.
And finally, replies to this email are open, please get back to us with your comments.
Regards
Simon and Leith
Simon Berry and Leith Greenslade
ORSZCA Start-up catalysts