To all of you who support and follow the activities of our organization, we thank you and wish you a very happy new year.

Just a few weeks ago in Laos, our volunteers saw a 5 year-old malnourished boy struggling to breath after a 12 hour bus ride to the main hospital in Vientiane. They watched the Lao residents correctly diagnose him with pericarditis, and with the correct treatment he made a dramatic recovery in a week. Such a story has roots in twenty years of work by HF volunteers, helping what was at first only a handful of fully trained Lao specialists who were determined to launch in-country training programs in pediatrics and internal medicine.

Today, there are scores of Lao specialists transforming health care throughout the country, and taking increasing responsibility for the intensive three-year training programs.

In the fall of 2011, we bid farewell to Libby Clarke, internal medicine coordinator, and Margie Fulton, pediatric coordinator. We welcomed Emily Esmaili, a pediatrician who is now coordinating support for both training programs, a intentional effort toward gradually reducing expatriate teaching and administration as more and more graduates of the training programs are able to contribute. Leila Srour and Bryan Watt continue to volunteer with HF, now in their tenth year. WHO continues to support volunteer Manivone Thikeo in improving mental health training and services in Laos.

In Malawi, Laura Chambers-Kersh has completed an intense year in a desperately needy birthing hospital. In Haiti, we have turned the HF Volunteer House over the the Haitian Pediatric Society, capping the HF response that began after the earthquake. In Uganda, HF is channeling support to some of the neediest HIV-infected children. And HF is continuing to support interactive training programs on the special needs of children in humanitarian disasters.

We are currently recruiting for an OB-GYN physician to replace Dr. Chambers-Kersh in Malawi, and are always interested in volunteer teachers for the Laos project. Please see the Volunteer page for more details.

Wishing you all a very happy 2012.