This summer, NPR’s afternoon newsmagazine All Things Considered is doing a summer-long series called “Beginnings: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Beyond.” A far-reaching collection of reports and features looking at medical, cultural and economic aspects of birth around the world, "Beginnings" will air Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through August 2011. Read more...
Updates
Women Deliver Statement on Misoprostol and the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines
May 17th, 2011
Statement to Stakeholders from Jill Sheffield, President of Women
This week marks an important step in our efforts to reduce maternal mortality worldwide. Misoprostol, a low-cost and life-saving drug, has just been added to the WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines (EML) for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage. This is vital because postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality, accounting for nearly one quarter of all maternal deaths worldwide, reaching as high as 60% in some countries. Read more...
Experts Seek WHO Nod for Postpartum Haemorrhage Drug
March 18th, 2011
DAKAR, 16 March 2011 (IRIN) - A drug many health experts say can drastically cut postpartum haemorrhage - the leading cause of maternal deaths in the developing world - will be in the spotlight this month during the World Health Organization's (WHO) biennial review of its model list of essential medicines. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Preventing PPH and Eclampsia in Sierra Leone
December 6th, 2010
By: Mariko Rasmussen, Program Assistant at Women Deliver
The Western African country of Sierra Leone is gradually emerging from a protracted civil war, which poses unique problems for mothers-to-be. In 2009, Amnesty International named the maternal mortality rate in Sierra Leone a “human rights emergency,” which at 1/8 is one of the highest in the world. But recent changes in policy and support from NGOs like Life for African Mothers have increased the potential for markedly improving maternal and child health. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Midwives and Misoprostol in Afghanistan
October 4th, 2010
By: Mariko Rasmussen, Program Assistant at Women Deliver
Badakhshan Province along the Northern border of Afghanistan is an impoverished, isolated, and remote mountainous region. There are few passable roads, and areas of unrest, making it dangerous to get health care, and difficult to get help to villages. The region is experiencing some of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. But Afghans are trying to change that. The solution? Midwives. NPR reported August 29 on the impact of an initiative to recruit and train midwives in rural Afghanistan. Read more...
New Study on Misoprostol
March 13th, 2009
Experts estimate that post partum haemorrhage accounts for about one quarter of the estimated 535,000 women who die each year after childbirth -- that's 133,750 women. New evidence from the DFID funded Future Health Systems Research Programme Consortium was recently published in The International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics.
Misoprostol Approved in Uganda
September 19th, 2008
The Uganda government approved the use of the low-cost drug, misoprostol, to treat and prevent excessive bleeding in mothers during childbirth to curb the high maternal mortality rates.