Laerdal Global Health

03/12/2025

Strengthening Health and Education Systems in Ethiopia

Earlier this month, LGH Implementation Manager, Alemnesh Reta, joined the 7th Ethiopia–Norway Conference on Health and Higher Education in Addis Ababa to celebrate decades of the “Stronger Together” partnership.

The event convened policymakers, researchers, and leaders from both countries to discuss today’s challenges, from conflict to climate crises, and to share strategies for building stronger, more resilient health systems.

Event speakers highlighted the crucial link between strong health systems, a well-trained workforce, and higher education, and the importance of capacity and institutional strengthening.

At the plenary session, Alemnesh spoke about how academic institutions, the health sector, and NGOs can work together to achieve shared goals—strengthening capacity, improving research, and ensuring evidence-based policies drive effective programs.

We're proud to continue to be a partner in progress and to continue meaningful collaboration in Ethiopia.

02/12/2025

📣 Celebrating a Global Health Legend 📣

Tomorrow in Oslo, Tore Lærdal will join a panel on “Challenges and Opportunities in Global Health” and celebrate the launch of a new biography of global health pioneer Tore Godal.

Among other achievements, Godal has been instrumental in strengthening global public health efforts through his work with the World Health Organization (WHO) and as a key architect of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

🏅 In 2019, Godal received the Norwegian King’s Medal of Merit for his contributions to immunization and global health. He continues to influence health and development priorities through his work at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

The event is organized by the Norwegian Ministry of Health, the Prime Minister’s office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will feature voices from GAVI, Gates Foundation, WHO, the International Vaccine Institute, and others, including:

✨Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus (WHO, Director General, via video)
✨Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and WHO Director General
✨Dagfinn Høybråten, GAVI ambassador and Chairman
✨Tore Lærdal, Laerdal Group

Don't miss the chance to learn from policy makers and global
health experts about how we can contribute to creating more equitable health systems.

📅 Wednesday, Dec 3
Symposium 12:30 | Panel 15:30 (CET)
Livestream & recording:
https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/symposie/id3140979/?expand=factbox3141616

01/12/2025

📣 Don’t miss this webinar 📣

Introducing the new Global Standards for Midwife Faculty Development

Around the world, one million more midwives are needed to provide essential care for women and newborns. There’s a call to invest in midwife faculty who are confident, current, and professionally competent.

To support this global need, the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) has launched the first-ever Global Standards for Midwife Faculty Development — along with a practical Companion Guide.

These groundbreaking standards pave the way for education grounded in quality, innovation, opportunity, and evidence-based practice.

We’re excited that Laerdal Global Health’s Asmita Acharya, Senior Implementation Manager, will be a panelist in the first Alliance to Improve Midwifery Education (AIME) webinar session:

Introducing the new Global Standards for Midwife Faculty Development. ✨
Asmita will contribute to the discussion about how global standards and national strategies can strengthen midwifery education and improve outcomes for women and newborns worldwide.

She’ll talk about:
✅Faculty development and the alignment with the new ICM global standards
✅The role of simulation in faculty development
✅Share a case study

Mark your calendar: December 3, 2025 04:00 PM GMT
👉 Register now on Zoom to secure your spot here: https://internationalmidwives-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LniR41qgSSKQTDZimNGqOw #/registration

28/11/2025

Scaling impactful solutions across Africa

Laerdal Global Health’s Egwuma Efo and Laerdal Group’s Gudleik Njå have just returned from inspiring days in Kigali, Rwanda, for Africa Week, hosted by Norrsken — a foundation championing entrepreneurship and technology as catalysts for positive change.

The event brought together innovators and investors to explore new financing models and pathways to scale impact across the continent.

Our team showcased our LIFT digital solutions and NeoNatalie Live, tools designed to strengthen simulation-based training, track competencies, and improve newborn care outcomes.

They also explored a potential new collaboration with Society for Family Health (SFH) Rwanda and Sand Technologies to advance simulation-based maternal and newborn health training nationwide. We believe SFH’s extensive primary healthcare network, Sand’s Rural Health Operating System (RHOS), and Laerdal Global Health’s simulation tools and LIFT training platform are well-positioned to support a shared goal: training and equipping health workers with the skills, tools, and data they need to deliver safer care.

From decentralized simulation corners to integrated digital platforms and national-level capacity building via the Healthcare Worker Academy—this collaboration has the potential to reshape how Rwanda trains and supports its health workforce.

We’re excited about what comes next and the collective impact we can create together.

19/11/2025

🚀Strengthening Health Systems in Nigeria

Nigeria’s 2025 Joint Annual Review (JAR) provided a forum to align government and partner efforts under the Health Sector Compact, track progress, and share lessons across programs.

🌍Laerdal Global Health is supporting the Government of Nigeria's Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, providing strategic support to the Federal Ministry of Health to implement the Sector Wide Approach and the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative.

LGH joined the Maternal and Newborn Mortality Reduction Innovation & Initiatives (MAMII) team at their exhibition stand where the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare visited, engaging with the teams and learning about innovations like the MamaBirthie birthing simulator and the Safer Births Bundle of Care.

LGH’s Implementation Manager, Obinna Orjingene, and Senior Implementation Specialist Lydia Ishaya-Audu showcased how MamaBirthie supports lifesaving maternal and newborn training, and how simulation can be used to improve outcomes.

We're very enthusiastic about our ongoing and upcoming work together with partners in Nigeria!

17/11/2025

🌍 How Immediate Kangaroo Care Saves Lives: A Conversation with Dr. Siren Rettedal 🌍

In honor of , our latest Q&A with Professor and Neonatologist Dr. Siren Rettedal explores her groundbreaking research on Immediate Kangaroo Mother Care (iKMC) and her mission to improve survival for preterm and low birth weight infants.

Dr. Rettedal discusses:

✅ The groundbreaking World Health Organization (WHO) trial showing a 25% reduction in newborn mortality with immediate KMC.

✅ Why keeping mothers, fathers, and preterm babies together from birth is a lifesaving paradigm shift.

✅ Lessons from Ethiopia’s Saving Little Lives program, proving that large-scale impact is possible in resource-limited settings.

“For decades, we separated mothers and babies—not out of neglect, but from not knowing better. Now we know better.”
– Dr. Siren Rettedal

💡 Read the full Q&A to learn how evidence-based care is changing the future of preterm newborn survival worldwide.

https://laerdalglobalhealth.com/Resources/news/Partner-QA-Siren-Rettedal-SUS/

12/11/2025

📅 Mark your calendar for next week: World Health Organization (WHO) webinar on World Prematurity Day 💜

WHO has launched a new global clinical practice guide for Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) — a proven, lifesaving approach for small and preterm newborns. KMC combines prolonged skin-to-skin contact with breastfeeding and has been shown to dramatically improve newborn outcomes — all while being an accessible and cost-effective global health solution.

💡 Don’t miss this webinar, where we’ll hear experiences from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and the USA, highlighting how KMC is improving care for babies born too soon or too small. We’ll also explore how this new clinical guide can be used to help scale KMC implementation globally.

World Health Organization webinar

📅 When: November 17

🕒 Time: 3–4 PM CET

🔗 Register here: https://bit.ly/47hUd1L



Photo: WHO

06/11/2025

We’ve signed International Confederation of Midwives petition, have you?

At Laerdal Global Health, we support ICM's call to action for governments and policymakers worldwide: invest in midwives, invest in saving lives.

Midwives are at the heart of quality care for mothers and newborns. Evidence shows investing in midwives is one of the most effective ways to save lives, yet there is a global shortage—nearly one million midwives. With one million more midwives, we could prevent 4.3 million deaths by 2035.

We invite our network of professionals, partners, and policymakers to join us to advocate for more midwives by supporting the initiative. Together, we can help ensure every woman and newborn receives the care they deserve.

Join us and sign the petition here: www.millionmore.org

04/11/2025

🌍 Introducing the Alliance to Improve Midwifery Education (AIME) website 🌍

Laerdal Global Health is a proud partner of AIME, and together with International Confederation of Midwives, UNFPA, Jhpiego, LSTM, and the Burnet Institute, we’re thrilled to share the news of the launch of their new website.

The AIME collaboration is an example of how global partnerships across sectors, regions, NGOs, and governments can work together to improve the quality of midwifery education, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

We know that quality midwifery education saves lives. Through quality training, empowered, autonomous midwives can deliver up to 90% of essential sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health services — reducing maternal and newborn deaths worldwide.

💡 Explore the new AIME website to find:

- Practical tools and teaching guides for midwifery educators
- Key publications, reports, and research
- Collaborative initiatives and success stories from around the world

Our own Impact & Implementation Director, Patricia Titulaer, and Asmita Acharya, Senior Education and Implementation Manager, represent Laerdal Global Health in the steering committee and will contribute to the ongoing development of relevant, informative, evidence-based content.

Check out the website👉 https://aimemidwives.org/

Discover tools and insights to strengthen midwifery education. Explore our resources to find publications, guides, reports, and websites that support midwifery educators and students in strengthening teaching and preparing the next generation of midwives.

28/10/2025

Meet Patricia Titulaer, our Director of Impact and Implementation.✨

With a background as a midwife and extensive expertise in global SRHR health, Patricia plays a vital role in fostering strong partnerships and driving high-impact initiatives together with our teams in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Nepal, India, and Pakistan.

"Gender inequity in maternal and newborn health is costing lives—those of mothers and babies, but it also affects the midwives who care for them. Too often, midwives are expected to perform life-saving work without the proper training, education, or equipment. If we want to save lives, we must invest in the people on the frontlines by giving them the tools and support they need to succeed."

23/10/2025

🌍 Climate, global health, and impact 🌍

Yesterday, at a series of events in Oslo attended by global health experts, NGOs, investors, and policymakers, the message was clear: Climate and health are not separate conversations.

The question is — how can we improve global health amid mounting climate challenges?

At an event attended by nearly 150 participants, former US Vice President Al Gore and Tore Lærdal discussed how climate change is impacting health, and how organizations like ours can drive meaningful progress. Tore Lærdal emphasized the urgent need to strengthen maternal and newborn health and basic emergency care—especially in low- and middle-income countries most affected by climate change. He highlighted the vital role of frontline health workers in building resilient healthcare systems, where resources are already challenged.

The session concluded with an open conversation between Al Gore and Tore Lærdal on collaboration, innovation, and the critical link between health and climate action. This truly inspiring gathering sparked meaningful dialogue and, we hope, momentum for global action toward a healthier, more sustainable future. 🤝

22/10/2025

1 Million Trainings on NeoNatalie Live 🎉

Since 2021, as part of the Safer Births Bundle of Care program in Tanzania, there have been over 1 million registered individual and group trainings using NeoNatalie Live. 👏

This smart manikin plays a critical role in building confidence and competence of healthcare workers who deliver babies, day in day out. With birth asphyxia the leading cause of newborn death, these types of training are more important than ever.

Learn more about NeoNatalie Live, here: https://shop.laerdalglobalhealth.com/product/neonatalie-live/



Saferbirthsbundleofcare Sbbc Haydom Lutheran Hospital