Laura Barnes MSN, FNP-C and
Dr. Christina Miller, MD, MPH, FAAFP
Providing health tips for raising healthy global kids
Every mom has a medicine cabinet. Some have carefully labeled Tupperware containers fully stocked with unexpired medications. Others have a black plastic bag of half empty bottles twisted and hidden under a pile of folded clothes. All over the world, moms love their children and want them to be healthy. Some have access to a children’s hospital with every specialty. Others live a half-day’s walk from the closest government health center.
Most of my patients, global children, live in both worlds.
Even though I grew up in Africa, I struggle with the disconnect between all the medical resources, knowledge, experts, and supplies we have access to in the States compared with what is available in most of the world. Even within Africa there remains a divide between those that have a fully stocked medicine cabinet and those that do not. With my background in nursing I have learned that knowledge goes a long way towards narrowing the gap. Most of the evidence-based health care information on the internet is directed towards those that have access to every resource and specialty.
The first purpose of this site is to help stock your medicine cabinet with evidence-based knowledge and tools for living in a limited resource setting. I want to help you use your medicine cabinet to care for your family, particularly in Malawi. A secondary purpose is to give you evidence-based knowledge and tools to help stock the medicine cabinets of moms you know in your community. Take the simple, clear, but reliable health information you get from this website and pass it on to your neighbors that don’t have access to the internet. These moms should not rely on your medicine cabinet. Through your relationships, teach parents in your community how to stock their own medicine cabinets with resources that they have access to, so that they are empowered to care for their children as well.
About Laura
Adult Third Culture Kid
I am a global child myself. As an American, I grew up in the French West African countries of Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire, returning to the United States for university in 1995. I’m as comfortable visiting with friends on a mat under a mango tree as I am having coffee at Starbucks. (though Mugg and Bean may be more my style)
Global Family
As a wife and mother, I have cared for my family and others in seven countries (United States, Colombia, Canada, Russia, Nigeria, Ghana, and Malawi) across four continents. While my husband is as American as can be, our boys were both adopted from Colombia and truly identify as growing up between worlds.
Family Nurse Practitioner
Certified as a family nurse practitioner by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (http://aanpcert.org), I have had the joy of caring for global families at a private clinic in the southeastern African country of Malawi. I cared for pediatric patients, focusing on preventive health well-baby exams, immunization consultations, and treating common childhood illnesses.
Christian
As a Christian, I approach health care and share information from a Christian worldview. While I respect that patients of other faiths may not hold this same perspective, I hope they see that it causes me to value both people and science. This worldview holds that:
- God created every human in his image. Each person has value and purpose.
- God created an orderly world. Science is the study of those patterns and gives us knowledge of how to best care for ourselves and others.
- The world is broken and full of injustice due to sin.
- Jesus Christ is the only worthy sacrifice for that sin and will one day correct every injustice.
About
Dr. Christina Miller
I’ve lived and worked in Malawi since 2017 and have a passion for keeping communities and families healthy. I am specialized in Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine, and in addition to working at ABC, I enjoy helping in a variety of community health project settings. My interests include lifestyle medicine and creating easy-to-understand overviews to help families find high quality and relevant answers to their healthcare questions.
About Preventive Medicine
As a doctor specialized by the American Board of Preventive Medicine, I have extensive training in preventive health, lifestyle medicine, and a Master’s in Public Health in Population Medicine. I am also specialized by the American Board of Family Medicine, so I am able to take care of all members of your family and journey with you. When I see adults, I often discuss how to manage chronic diseases through diet and exercise. When I care for children, I love to discuss methods for keeping kids healthy and preventing diseases. Whether you need a doctor because you are sick or because you want to stay healthy, I look forward to coming alongside you as you pursue your healthcare goals.
On this website we use trustworthy evidence-based sources such as the CDC, WHO, American Academy of Pediatrics, NHS, Malawi Ministry of Health, Nemours, Pediacast, etc… to develop content. We then use our clinical judgment and patient values to adjust it to our context in a limited resource setting. The information on this website should not be used in place of individualized medical advice from a trusted health care provider that knows you and your setting. The information on this website reflects our own views and are not necessarily the views of our employers. While all guest writers use the above criteria, they do not all hold to the same Christian worldview.
Healthy Global Kids 