Rena Greifinger

Where you live should not determine if you get access to healthcare. At Watsi we believe that every person deserves equal access to quality care, regardless of their location or socio-economic status. Join us in our mission to ensure health access for all. Learn more about our work and how you can get involved: https://watsi.org/ #HealthAccessForAll #EquityInHealthcare"

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Yesterday, I connected with our friends at News Central TV to discuss the care gap in Africa and the need to address this gap for gender, social, and economic progress. Care work powers all work, yet care work is not recognized as an economic activity of value. Women and men do 16.4 billion hours of unpaid care work every single day. Around 76% of this is undertaken by women, with 606 million women of working age performing unpaid care on a full-time basis. The invisibility of care work in the formal economy has led to it acting as a hidden subsidy to the market economy. A staggering sixty-five per cent of women’s working hours are unpaid every week and excluded from official measures of economic activity. This time and income poverty bears serious consequences to women’s health, economic, and political power, as well as repercussions to healthy masculinity and men’s wellbeing. Closing the care gap will require redistribution of care work to men, markets, government, and institutions. It will require recognizing the value of care, and shifting cultural narratives and norms around girls and women solely responsible for this work. It is also time for our GDP to count and capture evidence from all types of economic activities - both paid and unpaid. I talk about this and more on the JASIRI show on News Central TV. We discuss the need for men to step into care, and how care work performed by women fuels resentment towards men and society. https://lnkd.in/dYDkH5Vk

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NEW REPORT: For nearly 2 decades, RWJF and our partners and allies have worked together to address the root causes of childhood obesity and keep kids healthier. Learn more about the impact we’ve made together: https://bit.ly/3CYOoJN

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My colleague @Edua Eboigbe, Health Practice Specialist at Chemonics International, reflects on her experience working at a mobile health clinic in her father’s hometown in southern #Nigeria. In this video, which was submitted for the @Society for International Development, United States (SID-US) Lightning Talks Competition, Edua shares her experience and insights on #SystemsThinking could be applied to create equitable #StrongSystemsForHealthForAll. Watch the video here 👇: https://ow.ly/I9qg30sCps6

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How can foundations and grantmakers be more intentional about sharing power with communities directly affected by systemic racism and health inequity? A new @RWJF case study provides a behind-the-scenes look at our $5 million participatory grantmaking initiative, Building Local Alignment. Review how we worked to cede decision making control to outside experts and what lessons have emerged for our foundation and other funders as we seek to advance equity. Check it out today! #CommunityPower #EquityInAction #ParticipatoryGrantmaking https://bit.ly/3YdySRr

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Community engagement is all the rage in healthcare, but do you know how to do it effectively? Learn how organizations can engage members of the communities they serve to build trust, advance health equity, and improve care outcomes in a new report from INSPIRE. It’s a roadmap for how organizations can go beyond inviting the community to the table toward learning how to build the table from the ground up together. Stay tuned for more tools coming out over the next year from the INSPIRE team, that will help translate the recommendations in this roadmap into action. https://lnkd.in/empWV4kt

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Are you seeking to elevate #communityvoices? 1. Take a step back to reflect on yourself oh gate keeper! Now... 2. Let go of your need to be in control of the narrative to suit yours or your donor interests 3. Let communities tell you what they want and how they want and do the rare act of #listening to support and not to spin the narrative to favour your interests 4. Let communities build their own narratives and gather their own content to communicate what story they want and how they want Now comes the hardest part... 5. Give them access to those platforms and relationships you hold so dear and let them speak for themselves - on their own terms 6. Sit back and watch the world listen to them knowing that you played a value adding role Instead of merely elevating the voices of the marginalised you would have used your power and privilege to create room for communities to elevate their own voices Communities need access to leaders. Give them that. #comnunityleadership #shiftthepower #localisation #solidarityovercharity

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To keep up momentum in the fight for health equity, we need to celebrate wins. That’s why I wrote about some good news in the health policy space for RWJF’s blog. I wanted to share recent efforts by RWJF to make healthcare more inclusive across the U.S. We submitted public comments on several federal rules to help make sure they were written in a way that best serves the public. The rules that were passed mean healthcare just got more accessible and better protected for everyone, but especially for: ✔️People eligible for Medicaid and CHIP ✔️Immigrants ✔️People with disabilities ✔️Those seeking reproductive healthcare, and ✔️LGBTQIA+ people Read more about these important changes: https://rwjf.ws/IvJzMr

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Spring GombeCommunity Health Impact CoalitionAfrica Frontline First Key Advocacy Points Formal Recognition and Integration: Advocate for the formal recognition of CHPs as part of the national healthcare workforce. This includes standardizing their roles, providing them with formal employment status, and including them in national health workforce policies. Fair Compensation and Benefits: Push for the development and implementation of a policy that ensures CHPs receive adequate remuneration for their work. This could be through government funding, partnerships with NGOs, or a stipend model supported by both county and national governments. Capacity Building and Professional Development: Advocate for continuous professional development opportunities for CHPs, including access to formalized training, certification, and career progression pathways. This would ensure high standards of service delivery while empowering CHPs to grow professionally. Health Insurance Coverage: Ensure that CHPs are included in national health insurance schemes like NHIF (National Hospital Insurance Fund), which would provide them with health coverage and enhance their access to healthcare. Workplace Safety and Support: Demand the provision of adequate protective equipment, supplies, and logistical support for CHPs. This is critical for their safety, especially when handling public health emergencies such as disease outbreaks (e.g., COVID-19) and delivering essential health services in remote areas. Current Policy Gaps Lack of Formal Employment: CHPs are not formally employed by the government or private health facilities, leaving them without job security or social benefits such as pensions. Inconsistent Remuneration: There is no uniform pay structure across counties, and many CHPs rely on inconsistent and inadequate stipends provided by donors or local authorities. Insufficient Training: While some CHPs receive basic training, there is no national standard for the training of CHPs, which leads to discrepancies in service quality.

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Does your company distribute grants? run employee engagement programs? do other social impact work? What about measuring, managing and tracking the effectiveness and impact of its CSR work? The Corporate Measurement & Evaluation Community of Practice is conducting a benchmarking survey to understand the state of M&E across the corporate landscape - who is doing it, how, why and what tools and approaches are being used. If you are directly responsible for measuring and reporting on the impact of your companies CSR work, or you have visibility into it, we'd like to hear from you! https://lnkd.in/gv9Deiwi Please note, We have taken special care in crafting the survey so that we aren’t repeating information that can be found elsewhere. This benchmarking will complement that done by ACCP and CECP.  The responses are 100% confidential and data will only be reported in aggregate.  More information on the Corporate Measurement & Evaluation (M&E) Community of Practice in comments.

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Today is Policy Day of Black Maternal Health Week, so let’s talk about a few policies we should implement to improve maternal health care for Black pregnant people. Here’s a to-do list for policymakers on this year’s BMHW: ✔️ Expand Medicaid to 12 months postpartum in all 50 states: Dr. Jessica Pineda of Brown University found that “Black mothers are twice as likely to experience maternal mental health conditions but half as likely to receive treatment compared to White mothers.” Expanding Medicaid could help expand access to vital mental health services for conditions like postpartum depression. ✔️ Expand Medicaid to cover doula and midwife care: OB-GYN Dr. Dawn Owens Robinson said “Doulas save lives,” and the data proves it. Doulas help reduce disparities in Black maternal health care, and shouldn’t just be a privilege for the wealthy. ✔️ Protect reproductive rights: Black women living in states where abortion access is restricted face disproportionate risks from unintended pregnancies. Access to the full spectrum of reproductive care is important for maternal health overall.

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We just ended Unitaid's Executive Board in South Africa, and the headline outcomes are (i) lenacapavir and (ii) climate-smart health products. 👉 The Board recognized the importance of long-acting lenacapavir. Some innovations, when made widely and equitably accessible, can change the life of millions of people and the face of a disease. Long-acting lenacapavir is potentially one such innovation. Our site visits near Johannesburg also confirmed this potential: many clients seem to express preference for injectable PrEP over oral PrEP. This is why Unitaid has already launched investments to accelerate access to this critical new innovation. 👉 This Board session also marked the approval of Unitaid's first Climate and Health Area for Intervention. Under this new area of work, Unitaid aims to help communities adapt to climate-related health threats, reduce the environmental footprint of key health products and ensure their resilience to climate-related shocks, and drive sustainable innovation in global health systems. Lots of exciting work and amazing learning ahead of us. And these two main Board outcomes are actually more related than they look. Long-acting injectable treatments like lenacapavir hold the promise of being triple wins for public health and climate: better health outcomes (due to better adherence/convenience), more climate-resilient health interventions (reduced risk of treatment interruption in case of climate shocks and health system disruption) and lower carbon footprint (due to smaller API content relative to oral equivalents). It is hard to think of a better example of a climate-smart product! Duneton Philippe Tenu Avafia Janet Ginnard Carmen Pérez Casas Anne-Isabelle Cameron Matthew Lindley Julien Pouille Stéphanie Mariat Maria Neira Patrick Gitonga Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum

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Pregnancy and childbirth should be a time of joy and excitement for new parents, not one where they must worry about receiving adequate care.  What can we learn from Rwanda, where the maternal mortality rate has dropped a staggering 84%? Community-based healthcare providers—who actively listen to women's needs and opinions, and deliver culturally sensitive interventions—have worked wonders for Rwandan families, helping them feel supported and informed. For centuries, women of color in the U.S. have been pivotal leaders, organizers, and advocates for ending the maternal mortality crisis. As a nation, we must do more to follow their lead and protect expectant mothers and their babies. https://lnkd.in/g3438wcQ #MaternalMortality #HealthEquity #MaternalHealth

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To advance health equity, we ALL must harness our voting power to ensure that our leaders and policies reflect the needs of every community, especially those who have historically been marginalized. The #USTransSurvey’s Civic Engagement Report surveyed trans people to find out what policies matter to them. Their top concerns include: Violence against transgender people (46%) Racial justice (38%) Coverage for trans-related health care (34%) At a time when trans people are facing increasing political and legal attacks, we must all stand united in defense of their rights, dignity, and well-being, ensuring that everyone has the freedom to live authentically and without fear. Read the report for more:

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I highly recommend completing this course. You will gain a deeper, data-driven perspective of the entire grant life cycle.

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When thinking back to my time as a nonprofit CEO, I recall many sleepless nights wrestling with funding challenges. Conversations often focused on writing grants, annual campaigns, and donor engagement, but the results stayed the same. It wasn’t until we started thinking differently that we saw real change. 🚀Imagine a nonprofit and philanthropic world where innovation drives fund development, creating sustainable impact within our organizations, where new ideas are celebrated, and risks are seen as opportunities.  🌟 In my latest Coaching Innovation Blog, Innovating Fund Development for Greater Impact, discover how embracing innovation can transform your organization's approach to funding. ❓How can nonprofits elevate their fund development strategies to create greater impact? 🧠 Cultivate a Culture of Innovation: Encourage an environment where creativity thrives, and risks are part of the growth journey. 🔍 How can you foster a culture of innovation? Reflect on your organization's openness to new ideas and discuss your risk tolerance and risk threshold. 💡 Innovation Pop-ups: Organize regular brainstorming sessions to bring together diverse perspectives and generate innovative new fund development strategies. When we create a culture of innovation that leverages technology and embraces diverse funding sources, we can transform our organizations and the communities we serve. How have you leveraged innovation to support fund development? 🔗 Check out the full article at www.Jordansydnor.com . 

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Kaiser Permanente is actively engaged in the work of screening our members for social vulnerabilities like housing- and food-insecurity and referring people who need support to community partners that can help with these essentials. While we hear frequently how life-changing this support is for our members, it’s encouraging to also see that addressing social needs in the heath care setting can also reduce health care costs and avoidable utilization. The latest evaluation report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Accountable Health Communities Model shows that linking health care and community organizations together to help Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with core social factors reduced health care costs, emergency department visits, and hospital admissions. Read an overview of the model and a summary of the latest findings on CMS.gov: https://lnkd.in/gCWpH2wD

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How can we use investment strategies to improve social determinants of health for children? Join a webinar this Thursday, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to find out! Experts will discuss the epidemiological and economic importance of a healthy childhood, child-centric urban planning, and child-focused investing, sharing ideas from around the world for advancing health. Register today! https://lnkd.in/eiYP_w49

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At the 2024 African Philanthropy Forum conference, leaders gathered around a powerful theme: "A New Agenda for African Philanthropy—Catalyzing Funding to Accelerate Africa's Transformation." This vision is all about reshaping philanthropy in Africa to be agile, collaborative, and impactful. In a recent article on communal giving, I explore how African philanthropy has always been rooted in shared responsibility and local knowledge. This tradition of giving passed down through generations, is uniquely positioned to drive the continent's transformation. The APF conference sessions echoed this, spotlighting trust-based philanthropy to empower communities, strategic alignment with government to amplify impact, and global insights to spark sustainable transformation across sectors. This convergence of ideas underscores the value of locally-driven philanthropy, especially when communities themselves are empowered to lead the charge. When we invest in our own communities, directing resources to where they’re needed most, we accelerate change that resonates and endures. Read more from the article to explore how communal giving lays a strong foundation for this era of African philanthropy. https://lnkd.in/dZ_TRZNh #CommunalGiving #CatalyzingChange #AfricanPhilanthropy #LocalGiving #NationalDevelopment #SocialImpact

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