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Maternal Center of Excellence

organization · in 80 videos (2019–2026)

Maternal health centre with a NICU that Partners In Health and Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health built at Koidu Government Hospital, more than tripling maternal beds. Nerdfighteria funded it through monthly donations, a matching fund and the Awesome Socks Club, and ground was broken in 2021. Now called the Paul E. Farmer Maternal Center of Excellence, it saw the first baby born in Sierra Leone's first NICU.

Part of: Koidu Government Hospital

Videos by year: 2019: 7 · 2020: 8 · 2021: 7 · 2022: 12 · 2023: 7 · 2024: 9 · 2025: 13 · 2026: 17

Threads

Also named in the threads: Awesome Socks Club: monthly sock subscription (2016) · Nerdfighteria revenue (Pizzamas royalties, Life's Library proceeds) redirected to charity (2018) · Partners In Health maternal health project in Liberia funded by DFTBA profit (2019) · Awesome Coffee Club: the brothers' coffee subscription for charity (2022) · John asks viewers to buy Sun Basin Soap, whose profit goes to charity (2023) · Good Store: the brothers' store and subscription box at good.store giving all profit to charity (2023) · Sun Basin Soap: the brothers' charity soap subscription made with Botanie (2023) · Keats & Co.: the brothers' coffee and tea brand fighting tuberculosis (2024) · Partners In Health's comprehensive TB care project in Lesotho (search, treat, prevent), backed by Keats & Co. (2024) · EcoGeek relaunch: Hank and DFTBA's eco-conscious cleaning-supply subscription, profits to the Coral Reef Alliance (2025) · Hank asks viewers to buy Good Store's Mother's Day bundle (2025) · Hollywood, Ending: announcement and publication of John's novel (2026)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Koidu Government Hospital (32) · Sierra Leone (65) · maternal death (37) · Partners In Health (45) · Awesome Socks Club (20) · Good Store (20) · Sun Basin Soap (11) · child mortality (16) · Keats & Co. (4) · Awesome Coffee Club (6)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2019

  • 2019-04-05 · TOO MANY MILKS — announcement: Hank says John is in Sierra Leone with Partners In Health, seeing how individuals and the whole community might help make life easier there, especially for pregnant people and babies. — 00:00:31
  • 2019-04-09 · The Only Psychiatric Hospital in Sierra Leone — ask: The description asks viewers to donate to Partners In Health at pih.org/hankandjohn. — video description
  • 2019-10-15 · I'm Having a Lot of Feelings — announcement: John says the announcement of the brothers' big project with Partners In Health Sierra Leone is forthcoming: many moving parts, very exciting and very overwhelming. — 00:01:27
  • 2019-10-22 · Why We're Donating $6,500,000 — announcement: John announces that over the next five years the brothers' families are donating $6.5 million to Partners In Health Sierra Leone. — 00:00:01
    • John says the plan includes building and supporting a Maternal Center of Excellence at Koidu Government Hospital, with a NICU, more C-section operating rooms and a teaching hospital. — 00:03:54
    • John says they are committed to following the project's successes and challenges over the next five years and beyond, through video, photo and audio updates and interviews with Sierra Leonean health workers. — 00:04:43
    • John asks viewers to donate $5 or $10 a month or more at pih.org/hankandjohn, saying it will make a huge difference. — 00:06:25
  • 2019-10-25 · Unscripted and Unhinged — Hank says they have already raised more than half of their initial goal of $240,000 at pih.org/hankandjohn. — 00:00:29
    • Hank says advising donors is a little what he and John try to do, and invites people to email hankandjohn@gmail.com so they can help them make the most of their dollars. — 00:02:11
    • Hank closes by asking viewers to give to Partners In Health or check out the pilots. — 00:03:33
  • 2019-11-07 · I took a year off social media. Here's what happened. — John: What John misses most is promoting his work: the Partners In Health Sierra Leone fundraising is going amazingly, but he knows there would be more donors and Pizzamas shirt buyers if he posted. — 00:00:40
  • 2019-11-26 · old fashioned parts video — John says over 3,000 viewers have joined the brothers in donating to strengthen Sierra Leone's healthcare system, and they are grateful and excited to watch the progress. — 00:02:08
  • …and 2 statements more in 2019 — all statements of 2019

2020

  • 2020-01-07 · Endings · Beginnings — John says Partners In Health needs $20 million to break ground on the Maternal Center of Excellence, which will dramatically improve healthcare for women and children in Sierra Leone. — 00:00:48 · also in: Looking Back at My 2020 Goals
    • John says thousands of viewers have become monthly donors to the project at pih.org/hankandjohn; he is grateful, as are people in Sierra Leone, one of whom made him an artwork. — 00:01:02
  • 2020-01-28 · Looking Away (Again) — John says total commitments are now close to $13 million, which is amazing, but there is still a ways to go. — 00:05:16
    • John asks viewers to make a monthly or one-time donation at pih.org/hankandjohn, each dollar matched by generous people within Nerdfighteria. — 00:05:16
  • 2020-07-21 · Somebody Once Asked . . . — John explains that the brothers are helping Partners In Health and Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health in a multi-year project to strengthen the healthcare system, focused on maternal mortality. — 00:01:28
    • The pandemic challenges health systems everywhere: Koidu Government Hospital's emergency department closed for a time after health workers caught the virus and others had to self-isolate, leaving no replacements. — 00:01:28
    • The emergency department is running again; PIH has been deeply involved in contact tracing and screening across Sierra Leone, and cases are down 18% from their peak. — 00:01:56
  • 2020-10-07 (said on 2020-10-06, implied) · The Golden Age of Vlogbrothers — John says they are in one of their most ambitious projects yet: supporting PIH and Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health to staff, supply and build a maternal care center, a NICU and a new pediatric ward at Koidu Government Hospital. — 00:02:26
  • 2020-11-17 · Our Biggest Project Yet: A One Year Update — announcement: John recalls that a year ago they announced a project supporting PIH and Sierra Leone's government in radically reducing maternal mortality, raising $25 million over five years to strengthen Kono's health system. — 00:00:00
    • Despite COVID, groundbreaking on the Maternal Center of Excellence is still planned for April 2021, the original date, a credit to PIH and Sierra Leone's government. — 00:01:56
  • 2020-12-29 · Looking Back at My 2020 Goals — John: Despite all the unforeseen events of the year, the goal of raising the money for the Maternal Center of Excellence was reached. — 00:02:50
    • Thanks to the monthly donors, at current donation levels Partners In Health has the money to break ground on the Maternal Center of Excellence next spring (2021), hopefully. (hedged) — 00:02:55
  • …and 24 statements more in 2020 — all statements of 2020

2021

  • 2021-02-12 · Doing Better — Hank: When John asked him a few years ago to give a significant share of his current money and promise much of his future earnings to people seeking the best solutions, Hank swallowed hard and said yes. — 00:02:35
  • 2021-04-09 · A Thought is Not an Idea — Hank: Thoughts are not ideas: Hank's sample thoughts (raising money for a maternal center in Sierra Leone, socks selling well at DFTBA.com, many good independent artists) are unconnected and point in no direction. — 00:00:58
    • The Awesome Socks Club has now donated over $200,000 to the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone. — 00:01:27
  • 2021-04-20 · Breaking Ground!!! — announcement: John: Next week (week of 26 April 2021) Partners In Health and the Sierra Leonean government will officially break ground on the Maternal Center of Excellence and the expansion of Koidu Government Hospital, a huge step against maternal mortality. — 00:00:00
    • John assumed the pandemic would delay the MCOE for months or years, but donations grew every month and, with Partners In Health, over $20 million has been raised. — 00:00:29
    • John says the MCOE will dramatically change the quality of care available to women and children in the region. — 00:00:29
    • The groundbreaking will be celebrated on April 29 at 6 p.m. Eastern with a livestream featuring friends from PIH Sierra Leone; John hopes viewers join. — 00:01:16
    • There is still a funding gap, so John asks those able to donate to the project at PIH.org/hankandjohn. — 00:01:46
  • 2021-10-01 · A Lie I Heard this Week — Hank says that because John did that work, they have raised tens of millions of dollars for Partners In Health, and donors, Awesome Socks Club members, Pizzamas buyers and community members were all part of it. — 00:02:53
  • 2021-10-05 · Why the Heck am I on TikTok??? — Hank also uses TikTok to promote the Awesome Socks Club and Pizzamas shirts, both of which help build the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone. — 00:00:49
  • 2021-12-21 · NOW I AM THE SCIENCE ONE… — John reports big reductions in child and maternal mortality at Koidu Government Hospital over the last year, and far more people using the health system because they feel they can get care. — 00:02:26
    • John asks those able, at year's end, to join the thousands of nerdfighters making monthly or one-time donations to PIH's work to reduce maternal mortality, at pih.org/hankandjohn. — 00:02:55
  • …and 8 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

2022

  • 2022-01-04 · After 15 Years on YouTube, THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING — announcement: John: With PIH's own fundraising and support from Life's Library and the Awesome Socks Club, ground has broken on the Maternal Center of Excellence. — 00:00:58
    • Since then thousands of viewers have become monthly donors, and hundreds more formed a matching fund so every monthly dollar is matched. — 00:00:58
  • 2022-02-08 · How Much Money Vlogbrothers Makes from YouTube (...and where it goes) — announcement: John says half the money went to the brothers' Partners In Health project to reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone; the rest was split between a Complexly educational fund and a fund for emerging educational creators. — 00:00:58
  • 2022-02-22 · On the Death of My Hero — John: Told nothing could be done about one in 17 Sierra Leonean women dying in pregnancy or childbirth, Farmer said otherwise; so the community came to support PIH's maternal and child care center at Koidu. — 00:02:26
  • 2022-04-19 · How do you cross the Sad Gap? — John: Dr. Mukherjee asked them to stay too, and John says that request changed his life. — 00:02:26
  • 2022-05-17 · Reasons Not to Care — John: System strengthening can radically reduce maternal mortality: as Sierra Leone's health system grows stronger, partly through the community's investments, maternal mortality there fell over 10% in five years. — 00:02:26
    • John asks viewers who want to donate to the project to radically reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone to give at pih.org/hankandjohn, and thanks everyone for caring. — 00:03:24
  • 2022-09-13 · A Million Things at Once — John says the community is on track to raise over $30 million over the first five years of this decade for a stronger health system in Kono District, Sierra Leone. — 00:02:04
    • Thanks to increased support, the Kayima clinic is being renovated and is hiring and training staff to become a safe place to deliver babies and refer complicated cases to the hospital. — 00:03:03
  • 2022-11-15 · 3 Years In: What Happened, Why, and What's Next — John says the community, working with Partners In Health, is now on pace to raise over $35 million in the first five years of the project to radically reduce maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. — 00:00:00
    • John reports that despite supply-chain challenges the Maternal Center of Excellence has begun construction, though it is a long way from finished. — 00:00:58
    • John says the most efficient way to donate is pih.org/hankandjohn, but if viewers buy socks and coffee anyway, why not for charity. — 00:03:53
  • …and 21 statements more in 2022 — all statements of 2022

2023

  • 2023-03-14 · The Seduction of Despair — John says destruction is fast, loud and dramatic, reparative work slow and quiet; that's where his hope is, in big projects (a maternal hospital in Sierra Leone, US voting rights) and quiet human moments. — 00:03:10
  • 2023-03-28 · My Tuberculosis Reading List — ask: John asks viewers who can to donate to Partners In Health or other organizations working to make TB history. — 00:03:24
  • 2023-05-02 · GOOD NEWS — John: Helped by the nearly $40 million Nerdfighteria and PIH raised over three and a half years, the MCOE will be the world-class center Kono's mothers and children deserve. — 00:01:27
    • John says the MCOE's scale can't be shown on camera, but footers are being poured, structures welded, and plumbing and wiring installed. — 00:01:56
    • The MCOE will have two NICUs, for babies born inside and outside the hospital, and theaters and supplies for up to 10 emergency C-sections a day. — 00:02:26
    • 65% of the construction workers on the MCOE site are women. — 00:02:55
    • John tells the thousands of monthly donors, the one-time givers and those who shared the project that this is the change they are making. — 00:05:21
  • 2023-08-01 · Three Mornings — John says the Awesome Coffee Club donates 100% of profit to charity; Awesome Coffee, Awesome Socks and Sun Basin Soap have donated over $5 million in three years to fight maternal and infant mortality in Sierra Leone. — 00:05:20
  • 2023-08-22 · The Panera Phenomenon — John shows Hank a picture of the Maternal Center of Excellence, a massive extension to Sierra Leone's Koidu Government Hospital funded primarily by Nerdfighteria. — 00:00:20
    • John says the MCOE is not a symbol of hope but an activation of hope; English lacks a word for hope realized, which is telling, but that is how he feels. — 00:00:29
  • 2023-10-17 · My Next Book — John: Over the last five years the community has raised over $40 million to build the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone, which John says is coming along great. — 00:01:27 · also in: The world will change.
  • 2023-12-01 · It's OK if you think less of me after this! — Hank says John gave him a motivation: promise to raise $25 million for a hospital in Sierra Leone without knowing how, which excites him in a way making money for himself did not. — 00:03:15
  • …and 11 statements more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

  • 2024-01-16 · The Bank of Nerdfighteria — John: In 2019 the community began supporting Partners In Health's efforts to radically reduce maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone's Kono District. — 00:00:25 · also in: The Tea
  • 2024-02-16 · How Much Does it Cost to be a Nerdfighter — In a channel comment Hank says the Maternal Center of Excellence is not exactly fully supported, but commitments should support it fully, though things can change. (hedged) — creator comment
    • For the first time in a long time, P4A money will not go to the Maternal Center of Excellence, now pretty well supported, but to the global fight against tuberculosis. — 00:05:05
  • 2024-03-12 · How We End TB — John says that work is hard, as seen in the fight against maternal mortality in Sierra Leone, but results are huge: maternal mortality there has halved since 2019. — 00:03:50
  • 2024-03-19 · Our $80,000,000 Bet — John says that on maternal mortality in Sierra Leone or the global TB crisis, he is astonished by what Nerdfighteria has done by orienting attention and resources in the same direction, and is grateful. — 00:04:23
  • 2024-06-18 · The Tea — John: Thousands of people became monthly donors at pih.org/hankandjohn, giving $5 to $50 a month; they raised several million dollars over five years, all matched by a Nerdfighteria matching fund. — 00:00:58
    • The Awesome Socks Club became an explosive hit; with its sibling coffee and soap clubs it has raised over $8 million for the Maternal Center of Excellence project. — 00:01:27
    • Altogether they helped raise over $40 million for the project, and maternal mortality in Sierra Leone has already fallen by more than 50% since 2019, saving thousands of lives. — 00:01:27
  • 2024-11-19 · Let's Talk about Money — John: In 2019 the brothers committed to raising $25 million to help build a maternal and infant care center in the Kono District of Sierra Leone. — 00:00:26
  • 2024-11-26 · Good News — John: Since 2019 the community has made a long-term, open-ended commitment to pay attention to and raise funds for Sierra Leone's maternal and child health care system. — 00:01:24
    • In Kono, the district where Partners In Health began working in 2019, maternal mortality has fallen further: Koidu Government Hospital has seen a reduction close to 80% since 2019. — 00:02:40
    • About 2,000 more mothers survive childbirth every year in Sierra Leone than in 2019, when the brothers' project with Partners In Health began. — 00:03:16
  • …and 17 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

2025

  • 2025-05-13 · I Have the BEST News — John says all those efforts combined raised the needed $20 million and then some. — 00:01:27
    • John says, thanks to the government and groups like PIH, Sierra Leone's lifetime maternal death risk fell from 1 in 17 to around 1 in 74, an over 60% reduction, though still too high. — 00:01:27
  • 2025-05-16 · No One Knows When They Don't Die — Hank says the community's work in Sierra Leone means fewer women are already dying in childbirth, a very quiet victory. — 00:02:26
  • 2025-06-13 · Moving to Hope from Hopelessness (3 ways) — announcement: Hank: After a call with Partners In Health, Hank announces they have raised the $50 million it takes to build the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone and get it running. — 00:06:49
  • 2025-10-01 · Real Reasons for Hope — John says that in Sierra Leone over the same period maternal mortality has dropped by over 60%. — 00:03:24
    • John says maternal mortality at the hospital will decline further with the opening next month (November 2025) of the Maternal Center of Excellence there. — 00:03:53
  • 2025-10-31 · We Did It… — Hank recalls that shortly after John's first video from Sierra Leone six years ago, the brothers pledged to raise $25 million for a hospital without knowing how, and exceeded the goal. — 00:05:47
    • Hank announces that the ribbon has just been cut at the Maternal Center of Excellence at Koidu Government Hospital, thanking the community, Partners In Health and Sierra Leone's Ministry of Health. — 00:06:16
  • 2025-11-11 · John's Annual Psychophysical Decline — John reminds himself that, as Hank noted last week (week of 3 November 2025), the ribbon has been cut on the completed Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone. — 00:00:58
    • John presents Good Store's holiday bundles in three categories: socks and Sun Basin soap, candles and bath bombs fund the MCOE; coffee and tea fight TB; EcoGeek products fund the Coral Reef Alliance. — 00:03:34
  • 2025-11-24 · Good Store Holiday Gift Guide LIVE with Hank and John — announcement: John explains where purchases go: Keats & Co. coffee and tea supports TB care in Lesotho; socks, underwear and Sun Basin Soap support the Maternal Center of Excellence; EcoGeek supports the Coral Reef Alliance. — 00:24:21
  • 2025-12-09 · Hank Green, from A to Z — John says Hank helped fund the Maternal Center of Excellence at Koidu's government hospital, which triples the region's maternal beds and gives Sierra Leone its first ever NICU. — 00:02:26
  • …and 37 statements more in 2025 — all statements of 2025

2026

  • 2026-02-14 · Project for Awesome 2026 part 4! — John says that in the end Nerdfighteria raised $32 million of the $50 million needed to get the Maternal Center of Excellence off the ground. — 00:04:18
  • 2026-02-15 · Project for Awesome 2026 part 5! — announcement: John says people can now get safe emergency C-sections at the Maternal Center of Excellence, which has a functioning NICU for the first time in the history of Sierra Leone, a game-changing difference in maternal and infant health care in the Kono region and beyond. — 04:08:59
  • 2026-02-20 · What We Actually Did. — announcement: Hank announces that this weekend, during P4A, which was instrumental in building the Paul E. Farmer Maternal Center of Excellence at Koidu Government Hospital, the first baby was born in Sierra Leone's first NICU. — 00:03:49
  • 2026-02-24 · Risk Is a Privilege — announcement: John says the Paul Farmer Maternal Center of Excellence finally opened at Koidu Government Hospital, radically transforming infant and maternal care in eastern Sierra Leone. — 00:00:00
  • 2026-04-14 · Babies. Babies. Babies. — John announces the Maternal Center of Excellence at Koidu Government Hospital has passed its first major milestone: its 500th baby delivered, in just a few months. — 00:00:00
  • 2026-04-28 · What I Can't Show You — John says 500 babies were born at the MCOE in its first six weeks of operation, including over 200 C-sections, many of them emergencies that might otherwise have meant maternal and child death. — 00:05:37
  • 2026-05-01 · Despair is Not Wisdom — Hank says it is less true in one place because of the work of this community, the people at DFTBA.com and the Good Store partners. — 00:01:27
  • 2026-05-05 · Noted Brother Hank Green — ask: John: For Hank's birthday John offers the year's best deal on Sun Basin Soap, all profit going to the Maternal Center of Excellence, with deals linked in the description. — 00:04:02
  • 2026-08-25 · The Great Thing about Infectious Disease — announcement: John: The 2,000th baby has been born at the Nerdfighteria-supported the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone since it opened in February; all will have access to vaccination at Koidu Government Hospital or local clinics. — 00:05:21
  • 2026-09-30 · The Point of Life — John says what is interesting is not the project but what built up around it, from Pizzamas to the Maternal Center of Excellence, because Nerdfighteria commits to bits better than almost any online community. — 00:04:30
  • 2026-10-01 · Are We Still YouTubers? — Hank says his artwork is not video but the channel, the brotherhood, the whole thing: from people unsure which brother is which to people making Hollywood, Ending cakes, fonts and hospitals in Sierra Leone. — 00:06:57
  • 2026-10-27 · Should I Salinger… — John: Looking at the Maternal Center of Excellence in Sierra Leone, John is sure it is worth whatever the minor cost of a public life is. — 00:03:02
  • …and 68 statements more in 2026 — all statements of 2026