About GAIN
Learn more about our strategies to improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes in Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Memphis Tennessee.
Our Work
See what we are up to at our sites in Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Memphis Tennessee.
Our Research
Read about how GAIN has impacted maternal and neonatal health outcomes at our sites.

In many places in the world, including in the United States, women and babies are dying unnecessarily from complications during childbirth because there are not enough health care providers or providers lack training and dedicated mentorship opportunities in maternal and newborn health care.

Our vision is that every nurse and midwife will have the skills to support women giving birth.

Our mission is to prevent complications and maternal and infant death during childbirth by increasing the number of nurses and midwives and providing clinical and leadership training to those working in high-risk communities.

We currently partner with Partners In Health (PIH) and GAIA Global Health in sub-Saharan Africa and CHOICES Center for Reproductive Health in Memphis, Tennessee. GAIN collaborates with partners to equip nurses and midwives with the expertise and skills they need to save lives through:

  • Comprehensive curriculum delivery, including leadership training and maternal and neonatal clinical training for safe childbirth.
  • Longitudinal bedside mentorship by expert nurse-midwives.
  • A UCSF support team to (1) analyze data on nurse-midwife clinical practices and mentorship activities and (2) track maternal and infant complications and deaths to observe project impact.

News

September 10, 2024
GAIN received another generous gift from the Wyss Medical Foundation to support the expansion of activities to another country in sub-Saharan Africa. We will continue our work with Partners In Health to improve maternal and neonatal health in Lesotho.  


 

March 7, 2024
The third annual GAIN cross-site conference was held in San Francisco and Los Angeles this year, bringing together colleagues from Liberia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Memphis, and UCSF for a week of in-person collaboration and connection. In Los Angeles, we attended UC Global Health Day at UCLA and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Conference. 


 

September 18, 2023
Read about the GAIN-Sierra Leone team and their work towards Building a Culture of Quality Maternity Care Service Delivery.


April 4-8, 2023
In celebration of World Health Workers Awareness Week, GAIN co-director, Daniel Maweu, is pictured front page of an article highlighting the crucial role health workers play in ensuring human rights across the globe. Read more about why Health Workers are Human Rights Warriors.  


 

March 2023
Explore the breadth of global health at UCSF at the new UCSF Global Hub website. 


 

January 23, 2023
Inspired by GAIN colleague Dr. Nikia Grayson who started the country's first Black midwifery fellowship at CHOICES in Memphis, UCSF developed a new Midwifery Mentoring and Belonging Program to diversify the midwifery workforce. 


November 14, 2022
Strengthening our partnership with GAIA Global Health, 40 new students were inaugurated into the Nursing Scholar Program at Mzuzu University in Mzimba District, Malawi. GAIN is funding two-year scholarships to upgrade students’ qualifications from diploma to bachelor-level nurse-midwives.


September 7, 2022
UCSF establishes a Center for Global Nursing to encourage collaboration among UCSF nurses and facilitate innovative global health solutions.


April 13, 2022
This year, GAIN and GAIA Global Health teamed up to provide 100 nursing scholarships to new and upgrading nurse midwives. Read more about our continued partnership in GAIA Global Health's 2021 Annual Report.


December 17, 2021
"From sub-Saharan Africa to Tennessee, Kimberly Baltzell champions nurses and midwives." Read the featured story on our GAIN director, Dr. Kimberly Baltzell, in the UCSF Alumni magazine.


October 10, 2021
GAIN cross-site lead, Daniel Maweu, publishes his article on Simple Education Interventions to Equip Nursing Students in Rural Liberia.


August 31, 2021
GAIN partners with CHOICES to offer fellowships for Black midwives in Memphis, Tennessee.


November 16, 2020
We need nurses on the COVID transition team, an op-ed piece by Stella Aguinaga Bialous and GAIN director, Dr. Kimberly Baltzell.


change me!

June 17, 2020
Listen to the first episode of Global Health in the Time of COVID with GAIN director, Dr. Kimberly Baltzell.


change me!

May 15, 2020
The World Needs 6 Million More Nurses: What Are We Waiting For?
An editorial by Stella Aguinaga Bialous and GAIN director, Dr. Kimberly Baltzell.


change me!

April 6, 2020
The WHO released the State of the World's Nursing Report, citing research from GAIN director, Dr. Kimberly Baltzell.


change me!

January 1, 2020
The WHO declares 2020 the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife.


change me!

November 8, 2019
Oveka Jana, a GAIN expert nurse mentor in Blantyre, Malawi, was invited to speak at the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference in Kigali, Rwanda.
Listen to her speech on the importance of the midwife mentorship model.


January 8, 2018
"Malawi Program Making GAINs in Maternal Health." Read more about the beginnings of Global Action in Nursing (GAIN) project.