Network President Kaakpema Yelpaala will participate in a business and society panel discussion organized jointly by the Yale School of Management and School of Public Health entitled: "Engaging Business in Public Health: Opportunities and Challenges." Fellow panel members include Amy Lockwood, Director of Pediatric Initiative for the Clinton Foundation on HIV/AIDS Initiative; Victor Barnes, Director of HIV/AIDS Initiative, Corporate Council on Africa; and Scott Case, Chief Operating Officer for Malaria No More.

Network President Kaakpema Yelpaala has been invited as a Distinguished Lecturer for the annual Region VII conference of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) entitled: "Practicing at the Edge: Challenging Convention and Engaging Community." SNMA is the oldest and largest student organization in the U.S. focused on the interests and concerns of students of color. Hosted by the Yale University School of Medicine, topics of discussion include environmental justice, access to medications, healthcare activism, and international health initiatives. As December 1 is World AIDS Day, the conference will focus on HIV/AIDS-related issues.

The Director General of Ghana Health Service, Dr. Elias Sory, officially launched Network's documentary film, "Hardest to Reach," at the British Council in Accra. The film details the GHS Boat Clinic Outreach Program. Dr. John Anarfi, member of Network's Board of Directors, also presented on innovative public private partnerships in health, highlighting the partnership between the Ghana Health Service and Network for the Improvement of World Health that resulted in the production of "Hardest to Reach" and which aims to improve healthcare service delivery on the Volta Lake.

Network President, Kaakpema Yelpaala, Director of Strategy and Public Policy, Michael Kubayanda, and Business Development Officer, Helena Dagadu met with the First Lady of the United Republic of Tanzania, Mama Salma Kikwete, to discuss WAMA - Network collaboration targeting girl-child health in Tanzania.

Network President Kaakpema Yelpaala received the Eric W. Mood New Professionals Award from the Yale Alumni Association in Public Health. The award is given to an alumnus that graduated from the Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH) within the last 10 years who has demonstrated outstanding potential in the field of public health in the areas of leadership; creativity in the practice of public health; and service to the field of public health.

Network interns Matt Durstenfeld (Yale University) and Angad Singh (McKinsey & Company) traveled to Washington, DC for training in the use of satellite modem devices, known as Regional Broadband Global Area Network (RBGAN), prior to going to Ghana and Kenya to test the devices with our collaborators in the field. I-Linx donated two RBGANs to Network Global for demonstration of their applications for health programs in Ghana and Kenya.

Network partner MATRIX Public Health Solutions, Inc. traveled to Ghana to meet with officials from Ghana Health Service to discuss an evaluation of the boat clinic program in conjunction with the GHS - Network partnership. Participants included GHS staff, district health officers, and local leaders.

Network President, Kaakpema Yelpaala gave a presentation on Network's approach to global health and the Ghana Boat Clinic Program at the University of Oxford. The presentation included a pre-screening of the GHS/Network Boat Clinic documentary film. The event was co-hosted by the Oxford Stop AIDS Watch Group, Orphans Against AIDS and Oxford's Global Health Group.

SIPA Africa Economic Forum, New York - Network President, Kaakpema Yelpaala moderated a high-level expert panel on public/private partnerships in HIV/AIDS at the Africa Economic Forum III, Columbia University. The panelists included the Victor Barnes, Director of the Corporate Council on Africa HIV/AIDS Initiative, Joelle Tanguy, Managing Director of the Global Business Coalition on AIDS, and Jane Haycock, First secretary to the UK Mission to the United Nations. For more information, please visit http://www.sipa.columbia.edu/aef/aids.html.

Two Network Tanzania representatives meet with the District Health Director of Rufiji District to discuss the health needs of communities isolated by water barriers. Discussions included an initial assessment on the feasibility of boat clinics in the Rufiji River Basin.

Network for the Improvement of World Health organized a fundraising event, which was hosted by the Ghana Embassy in Washington, DC. The event marked the launch of a fundraising campaign for the purchase of at least one $25,000 boat clinic from Teamwork Consult for GHS. Keynote speakers at the event included Victor Barnes, Director of the Corporate Council on Africa's HIV/AIDS Initiative, John Prendergast, Special Adviser to the President of the International Crisis Group and former Africa policy advisor to President William J. Clinton, and a representative of His Excellency Fritz Poku, Ghana's Ambassador to the United States.

Kaakpema Yelpaala, Network President, delivered a presentation in October - November 2004. The presentations described the Ghana Boat Clinic Project, including the health needs of riverine communities of the Volta Lake Basin, public private partnerships in health, and the goals and objectives of Network to support the Ghana Health Service Boat Clinic Project. Details regarding the series are directly below.