A Female Community Health Volunteer Raises a Health Center in Madagascar I experienced a tragedy due to the remoteness of the health center. I had a complication when I gave birth to my very first child, and the baby died because I had to walk a long distance to reach the hospital. Now, the community health center is built, so I am very happy because I don’t have to walk a long distance anymore. Community Health Volunteers and women leader Babera Georgette built a health center with the help of her community. Amboafandra, Vohipeno – Madagascar When I started this project, I tried to identify the needs, then I started to sensitize people about the importance of building a health center. After a formal meeting, I convinced the community and we began planning for construction. Villagers joined efforts to gather locally available construction materials. We set ourselves a deadline for the construction of the building to keep us on track. We cooked together. We built the health center together. We applied a gender-balanced approach. Men were particularly engaged in the process, and we encouraged them. Now the health center is up and running. Children can get vaccinated here, and pregnant women can receive antenatal care. We solved many of the issues we had for years in this community. While community health volunteers have always been accessible, they have limited skills and could not address all our health needs alone. Now that we have this health center, everybody benefits from its services, including elderly people and those who have back pain or fracture. Multiple health services are now available in the village. One of the greatest impacts is the availability of antenatal care, so now pregnant women are able to make their regular appointments. As a community health volunteer, I am really happy because my greatest wish has now been realized. I am so grateful because the whole community is healthier and everybody lives a better life. The USAID-funded MIKOLO project empowered Babera Georgette with health care and leadership skills. The Ministry of Public Health officially registered the center in 2018 188 births have been registered at Amboafandra’s health center as of February 2019.