November 2021 | Issue 32 | fireprojects.org
Dear Friends of FIRE,

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope you and your family are well and going strong in our current Covid-19-world. We apologize for being more quiet than normal during these trying times. Despite our quietness, we have been hard at work in Mongolia on “Hepatitis Free Mongolia, Phase 2,” and still working with Langtang, Nepal. Our few staff members have reduced their hours and are volunteering some of their time as we trim our budgets to continue working on our programs during the many and long Covid-19-related delays we have experienced. Please read below for more information about what we have been up to.
Personally, I have used the reduced FIRE workload to go back to school. I started my Master’s in Public Health (MPH) at UC Berkeley this past August. It is an online program allowing me to stay in Flagstaff and continue working for FIRE. I am excited to formalize my public health experiences, using this knowledge to continue expanding FIRE’s reach and innovative programs. I will also serve as the Flagstaff Rotary Club’s President, July 2022 to June 2023. I am looking forward to another new learning opportunity and furthering FIRE’s long-term Rotary partnership.
As always, thank you very much for your continued support of FIRE’s life-changing and award-winning programs. Your support makes our work possible.
With gratitude, 
Meredith Potts
Executive Director
Hepatitis Free Mongolia, Phase 2
“Hepatitis Free Mongolia, Phase 2,” received its funding from Gilead Sciences and Rotary International earlier this year. Our goal is to screen all the remaining 16,000 uninsured Mongolians in Sukhbaatar province for a variety of liver-related diseases and connect those who test positive for hepatitis C to insurance and treatment, ultimately eliminating hepatitis C across the province.
We began the program by training 59 Hepatitis Coordinators in Sukhbaatar province in August 2021. However, due to Mongolia’s current struggles with Coivid-19, we are currently on hold as we wait for Covid-19 in-patient hospital numbers to decrease. We hope to restart before the end of 2021. We are using this downtime time to further develop our mobile app and training materials for the Hepatitis Coordinators and our working partnerships. We are also taking advantage of this time to prepare our program design and methods for eventual publication helping to share the model for replication in communities around the world.
You can view photos from our Hepatitis Coordinator training here.
Mongolia and Covid-19
Mongolia has followed an unusual Covid-19 course. Despite sharing its longest border with China, they were able to keep Covid-19 at bay through rigorous and exemplary safety and shutdown protocols. They had just over 300 total cases until early October 2020. However, a few cracks in the system caused a surge in Covid-19 across Mongolia until early 2021 when the vaccine became available. Mongolia did another remarkable job vaccinating 96% of those 16 and older against Covid-19. However, the vaccine (mostly Sinopharm from China and Sputnik V from Russia) has proved to not be a strong defense against the D variant. Mongolia once again experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases during late summer and fall 2021 that is slowly starting to decrease. Slowly, restrictions are lessening and the borders are opening.
Annual Donation Matching Drive
We are very grateful to everyone who helps make this matching contribution drive possible every year, bringing in more than half of our annual donations. We are especially grateful to the long-time donor and friend who chooses to initiate this matching drive.
All donations received by January 31, 2022, will be matched up to $20,000.
 
The $40,000 raised through this match will support “Hepatitis Free Mongolia, Phase 2,” as we continue to incur expected Covid-related delays and unexpected expenses.

Thank you for your support!
Join us in 2022 for a special adventure in western Mongolia!
Enjoy a beautiful, hand-made, hand-painted, and sustainably produced Mongolian ger made with all-natural materials.

These affordable tiny homes are easy to set up in a backyard or off-grid with endless potential uses. Each one is customizable and made to order. Select your color (including carved); choose your size (16 ft up to 28 ft in diameter); add windows and make the walls taller.

View our prices and ordering information on our website or contact us today.