ReachAnother Foundation

Prevention. Treatment. Aftercare.

From April through June, these numbers tell the story of ReachAnother’s continuum of care in Ethiopia: mothers reached with prevention, children receiving surgery, and families returning for follow-up through multidisciplinary clinics.❤️

Catch up with our latest update! 🌍💙

The past few months have been full of meaningful progress in Ethiopia. From strengthening neurosurgical care through training and new equipment, to supporting families through aftercare, advancing birth defect prevention, and celebrating the incredible generosity of our community, every step brings us closer to a future where more children can grow and thrive.

Read the newsletter on our website and see what we've been working on together here: https://loom.ly/2H_P2tk

🚴‍♀️🌟 Addis friends, this Saturday, grab your bike and come ride with us!

ReachAnother is proud to sponsor this joyful community ride for healthy mothers, healthy children, and spina bifida awareness during Rotary’s Maternal and Child Health Month. 💙

There will be music, dance, friendship, and a kite-flying celebration with children affected by spina bifida. See the flyer for details!

💙 Meet Mubarak.

At four years old, Mubarak is full of life. He loves to play with his friends, is thriving in kindergarten, and is enjoying the childhood every child deserves. But his journey began differently.

Born with spina bifida, Mubarak was referred for specialized care just days after birth. After successful surgery, he continued receiving regular follow-up care from the multidisciplinary spina bifida and hydrocephalus team at St. Peter Specialized Hospital. When he later developed hydrocephalus, he received a VP shunt, giving him the treatment he needed to continue growing and developing.

Today, thanks to timely neurosurgical care, ongoing rehabilitation, and the dedication of his family, Mubarak is reaching milestones that once seemed uncertain.

Every child deserves the opportunity to grow, learn, and thrive. Stories like Mubarak's remind us why access to specialized care and long-term follow-up matter so much. Thank you to everyone who helps make these stories possible. 💙

A few years ago, ReachAnother supported a study on what families actually pay out of pocket when their child needs spina bifida or hydrocephalus surgery.💰

What we found was hard but important: 49% of households faced catastrophic health spending because of surgery-related expenses, transportation, food while at the hospital, and lost income for caregivers.

This is one reason we push so hard on two things: prevention, and bringing quality care closer to home so families don’t have to travel far, miss work, and spend days waiting for appointments.🏥

One thing we don’t talk about enough is access to care.🏥

When families have to spend days getting to the hospital, it’s not realistic to ask them to come back again and again for separate appointments.

ReachAnother helps hospitals put in place one-stop multidisciplinary clinics designed to help children see the full care team in one visit and parents don't have to make the same long trip over and over again.

A training photo may not seem like much at first glance, but this one represents a big step for Zewditu’s Pediatric Neurosurgery Center.

A few weeks back, we held our comprehensive spina bifida and hydrocephalus (SBH) training for 25 newly recruited nurses. They joined the Pediatric Neurosurgery Center team and we wanted them to feel ready on day one.

So, it’s “just” a training photo but it’s a big step forward for the children and families this Center is here to serve. ❤️

The World Health Organization (WHO) just released an important new report on strengthening newborn screening, diagnosis, and care for children born with birth defects in low- and middle-income countries.

The report emphasizes that birth defect care cannot stop at screening or diagnosis but that children need a full system around them: timely referral, surgery, follow-up, rehabilitation, family education, data systems, and long-term support.

That is exactly the kind of system ReachAnother and our Ethiopian partners have been working to build for children affected by spina bifida and hydrocephalus and we are encouraged to see WHO elevating this issue on the global stage. Read more here: https://loom.ly/EmRtLZY

🚌 Imagine needing surgery or follow-up care for your child... and the nearest place to get it is days away by bus. That used to be the reality for many families in Ethiopia.

🏥 One reason ReachAnother partners with 6 regional Centers of Excellence is to bring spina bifida and hydrocephalus care closer to home—not just for surgery, but also for the many follow-up visits and aftercare appointments that help children stay healthy.

When care is closer, families can spend less time traveling and more time focused on what matters most: their child's health and future.

People are always eager to learn when the information feels practical.

At our inaugural Alliance For Birth Defect in Ethiopia, we set up three “marketplace” learning tables: Prevention, Treatment, and Aftercare with simple displays and experts ready for questions. Guests absolutely loved it! They stopped, asked thoughtful questions, and stayed for in-depth conversations.

For many people, this was brand-new information about how to prevent and treat neural tube defects, and for our team, it was a reminder that awareness grows fastest when people can learn in a practical and welcoming way.❤️