Hagopian Memorial Lecture 2016 Caring for the Newborn in Armenia & Artsakh – My Story” Kathy Mel

This year's Hagopian Memorial Lecture was delivered by Kathy Mellor is a long time friend of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and CEO of BirthLink, the charity she founded to further the work of spreading good neonatal care in poorer regions of the world. On November 26, she delivered Hagopian Memorial Lecture to the members and guests of the AMA. She described the progress made by herself, Birthlink and partners in Armenia and Artsakh, After many years of experience as a specialist neonatal nurse, she was invited in 2000 to develop a neonatal unit in the maternity hospital in Stepanakert. This started a commitment and long relationship with the country, involving more than 70 trips to the region. Over that time, she has supported local health workers, delivered much needed equipment and trained local staff (midwives, doctors and nurses). Her inspiration has led to local champions continuing the work although standards are not consistently high across the two countries and much more work needs to be done. Her husband Paul, a professional photographer, has recorded much of this work and become a maintenance engineer of medical equipment along the way His photographs, on display at the centre, captivated the audience during the interval