In recognition of International Volunteer Day, today we celebrate associates who live and embody BD’s Purpose of advancing the world of health through volunteerism – whether they are giving back in their own communities, or traveling to underserved region of the world to expand health access.
Recently, BD volunteers from eight countries deployed to North Macedonia and Kosovo to train more than 500 healthcare workers in specialized areas of perinatal and neonatal care. The group traveled together as part of BD’s legacy of Volunteer Service Trips – which has helped advance patient care and health infrastructure in more than 13 countries since 2005.
- Globally, preterm birth, intrapartum-related complications (such as birth asphyxia or inability to breathe at birth), infections and birth defects are the leading causes of most neonatal deaths.1
- In 2022, approximately 2.3 million newborns died within the first 28 days of life - this period is the most vulnerable for child survival.2
“The BD Volunteer Service Trip is a time-honored opportunity for our associates to provide hands-on, skill-based volunteerism, and see first-hand the challenges and health gaps that face health systems with constrained resources.
In a second year of partnership with Project HOPE in North Macedonia and Kosovo, we’re continuing to support the needs of health care workers, and together, work to advance the health of the community.” - Sien Avalos, director of Social Investing at BD, and vice president of the BD Foundation.
Volunteers trained healthcare teams in the hospital setting, as well as provided safety education, digital enhancements for patient data collection, and soft skills coaching for communication, leadership acumen and managerial expertise.
The clinical training program was conducted as part of Project HOPE’s Perinatal Care in North Macedonia (PeriMAC) project, which aims to improve the quality of local medical care associated with childbirth. Since the start of PeriMAC, perinatal and neonatal mortality has dropped by 50 percent throughout North Macedonia.3
For more information about BD’s commitment to advancing health access, visit the BD.com.
1 World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/levels-and-trends-in-child-mortality-report-2021
2 World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/newborn-mortality
3 "The health of mothers and children in the Republic of North Macedonia in 2022" according to the Program for active health care of mothers and children in the Republic of North Macedonia for 2023 (Official Gazette of RSM, February, 2023).
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