The most recent World Health Organization publication, Optimizing Health Worker Roles to Improve Access to Key Maternal and Newborn Health Interventions Through Task Shifting, recommends that governments enable more health workers below the level of doctor to deliver vital maternal and newborn healthcare services, including family planning. Read more...
Updates
A New Global Focus on Preterm Births
November 16th, 2012
World Prematurity Day highlights effective, low-cost care and new commitments to address the problem
Preterm birth is the world's largest killer of newborn babies, causing more than 1 million deaths each year, yet 75 percent could be saved without expensive, high technology care.
That's the primary message and motivating theme of World Prematurity Day, November 17, a global effort to raise awareness of the deaths and disabilities due to prematurity and the simple, proven, cost-effective measures that could prevent them. Read more...
Osotimehin: Every Woman, Every Child
September 28th, 2012
By: Babatunde Osotimehin; Originally posted on The Guardian - Nigeria
Dr. Osotimehin is a United Nations Under-Secretary-General and the Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. He wrote this opinion in support of Every Woman Every Child, a global movement spearheaded by UN and other global leaders to save the lives of women and children and improve the lives of millions more by 2015.
The launch two days ago (Wednesday) of the report of the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children is a major milestone in Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s push to ensure the success of the Every Woman Every Child movement. It is now two years since the movement was launched in New York during the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit. Its agenda – to save the lives of 16 million women and children by 2015 – is ambitious, but achievable. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Improving Reproductive and Child Health Services in Ghana
July 16th, 2012
By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
In Ghana, 350,000 women and 57,000 children under five die each year. Access to quality, comprehensive health care could have saved many of these lives. In response, from 2005 – 2009, the Quality Health Partners project (QHP) was put in place to support efforts that were already under way in Ghana to ensure high quality reproductive and child health services. Read more...
65 Finalists Advance in Saving Lives at Birth Challenge
June 29th, 2012
The second Saving Lives at Birth Challenge has elicited more than 500 submissions from almost 60 countries on innovative solutions to save the lives of mothers and newborns around the time of birth. On June 14, Challenge partners, which include US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), announced that 65 finalists will move on to the next and final stage of the competition at the DevelopmentXChange, on July 12-14, 2012. Read more...
UN Commissioners Aim to Adopt New Recommendations to Increase Access to Health Commodities
May 22nd, 2012
Affordable, life-saving medicines and health supplies with the potential to save millions of lives are not reaching the children and women who most need them. To help change this, members of the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children will today review and finalize recommendations to help increase access, reduce costs, and increase demand for 13 products. Read more...
Save the Children’s 2012 State of the World’s Mothers Report
May 17th, 2012
This year’s thirteenth annual State of the World’s Mothers report features more than 60 countries and a foreword by USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah. Filled with ground-breaking research, this year’s report focuses on the importance of nutrition during the first 1,000 days between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday.
This year’s report also includes their annual Mother’s Index, ranking the best and worst countries in which to be a mother based on health and status indicators for women and children in 165 counties. Norway, as in 2011, ranks first; Niger, replacing Afghanistan in 2011, ranks last. The United States comes in at #25 among the 43 developed countries ranked. Eight of the 10 worst countries to be a mother are in sub-Saharan Africa. We must continue to work to ensure that moms everywhere can care for their kids. Read more...
1,000 Days: The Crucial Window for Life-long Health
May 3rd, 2012
By: Nalini Saligram; originally posted on 1,000 Days
We know that the right nutrition from pregnancy to a child’s 2nd birthday (the 1,000 day window made popular by the 1000 Days partnership) can have “a profound impact on a child’s ability to grow, learn, and rise out of poverty.” Many scholars now agree that we can influence the life-long health of the child, and even prevent chronic diseases, by intervening during this period. Read more...
New Global Report: 15 Million Babies Born Too Soon, Over 1 Million Die Each Year
May 2nd, 2012
Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth provides the first-ever national, regional and global estimates of preterm birth. The report shows the extent to which preterm birth is on the rise in most countries, and is now the second leading cause of death globally for children under five, after pneumonia.
Addressing preterm birth is now an urgent priority for reaching Millennium Development Goal 4, calling for the reduction of child deaths by two-thirds by 2015. This report shows that rapid change is possible and identifies priority actions for everyone. Read more...
“Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” Campaign Begins
April 26th, 2012
The US Agency for International Development (USAID), a member organization of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health has launched their “Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday” campaign this week. According to the website, fifth birthdays are regarded as a milestone birthday after which one is much more likely to survive into adulthood. Seven million children die before their fifth birthday, and many of these are preventable deaths in developing countries. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Traditionally Attending Birth – Promoting Maternal Health Today
April 16th, 2012
By Kate Ixer; Health Poverty Action is a winner of the Women Deliver 50.
In April 2010, Sierra Leone introduced free health care for pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers to help reduce the maternal mortality and morbidity rate. Almost two years on from this watershed significant improvements have been made and many women have received the health care which they previously would not have been able to afford. Sierra Leone, a country where 70% of the population is living in extreme poverty, illustrates that free health care is crucial to improving women’s health rights. Read more...
Healthy Mother, Healthy Newborn
April 5th, 2012
by Shafia Rashid; Originally posted on The FCI Blog
There is ample evidence illustrating that the health of a woman and her newborn baby are intimately connected. We know that:
- most maternal and newborn deaths are caused by the mother’s poor health before or during pregnancy or due to inadequate care in the critical hours, days, and weeks after birth
- when a woman dies in childbirth, her newborn baby is less likely to survive
Recent research conducted by Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta and colleagues at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan confirms what we already know, and goes one step further: it identifies which maternal and newborn health interventions benefit both mother and newborn. These include: Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Storytelling for Health and Empowerment
April 2nd, 2012
By Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
Future Generations’ “Between Us (Women): Sharing Pregnancy Histories as Part of Community Education for Maternal and Neonatal Health” is about far more than just telling stories.
The innovative program—which is currently being tested in Peru by Future Generations—is designed to help women share their voices and experiences with others to save the lives of mothers and newborns living in some of the remotest regions in the Latin American country. Read more...
UN Launches Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children
March 23rd, 2012
NEW YORK, 23 March 2012 – UNICEF and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, today launched a high-level commission to improve access to essential but overlooked health supplies that could save the lives of millions of women and children every year.
“Making sure that women and children have the medicines and other supplies they need is critical for our push to achieve the MDGs,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “The Commission will tackle an overlooked but vital aspect of health systems, and ensure that women and children are protected from preventable causes of death and disease.” Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Solar Energy for Safer Births
March 19th, 2012
By: Rati Bishnoi, Women Deliver
Saving the lives of mothers and babies depends on having more than the right health care and interventions. The best facilities, caregivers, and interventions won’t improve maternal and neonatal health care delivery if basic needs for power, water, and sanitation aren’t available. Read more...
All for Mum and Mum for All
March 17th, 2012
By: Christy Turlington Burns, mother, model, film-maker and founder of Every Mother Counts; Originally posted on the Dfid blog
I celebrated the 101st International Women's Day in the halls of the United Nations last week. I followed Twitter, and shared blogs and news stories that collectively called we women to action. When I take a step back, as I did last week, I'm reminded that the "women's rights are human rights" movement is still very much a process in many parts of the world. One thing that I have noticed through filming women around the world is that most of us girls and women are inspired by one another's stories.
Stories create hope. Everywhere I travel, I listen to stories that blow my mind with the courage, personal sacrifices and perseverance of so many women. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: When ‘B+’ is the Best Option
February 27th, 2012
By: Dr. Aoife Kenny
An estimated 1.5 million HIV-positive women become pregnant every year. Effective treatment is essential for reducing their chance of severe illness or death during pregnancy as well as reducing the chance of infecting their children with HIV. The best way to prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) is to ensure that medication is taken throughout the pregnancy and breastfeeding period. PMTCT is an essential component of three Millennium Development Goals: reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS. Read more...
Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby Exhibit Opens
February 16th, 2012
What are the realities of 21st century pregnancy and childbirth? What factors affect if a woman’s labor has a successful, or tragic, outcome? Explore this issue in the Healthy Mama, Healthy Baby gallery in the International Museum of Women’s MAMA: Motherhood Around the Globe exhibition! Facts, art, multimedia, blogs and stories on the site all tell the story of motherhood around the globe.
In the video below, mothers from around the world share their stories of pregnancy and childbirth.
Why a Daughter is Not an Apology
January 31st, 2012
By: Joanna Hoffman, Special Projects Manager
Last week, 22 year-old Storai Mohammed was strangled to death by her husband and mother-in-law for giving birth to a girl, and not the son they had demanded of her. Her husband fled, but his mother was detained and told police that Storai “felt guilty” for bearing three daughters and committed suicide.
In Afghanistan, as in many parts of the world, newborn sons are celebrated while girls are met with disappointment, fewer opportunities and a stifling lack of autonomy. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Farming for a Healthier Future
January 30th, 2012
By: Janna Oberdorf, Director of Communications and Outreach for Women Deliver
At the Tamlega Dispensary in Chwele, Kenya, pregnant women who arrive for check-ups leave with an unusual prescription: a voucher for sweetpotato vines. The goal is to leverage the untapped potential of sweetpotatoes, a food crop rich in vitamin A, to significantly improve the nutrition, incomes, and food production of farming families in sub-Saharan Africa, especially among impoverished women and children.
The project, “Sweetpotato Action for Security and Health in Africa (SASHA),” was launched in eight sub-Saharan African countries in 2009 by the International Potato Center (CIP), with support from a five-year, $21 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Read more...