Joyful news this week! Last Mile Health was awarded the Hilton Humanitarian Prize, for their extensive and effective work to alleviate human suffering.

Years ago I was honored to serve as board chair of this amazing group. On a trip to Liberia we had the chance to meet with a local leader, who was asked whether the area’s community health workers had really made a difference.

His whole face lit up, and his arms and legs shot into the air. Shouting, he declared, the babies, now they come out fat and kicking! Then his face grew more somber and he quietly added, the babies do not die anymore.

Dear ones, we create so many metrics of progress and success, some of them necessarily complex. Heaven knows, I am all for nuanced analysis, and have gobbled up each insightful report that the LMH monitoring, research, evaluation, and learning team has produced. Many of our most interesting challenges in the world’s warrant this kind of thoughtful, careful assessment.

At the same time, our most worthy endeavors also occasionally produce outcomes that are gloriously straightforward.

Friends, when the babies are newly fat and thriving, let’s shout it from the rooftops.

The footnotes can – and should, and will – follow.

Please join me in congratulating the entire LMH team and all of their worthy partners, who save lives in the world’s most remote communities by ensuring a health worker is within reach of everyone, everywhere, every day.