Doctors across Zimbabwe now have a practical and quick reference guide for treating young children. This is an essential tool for the country’s 800 doctors who care for a population of over 13 million.
 
HPIC, with funding provided by the Rotary Club of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, revised and reprinted Peter Iliff’s Neonatal Handbook, originally printed in 1995 by the late doctor. The 2013 edition in memory of Dr. Peter Iliff was distributed to 500 doctors across the country, which is struggling with one of the highest under-five mortality rates in the world.
 
 
Dr. Greg Powell shows the 2013 edition of the Neonatal Handbook
to HPIC president Glen Shepherd when he was in Zimbabwe in June 2013
 
“The Neonatal Handbook is a resource to help doctors do their job better,” said Glen Shepherd, President of Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC). “Available free of charge, it is first being distributed in pediatric wards and then throughout Zimbabwe. Eventually, it will be available as a free downloadable pdf on our website so that other doctors in Africa and around the world will be able to access it.”
 
HPIC’s mission is to increase access to medicine and improve health in the developing world. An emphasis on the needs of mothers and children runs across many HPIC projects. “The well-being of children is a foundational value of a civilized society and ensuring children’s health is one of the best investments that society can make,” Shepherd added. “The publication of this Handbook is an expression of the priority HPIC has attached to the health of mothers and children and is a reflection of its importance in our mission, programming and our fundraising.”