Pfizer Global Health Fellow Zoe Kopp Hand Delivers Report to President
Leonel Fernandez
MILLWOOD, Va., July 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Zoe Kopp, Director, Outcomes
Research at Pfizer Inc in New York, New York, today traveled to the
Dominican Republic to present the final report of the Project HOPE
evaluation of The Clinics Program. President Leonel Fernandez requested a
presentation of the results at the Presidential Palace on July 11, 2006.
The Clinics Program, which is celebrating its 10th year, is supported
by Project HOPE and managed by the Dominican Association of the Order of
Malta (ADOM). The Program consists of two Primary and Maternal and Child
Health Care (PMC/MCH) Clinics. One in Santo Domingo, the capital of the
Dominican Republic, another in Monte Plata, a rural district situated
approximately two hours north of the capital. The clinics provide high
quality PMC/MCH services at low cost.
ADOM, a national non-government organization, provides management for
the self-sustaining clinics once established by Project HOPE. Project HOPE
provides significant technical and managerial assistance and donations of
supplies.
"The Clinics Program utilizes effective, long-term solutions created by
our partnerships," said Project HOPE's President and CEO John P. Howe, III,
M.D. "For the past ten years, Project HOPE and the Dominican Association of
the Order of Malta have worked to build clinics that provide quality
healthcare in the Dominican Republic. This assessment conducted by the
evaluation team will be instrumental in establishing additional clinics
throughout the country to provide low-cost, quality healthcare to all."
Kopp, a Pfizer Global Health Fellow, spent three months working with
Project HOPE in the Dominican Republic to evaluate the services and quality
of care of the PMC/MCH Clinics Program. The evaluation results will be
utilized to determine best practices for replicating the clinics in the
Dominican Republic and other developing countries.
President Fernandez learned of Ms. Kopp's evaluation during her
Fellowship with Project HOPE when they met at a conference discussing the
changing demographics of the Dominican Republic -- increased population,
urbanization and weak or absent urban development plans -- that are
challenging the future of the country. The president requested that Ms.
Kopp return with her findings when the report was complete.
"As a Global Health Fellow, I felt privileged to be in the position to
assess the exemplary primary healthcare program that has resulted from the
joint efforts of Project HOPE and the Dominican Association of the Order of
Malta. It provided me with great satisfaction to conduct an evaluation that
documents a success story; the accomplishments of two clinics, which are
the best that I have seen in my twenty years of experience in five
continents," Kopp said. "The team work at the Herrera and Monte Plata
clinics is an eloquent dance coordinated by the good will and capabilities
of each member to do the best they can as a team to provide excellent care
to each client."
ABOUT PROJECT HOPE
Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People
Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health problems,
with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many
by the SS HOPE, the world's first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now
conducts land-based medical training and health education programs across
five continents. For more information, please visit
http://www.projecthope.org .
ABOUT GLOBAL HEALTH FELLOWS
Global Health Fellows are Pfizer employees who volunteer up to six
months of their time to work on projects that address serious health issues
around the world. Global Health Fellows is a unique approach to corporate
philanthropy that pairs Pfizer employees with non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) working to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and
other devastating diseases. For more information on the Pfizer Global
Health Fellows program go to http://www.pfizerphilanthropy.com.
ABOUT THE ORDER OF MALTA
The Order of Malta remains true to its inspiring principles, summarized
in the motto "Tuitio Fidei et Obsequium Pauperum," defense of the Faith and
assistance to the poor and the suffering, which become reality through the
voluntary work carried out by Dames and Knights in humanitarian assistance
and medical and social activities. Today the Order carries out these
activities in over 120 countries. For more information on The Order of
Malta go to http://www.orderofmalta.org.
CONTACT: LORI ALLESEE
PROJECT HOPE
(540) 837-2100
lallesee@projecthope.org
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