The University of Nevada, Reno, and the nonprofit group Immunize Nevada held a vaccine clinic for students on Tuesday with the help of several volunteers from other countries, like Adishetu Adams, a nutritional officer with Ghana's Ministry of Health.
Adams works to reduce malnutrition in pregnant women and children, which in turn helps decrease the infant mortality rate.
She and a group of seven other women who work in public health across the globe visited Reno to learn about preventative care and public health programs in the U.S. — like the HPV and Meningococcal vaccine clinic on campus yesterday.
She says one of the most interesting parts of her visit was touring the labor and delivery units of local hospitals.
"I learned yesterday that they have bus passes sometimes that they give to the mothers who are very far away to be able to get access to a health facility," she says. "We don't have that, and if it's possible to get the mother to the facility, it would be a great help for us."
Adams says access is the greatest challenge to getting more Ghanaian women to deliver in hospitals. She'd like to see a program like the one here replicated as an incentive for expectant mothers.
