Updates

By: Joy Marini, Director Corporate Contributions, Johnson & Johnson

At the opening ceremony of the International Confederation of Midwives 29th Triennial Conference in Durban, South Africa on Sunday, a hall full of midwives joined voices to sing "One Love", Bob Marleys anthem of compassion for humankind. As a witness I can report that you have not heard the power of a collective voice until youve heard 3,000 midwives singing about their love and commitment to mothers and babies: Hear the children crying... lets get together and feel all right. Read more...

By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

In rural Kenya, a majority of women give birth at home and without a skilled attendant--often because hospitals, and the transportation to even get to a hospital, are simply too expensive and inaccessible for so many women.

Now imagine the situation for HIV-positive women, who should give birth by C-section to reduce the risk of transmission from mother to child. According to the Ministry of Health, only 65 percent of hospitals in the country provide that procedure. It's also more expensive, so even if it's locally available, it's not always a realistic option. Read more...

By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

It was raining when we got to the Malava Girls school--the loud, heavy kind of rain that makes it hard to hear your own voice inside--and we weren't sure we would get to visit with the girls we came to see. The plan was to demonstrate a LifeStraw Family and to hear what they had to say about clean water and the impact of waterborne diseases on their lives.

But we waited the rain out and did get to see the girls, just an hour or so later than scheduled. And we got to hear about so much more than just water. Read more...

By: Toyin Ajao, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

Yesterday, on the Carbon for Water campaign trail, we met with Francis Odhiambo, the provincial public health officer of the Western Province in Kenya. He had a great impact in helping connect the dots between having safe drinking water, combating diseases and women having safe pregnancies and deliveries. Mr. Francis Odhiambo believed strongly that women suffer twice as much as men on health issues relating to water borne disease because of their daily activities and chores around the house and for their families. Women not only face the hardship of looking for nonexistent safe water, but they also have to trek miles to get stream water and firewood for boiling it. Read more...

By: Toyin Ajao, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

As part of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest, and the Carbon for Water campaign, I am excited to be traveling around the Western Province of Kenya, meeting women and girls who are hard-hit by the issues associated with the Millennium Development Goals. Yesterday, I got the chance to visit the Malava’s Girls High School -- a reaffirmation time that the Millennium Development Goals are so important, especially the goal addressing women and girls’ issues. Read more...

By: Janna Oberdorf, Director of Communications and Outreach at Women Deliver

About a year ago, at the Women Deliver 2010 conference in Washington, DC, I watched Christy Turlington Burns’ directorial debut, “No Woman, No Cry.” In our huge conference hall, between intense conversations on funding streams and health strengthening solutions, this movie made an impact. It told the stories behind the stats, and it gave a face to the 358,000 women and girls who die during pregnancy and childbirth each year. Read more...

By: Janna Oberdorf, Director of Communications and Outreach at Women Deliver

Today is World Malaria Day—and there is much to celebrate. Over the past decade, malaria cases have drastically declined and deaths from malaria have been reduced. As we celebrate the many successes of the past decade in fighting malaria around the world, it’s important to put a spotlight on those who are most vulnerable to malaria—pregnant women and their children. Read more...

By: Mariko Rasmussen, Communications Specialist at Women Deliver

Health of a newborn is closely linked to the health of the mother and the care she receives in pregnancy and childbirth. Sadly, 3.7 million newborn infants die within the first four weeks after birth, with nearly one million pre-term babies dying in their first month of life every year in developing countries. Up to two-thirds of these deaths can be prevented through existing effective interventions delivered during pregnancy, childbirth and in the first hours, days and week after birth. Read more...

By: Joy Marini, Director of Corporate Contributions for Johnson & Johnson, Maternal and Child Health

This weekend, l was hiking with my daughter in Thompson Park in New Jersey when we came upon a spigot from a natural spring. The water was fresh and ice cold. It was a perfect break from our brisk walk on a warm, early Spring day. The signs at the spigot read, “Consume at your own risk” (although people have been drinking from this spring for decades) and “Families please take no more than eight gallons if people are waiting in line.” If you’re a hiker or a camper, bottling eight gallons does not seem all that extraordinary. But – for families living in a country where water is scarce or polluted by human waste, this is an unimaginable luxury. Read more...

BY: Jeremy Shiffman, Associate Professor of Public Administration and Policy at American University; Originally posted at the Healthy Newborn Network blog 

Before 2000, few organizations concerned with global health paid much attention to newborn survival. Since that year, a number have come to address the problem, including foundations, UN agencies, bilateral development agencies, governments of low-income countries, and non-governmental organizations. This wave of attention is surprising: there was no sudden increase in the number of babies dying or swift spread of a virus that alarmed citizens of rich countries. The emergence of attention to newborn survival in a short period of time presents an interesting study in how global health issues come to attract priority. Read more...