AGBU Hye Geen is rewriting maternal health in Armenia

A pregnant woman in a small town outside Yerevan, Armenia, weeks from her due date, has no one to ask the questions every expecting mom has. No prenatal class down the street or support group, just whatever information she can piece together on her own.

That’s the gap AGBU Hye Geen has spent the last three decades closing.

Hye Geen is the women’s initiative of AGBU — the Armenian General Benevolent Union, founded in 1906 in Cairo, Egypt, and today the largest Armenian nonprofit in the world, headquartered in New York. In 1994, Sona Yacoubian started Hye Geen with a simple but ambitious goal: honor Armenian women’s achievements and strengthen their role in family and society through research, education, and advocacy.

What began as one pregnancy center has grown into nine, spread across cities and regions where—as committee volunteer Vania Vartzbedian-Gordian puts it—women “outside the capital, Yerevan, lack adequate care.” Every dollar raised through Hye Geen’s events goes straight to keeping those nine centers running.

Here in the U.S., the organization hosts lectures and conferences that bring the Armenian-American community together—part luncheon, part idea exchange, always aimed at the issues shaping community life. College students from across Los Angeles pitch in too, keeping the next generation engaged in the work.

The upcoming health forum posits that “hormones, metabolism, weight, and muscle health are closely connected, especially as women age,” says longtime Hye Geen volunteer and health advocate Elizabeth Kabanyan.

“This event brings together experts in menopause care, nutrition, exercise science, and weight management to share practical information people can use to make informed decisions about their health.”

The expert lineup includes Dr. Hanriet Minasian, a board-certified internal medicine physician and founder of Healthy Silhouette, who blends physician-guided weight management with a whole-person approach to wellness; Ara Keshishian, an adjunct professor of Kinesiology and PhD candidate researching strength training for menopausal women; and Dr. Zarmine Naccashian, a nurse practitioner with 30+ years in diabetes and community health and an associate professor at Cal State Northridge.

The Hye Geen magazine archives the organization’s programs and gives writers a place to share their work, and their YouTube channel, Hye Geen TV, keeps the community informed year-round.

DEETS

• AGBU Hye Geen ‘Thrive in Wellness’
• Saturday, August 22, 2026, 10:30 am
  Vatche & Tamar Manoukian Center, 2495 E. Mountain St., Pasadena, CA 91104
• $60 luncheon
  [email protected]
  626-794-7942