2021 Annual Update

Dear friends and family,

I hope that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe. Amidst the losses that many have shouldered this year and the ongoing challenges of the pandemic, we are as grateful as ever for your belief in the Manos de Ramon Foundation and our shared vision of upholding the lives of mothers and babies.

In the spirit of our dear friend and mentor, Dr. Ramon Murphy, and with the superb site leadership of Dr. Wanny Roa, we continue to build teams to advance maternal-infant health education in the Dominican Republic (DR).

Highlights of 2021 include:

1. Implementation of 20 in-person Helping Babies Survive and Helping Mothers Survive training courses in the northern Cibao region of the DR

2. Training of more than 300 physicians, nurses, medical students, and community health workers in maternal-newborn care in the DR (We have now trained over 1500 healthcare workers since 2015.)

3. Publication of the article, Helping Mothers Survive: Program Evaluation and Early Outcomes of Maternal Care Training in the Dominican Republic, in Frontiers in Public Health https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.660908/full

Despite the significant progress we have made together over the past several years in improving neonatal survival in the DR, the COVID pandemic has had devastating consequences for maternal-infant health in this region, and worldwide. The Dominican Society of Pediatrics recently reported a 20% increase in country-wide neonatal mortality this year compared to 2020. We continue to align our training programs with the needs identified by our Dominican partners and greet the new year with great hope of, once again, reducing neonatal mortality and ensuring the survival of mothers and babies.

Thank you to all who have supported the work of the Manos de Ramon Foundation over the past years. Your contributions enable this extraordinary collaboration. We are deeply grateful and inspired by you.

Tax deductible donations can be made through our website via Paypal. If you are unable to donate (or already have—thank you, again!), we appreciate you championing our work. Feel free to pass along this email to anyone who might want to join the effort. 100% of your donations go directly to maternal-newborn health education programs in the Dominican Republic.

With gratitude and hope, Alex and the MDR leadership team

www.manosderamonfoundation.com