Nutrition Program Makes Healthy Living a Family Matter

It can be easy to undervalue the importance of balanced nutrition in shaping the journey from infancy to adulthood. Lial, age 35 from Nazareth, suffered a painful childhood in a broken home without a mother. Married at 19, it wasn’t long before she realized the heavy physical and emotional price she would have to pay as an adult for her own parents’ absence and neglect during her formative years.

“In my youth, I was severely anorexic,” Lial confessed in a recent interview. “I starved myself completely and reached a weight of 65 pounds. My anorexia led to fertility problems which—combined with the fact that I didn’t know how to cook, as I never had a mother to teach me—eventually led to my divorce and left me alone in this world.”

Lial eventually became a single mother, and she was determined from the start to provide her daughter with a better, healthier childhood than the one she experienced. “After my daughter was born, I didn’t want her to be scared of food like I was. But since I couldn’t cook, all I could do was buy her hot dogs and lots of fattening foods—things I couldn’t bring myself to eat.”

Lial and her daughter are not alone. Many of Israel’s 350,000 at-risk children are vulnerable to eating disorders, malnutrition, obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, and various nutrition-related diseases, largely because those in charge of their care lack the means and knowledge to instill good eating habits. Healthy living programs are limited in schools due to insufficient funding, which further compounds the problem and challenges children’s long-term development.

With the help of the JDC-supported Nutrition Enrichment and Healthy Living Program, parents like Lial can now take command of their family’s choices around nutrition.

JDC and Komen Second Annual Race for the Cure in Bosnia and Herzegovina

On October 3rd, 2009, JDC and Susan G. Komen for the Cure held the Second Annual Race for the Cure in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sponsored by JDC's Women's Health Empowerment Program (WHEP) and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, this year’s Race was an opportunity to celebrate life, to walk together and spread awareness about breast cancer in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The community had the opportunity to rejoice with breast cancer survivors and honor those who have lost their battle with the disease.

Video by Jennifer Jensen, Susan G. Komen for the Cure


The first Race for the Cure, honoring Susan G. Komen’s 25th RFTC Anniversary, was held in October 2008 with over 2,500 people participating. The Race was covered by all media outlets, and helped to raise awareness and to openly discuss this issue. All proceeds from the Race have provided more than 600 free mammogram checkups for women with no health insurance.

Video from the First Annual Race for the Cure in Sarajevo


SEE PICTURES FROM THE 2008 RACE FOR THE CURE AND LEARN MORE ABOUT WHEP BY CLICKING ON THE LINK BELOW.

JDC Partners with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to Host Second National Breast Cancer Conference in Moscow

JDC’s Women’s Health Empowerment Program in Russia focuses on breast cancer as the most common cause of death among Russian women, ages 45 to 55

On May 18 and May 19, 2009, more than 150 medical professionals, NGO representatives, representatives on a State level, mainly from the Ministry of Health and Social Development, research scientists, breast cancer survivors, and activists from Moscow and Central Russia will join forces in the battle against breast cancer at the InfoSpace International Exhibition Center in Moscow.

The two-day conference is hosted by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC)’s Women’s Health Empowerment Program (WHEP) and its partner, Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists.

The Conference will present the results of two years of WHEP’s initiatives in Russia, as well as discussing the current state of breast cancer, and the battle against this disease that is diagnosed in 50,000 women every year and is the most common cause of death among Russian women, ages 45 to 55. In fact, almost every second woman in Russia who is diagnosed with breast cancer dies. The main focus will be on the importance of early detection in Russia, as a catalyst to reduce mortality rates, ways to improve treatment, the importance of doctor to patient communication, rehabilitation, and social services for breast cancer patients.

Featured speakers include: Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, Founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure; Mr. Alik Nadan, JDC’s Representative for Moscow and Central Russia; Professor Nadezda Rozkova, Chief Mammologist of Russian Federation, Head of Federal Mammology Center; Professor David Zaridze, President of Anticancer Society, Director of the Russian Institute of Carcinogenesis, and Ms. Natalya Vartapetova, Director of Institute for Family Health.

“Our partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure gives our Women’s Health Empowerment Program even more strength in the battle against breast cancer,” said Steven Schwager, JDC Chief Executive Officer. “Due to late-stage diagnosis of breast cancers, many Russian women identify their condition as a death sentence. Clearly, women fear the diagnosis to the point where they prefer to look the other way rather than taking action. JDC’s WHEP in Russia provides life-saving knowledge about the disease, prevention measures and counseling.”

“It is only through global collaboration that we can help women everywhere break their silence and take control of their health,” said Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, Founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. “We are in the early days of a global cancer tsunami, with more than 1.3 million women facing a breast cancer in the coming year alone. Education, awareness and early screening are proven, effective tools in this global battle to save the lives of our mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and daughters, in Russia and around the world.”

Conference Roundtables will cover: role of NGOs, patient oriented organizations, and advocates in the fight against breast cancer in Russia; areas of cooperation with the medical community and the State; rehabilitation services for women with breast cancer, the need versus the reality, and next steps, and the importance of early detection and WHEP’s role in changing women’s attitudes towards their health.

One of the major outcomes of the Conference will be the work on and adoption of a Plan of Action to be submitted to the Ministry of Health and Social Development after adjournment. JDC’s WHEP Russia has identified the major issues, action items for response, and recommendations for implementation. Focal issues include: the role NGOs, the medical community and local Health Ministry should play in the fight against breast cancer, especially in promoting early detection; provision of psycho-social support services; improvement of the doctor-patient relationship, and mandatory services that should be provided by the State to women following mastectomy, as well as other rehabilitation services.


About Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which is now the world’s largest breast cancer organization and the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer with more than $1.3 billion invested to date. The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Global Promise Fund is dedicated to reaching underserved people in areas where breast cancer death rates are highest by increasing breast health awareness; improving access to detection and treatment; recruiting and funding medical staff; providing services to breast cancer survivors and their families, and recruiting and training lay ambassadors to promote breast cancer awareness and treatment messages in underserved areas around the globe. For more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast cancer, visit http://www.komen.org/ or call 1-877 GO KOMEN.

About JDC’s Women’s Health Empowerment Program (WHEP)
Established in 1995, JDC’s Women’s Health Empowerment Program (WHEP) is an innovative overseas public education movement that encourages the early detection of breast cancer, when it is treated more easily. The Program builds leadership, creates new services, such as support groups and hotlines, strengthens doctor to patient communication, and facilitates partnerships among government agencies, NGOs and the medical and health community. WHEP projects have been carried out in communities throughout the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. In 2004, JDC partnered with Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists, to re-launch a program in Bosnia-Herzegovina. In 2006, WHEP was expanded to Hungary, and in 2007, it expanded into Russia. Following the First WHEP Regional Conference for former Yugoslavia (Sarajevo, April 2008), JDC and Komen decided to expand activities to Montenegro. WHEP Montenegro will be officially launched in May 2009.

Dr. Rick Hodes Featured on CBC News

Canada's CBC News recently interviewed Dr. Rick Hodes, JDC's Medical Director in Ethiopia about his work, his life and the documentary film by Susan Cohn, Making the Crooked Straight that has been a Jewish film festival smash across North America.

To watch the interview on CBC News that also includes footage from the documentary film please click on the picture below.





In this video clip, Dr. Hodes speaks to participants at the JDC Ambassadors Circle Global Symposium on May 19 about JDC's current programs in Ethiopia as well as his own work in the areas of cancer research, spinal deformities, tuberculosis and other medical conditions.

Bringing Wells and Wellness to Residents of Rural Ethiopia

Azanaw Musaw Tegegne, an eighth grader, says that before JDC installed the fresh water tap in his village in Gondar, Ethiopia, most people drank water from a nearby stream. Like hundreds of villages around rural Ethiopia, Gondar’s Gabriel kebele (area similar to a neighborhood) had no access to potable water for drinking, bathing, or cooking during the region’s extended dry seasons and draughts.

Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. In rural parts of country, only 11 percent of the population has access to clean water while just 7 percent has access to adequate sanitation facilities. During the rainy season, the population’s water supply is procured from nearby springs, streams, and shallow wells. When the dry season comes, these water sources dry up, forcing villagers to collect water from sub-standard, often polluted, wells and streams.

The health hazards are enormous: 90 percent of all preventable diseases such as malaria, cholera, yellow fever, hepatitis, typhoid and diarrhea can be attributed to underdeveloped and ill-protected water supplies. Waterborne diseases claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians each year.

Limited access to safe drinking water not only results in poor health, but also causes serious developmental problems. Collecting water is back-breaking work that drains precious energy and restricts involvement in productive activities and community affairs for many women and children in every village. On average, rural villagers spend four to six hours per day collecting water from sources that can be as far as 10 kilometers from their homes.

Over the last 25 years, JDC has built dozens of potable water wells throughout Gondar and the surrounding countryside with guidance from the Ethiopian Water Works Construction Authority and the local government in Gondar. Funding for this effort has come from international NGOs, as well as private donors and foundations. The Ground Water Development program has produced hand dug wells, protected springs, taps, micro-dams, and latrines.

JDC originally built wells in areas that served large numbers of Jews (the Felas Mura population awaiting immigration to Israel) but also supplied water to the non-Jewish villagers. By 2008, as JDC constructed a dozen wells across Gondar through its International Development Program (JDC-IDP), new water projects served 100 percent non-Jewish populations.

As JDC-IDP’s larger goal is to provide assistance that will leave communities stronger and self-sustaining in the long run, each project engages and is facilitated by local village water committees, who solicit local manpower for some labor and materials used in the construction process. JDC-IDP also provides the villagers with training on the importance of drinking the clean water and encourages behavioral change to improve overall health. Whenever possible, in addition to building the wells, JDC-IDP constructs communal latrines to facilitate a safe, sanitary human waste disposal system (as open air toilets are widely known to contaminate the town’s clean drinking water). Community education and involvement contributes tremendously to the success and long-term sustainability of these projects.

With safe, fresh, local water sources for drinking, cooking and sanitation available in his village for the first time, Azanaw Musaw Tegegne no longer needs to travel great distances to collect water. Freed of this chore, he will now be able to finish eighth grade at the newly built JDC-IDP school in his hometown of Gabriel, Gondar—one of 10 schools JDC-IDP has built in the region in the past 18 months.

That last fact is important, as Ethiopia has an adult literacy rate of barely 36 percent. Azanaw will be one of the just 23 percent of teenage boys and 13 percent of teenage girls enrolled in secondary schools. (Only 55 percent of all boys and 47 percent of all girls are enrolled in primary schools; 38 percent will not reach the fifth grade.)

Committed to making a difference in the development of Ethiopia’s educational system and securing a future for some of the most vulnerable people on the globe, JDC-IDP has been repairing and building schools for some of the poorest Ethiopian children across the Northern Gondar region since 2000.

At a celebration in appreciation for JDC-IDP’s donation of a hand water pump to one local village, the Chairman of the Gondar City Council, Asmamaw Yosuf, said, “Really, you have reached at the [root] of the problem. The people have no words to appreciate your donation. [We have] seen the enthusiastic dances praising to your organization.”