Wellshare International

“Reviewed by board of directors prior to filing.”

“Monitored and enforced by board of directors annually.”

“Approved by board of directors annually.”

“Governing documents are made available to the public upon request.”

“The mission of wellshare international ("wellshare- or the "organization") is to advance sustainable community health around the world. Wellshare international focuses its resources where it can have the greatest impact on the health of underserved and vulnerable populations. This includes refugees and immigrants in minnesota, where its headquarter office is located, as well as individuals living in under-resourced countries. Wellshare international works in close partnership with communities and healthcare providers to ensure that their joint efforts are defined by local needs and are sustainable. Because of its extensive overseas community health experience, including 38+ years in east africa as well as significant experience in southeast asia and central america, wellshare is uniquely positioned to work internationally as well as domestically in minnesota and the u.s. With the growing immigrant, refugee, and other under-served communities. Over the past 18 years in minnesota, wellshare has worked on public health initiatives with somali, oromo, hmong, and karen (burmese) immigrants and refugees and is now extending its community-based health work to reach additional vulnerable and underserved communities, including the african-american, latino, and native-american communities.”

“Culturally appropriate approaches and tools to support at-risk individuals and communities in the twin cities. Wellshare chws work with the community to promote behavior changes that will reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Activities in 2017 included conducting four full-day health-coaching trainings for chws. A six-week series of chronic disease self-management workshops (a stanford university evidence-based curriculum) was offered three times to adults in the somali community. Another evidence-based class, matter of balance, was offered twice to somali elders to help reduce the risk of falls. Other ehdi activities included hypertension screening for east african adults. Over 220 adults have been screened for hypertension. The somali community is being disproportionately affected by diabetes, and wellshare is responding. To date, thirty-eight somali elders have gained knowledge and understanding of pre-diabetes and diabetes through wellshare's programs. The ehdi program also works with healthcare providers to build capacity for supporting patients along their path to optimal health. By offering training to physicians and community health workers, wellshare's ehdi program is helping to build the workforce capacity needed to reduce health disparities and improve culturally competent care. Another component of the eliminating health disparities initiative, funded by the minnesota department of health center for health equity, is the minnesota community health worker peer network (see below for more information). Community health workers - bridging the cultural divide in 2017, wellshare continued to expand its work through the chw peer network program. The chw peer network was created by wellshare in 2005 and reaches a statewide group of community health workers serving diverse communities. Wellshare hosts a moderated network mailing list and provides in-service professional development training opportunities to chws. The network sends out electronic (email) updates including chw job announcements, training information, and advocacy opportunities provided by chws and other stakeholders. Each year, wellshare surveys chw members about their educational needs in order to determine trainings that are most relevant to their work. Based on survey results, wellshare hosts bi-monthly professional development trainings for chws in the peer network. Currently, the network reaches over 500 chws, employers, and key stakeholders. Most trainings are recorded, archived, and posted online for later viewing by chws and other stakeholders who live in greater minnesota. Hypertension program in 2017, wellshare received an extension grant from the minnesota department of health for the pilot program that was started in 2015. The hypertension program promotes linkages between health systems and community resources. Wellshare community health workers reached out to the somali community to provide screening for high blood pressure, identifying those who may have hypertension and referring them to primary care. Of the 240 individuals screened, 26% were hypertensive and were referred to primary care. Wellshare has been working to develop an in-home follow-up program for somali adults who have unmanaged hypertension. This has included building relationships with clinics, creating standing orders, and creating an electronic health records system. Communities eliminating tobacco inequities: karen tobacco-free program wellshare received a grant from the center for prevention at blue cross blue shield of minnesota to educate the karen community on the harms of tobacco and to eliminate the use of tobacco in indoor and outdoor settings. The karen tobacco-free program (ktfp) is a partnership with the karen organization of minnesota and engages the entire community. Two karen community health workers and a program manager consult with karen religious leaders and community members to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services. A”

“Planning, and healthcare-seeking behavior for mothers and children. Participants also learned how to make tie-dye cloth and batik for sale and to prepare homemade bar soap, liquid soap, bathing soap, and oil jelly (lotion). They also learned how to prepare high-nutrient flour. As noted above, a high-quality video of the project was created and posted on the wellshare website. Uganda family planning program wellshare international continued its long-term work in reproductive health in uganda in 2017. Advancing community-based access to injectable contraceptives, funded by usaid/jsi through advancing partners & communities (apc), worked to scale up access to counseling and contraceptive choice in the iganga and kumi districts of uganda. The project supports women and men of reproductive age (15-49 and 15-45, respectively), as well as primary beneficiaries, including the district health team, health center staff, and village health teams (vhts), who received capacity-building education and training around community-based family planning and access to injectable contraceptives (cba2i) using depo im and sayana press (sp), emergency contraceptive pills (ecps), and adolescent sexual and reproductive health (asrh). In 2017, key achievements included: conducting an end-line (final) assessment on youth-friendly health services provision. A total of 82% of health centers in iganga district and 75% of health centers in kumi district were assessed as providing "very youth- friendly service" at end-line, a significant improvement over baseline. Hosted a national-level stakeholders meeting on emergency contraceptive pills (ecps) to share results from ecp services integration, and gave two presentations and hosted three abstracts at the community health workers symposium in february and the national family planning conference in september. Hosted two structured-learning visits for a team from world vision kenya, world vision uganda, world vision us, and the ministry of health kenya and uganda around community-based family planning (cbfp). As a result, world vision was able to integrate cbfp into its programming with the police forces in uganda. Held 212 community dialogues (81 in kumi and 131 in iganga) on barriers to family planning in the communities, led by wellshare-trained vhts.”

“UGANDA”