By: Madeline Taskier, Strategic Partnerships Associate at Women Deliver
In India, boys continue to be preferred over girls, permeating gender norms and attitudes throughout the country. Boys carry on the family name, don’t require expensive dowries for marriage, and have more opportunities in education and the workplace. In 2011, 914 girls were born to every 1,000 boys, and gender inequalities are only increasing. Read more...
Updates
Celebrate Solutions: Promoting Gender Equality Early Among India’s Youth in Schools
September 12th, 2011
Celebrate Solutions: Leveraging the ‘Foot Ambulance’ in Filipino Villages
September 5th, 2011
By: Rati Bishnoi, Special Projects Intern at Women Deliver
For generations, men in the villages nestled in the remote mountains of the Ifugao province in the northern Philippines have used the “ayod” or hammock to carry the sick to hospitals and medical facilities. Now, this traditional “foot ambulance” is increasingly becoming the heart of a community-grown maternal health system that is saving the lives of women and girls and keeping families and communities intact in this rural area. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Mobile Community Health Workers Reach Ethnic Minorities in Burma
August 29th, 2011
By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver
Decades of conflict between the military junta and ethnic minority groups in Burma have internally displaced approximately 440,000 people from their homes and forced them into informal settlements, but a network of community health workers are working to make a difference. The Mobile Obstetrics Maternal Health Workers (MOM) Project provides high-impact and mobile emergency obstetric care, family planning, and essential pre-natal care to women and families in these settlements. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Improving Contraceptive Use in Timor-Leste
July 18th, 2011
By: Rati Bishnoi, Special Projects Intern at Women Deliver
While Timor-Leste obtained independence almost 10 years ago, it continues to suffer the aftereffects of a decades-long independence struggle against Indonesia and to face many challenges, such as building its health system and lowering its high fertility and maternal mortality rates. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Reaching Female Refugees, the RAISE Project
May 9th, 2011
By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver
Access to maternal health services is a challenge for many women in developing countries, but women in crisis settings are especially vulnerable to reproductive health risks and maternal health emergencies. Over 42 million people in the world are uprooted and living far from their home countries or regions for months or years at a time—almost half of them are women. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Allowing Community-Driven Ideas to Improve Care
April 25th, 2011
By: Rati Bishnoi, Special Projects Intern at Women Deliver
Over the last two years, thousands of people from all walks of life—from computer engineers to tribal women—in Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Orissa state in India have lent their voices and ideas to improve the quality of maternal and child health care in their communities.
These three areas have something in common – they house some of the worst maternal and child mortality rates in the world. But the barriers and challenges women face to quality care differ for many reasons. Recognizing that community members—including those not usually associated with maternal health care—have a valuable perspective to offer as well as a stake in improving the lives of women and girls, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2009 funded a global partnership between UNICEF and Concern Worldwide to find bold, new ideas for addressing gaps in the delivery of quality care. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: The Reproductive and Child Health Alliance in Cambodia
January 10th, 2011
By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver
The Southeast Asian country of Cambodia borders the South China Sea and is surrounded by Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. The maternal mortality ratio in 2008 was 290 deaths per 100,000 live births, but has been show to be as high as 493 deaths per 100,000 live births in rural areas. Over the last decade, the Cambodian government has increased the availability of reproductive health services, but there is still great need for services among expecting mothers in rural areas. A national program is working to narrow the gaps in care, decrease the urban-rural disparities, and educate community-based health workers to provide lifesaving maternal care. Read more...
New Advocacy Guidebook on Maternal Health for Parliamentarians
December 14th, 2010
Yesterday, the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) announced the launch of a groundbreaking new publication, “Maternal Health - An Advocacy Guide for Parliamentarians.” Focusing on the Asia-Pacific region, this resource functions as a guidebook with practical steps Parliamentarians can take, on multiple levels, to raise awareness and advocate for maternal and child health. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: The Sure Start Project in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra
December 13th, 2010
By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver
Roughly 78,000 women in India die during pregnancy and childbirth per year, some of the world’s largest numbers of country-level maternal deaths. Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra are the two largest and most populous states in India, generating a large percentage of the maternal mortality and morbidity in the country. In 2008, PATH aimed to address these disparities with the Sure Start Project, a holistic approach to maternal health systems strengthening. Read more...
New Amnesty International Report: Barriers to Reproductive Health in Indonesia
November 5th, 2010
Girls and women in Indonesia from poor and marginalized communities face multiple barriers in accessing reproductive health services, Amnesty International reports in “Left without a Choice: Barriers to Maternal Health in Indonesia”. Released yesterday, the report details barriers to access which violate Indonesia’s international human rights obligations to protect girls and women from discrimination, as well as the right to health, and reproductive health in particular.
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...
Women Deliver Philippines to Promote Investment in Maternal and Newborn Health
September 15th, 2010
Women Deliver Philippines, the country's first-ever localization of the global initiative that started in London, brings to spotlight the tragic deaths of women during pregnancy and childbirth, and of newborns dying during their first month of life to mobilize investment for the improvement of maternal and newborn health.
Emergency in Pakistan: Over 500,000 Pregnant Women At Risk From Floods
September 8th, 2010
Since early August, floods across Northwest Pakistan have cast out nearly 21 million people from their homes and villages. UNFPA estimates that there are 500,000 pregnant women in this displaced population. Everyday approximately 1,700 of these women go into labor and over 250 suffer complications during birth.
Brief Insights From the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010
August 30th, 2010
By: Kate Mitchell from the Maternal Health Task Force; orginally posted at the MHTF Blog
Today (August 30, 2010) marked the first day of the Global Maternal Health Conference in Delhi. Throughout the day, the nearly 700 conference participants–made up of maternal health researchers, programmers, advocates, social entrepreneurs, policymakers, and young professionals–shared a number of insights, lessons learned, recommendations and innovative ideas for improving the health of women around the world.
Click through to read brief insights from the Inaugural Ceremony speeches...
Health Experts Convene at Global Maternal Health Conference 2010
August 30th, 2010
From August 30 to September 1, more than 600 maternal health experts will gather in Delhi, India, for the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010, the first international technical conference devoted exclusively to maternal health. Hosted by the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth and the Public Health Foundation of India, the conference aims to increase consensus and coordination around the evidence, programs, and advocacy needed to advance maternal health. According to latest estimates, more than 342,000 women worldwide die due to preventable pregnancy or childbirth complications every year.
Unmarried Young Indian Women Face Obstacles To Obtaining Early Abortions
August 26th, 2010
A new study released by the Population Council, New Delhi shows that young, unmarried women in India encounter barriers to obtaining an abortion procedure early in their pregnancies. The study took place in Jharkand and Bihar, surveying 549 unmarried women who had an abortion between 2007 and 2008. Delayed recognition of pregnancy, lack of awareness that abortion is legal for unmarried women, and lack of support from partners were cited as factors that contributed to women accessing abortions later in their pregnancies.
The researchers believe these findings emphasize the need for increased sex education programs for unmarried young women in a variety of forums. Improved programs should work to bolster communication about sexual health between young women and their family members, especially their parents. These programs should not only include information about reproductive physiology, but also information on access and legal rights to abortion.
New Report Details Rights Abuses Stemming From Philippine Abortion Ban
August 5th, 2010
The Center for Reproductive Rights released a new report, "Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban," which illustrates the harmful consequences of the Philippine ban on abortion from a human rights perspective. By criminalizing abortion, the report states, the government has severely curtailed the reproductive rights of Filipino women and forces them to resort to dangerous alternatives. Despite the ban, each year, an estimated 560,000 clandestine abortions occur in the Philippines, 90,000 women suffered complications requiring hospitalization, and 1,000 women died.
The Maternal Health Task Force Announces New Grants
July 22nd, 2010
The Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth announced today that it has awarded eight new grants supporting innovative maternal health research across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The research, which will be carried out by local organizations in developing countries, will lead to national policy recommendations for improving maternal health.
Each research project will evaluate an ongoing effort to advance maternal health in places where too many women still die from preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Examples of such projects include integrating maternal health care with HIV prevention and treatment, organizing support groups for pregnant mothers, and outfitting health workers in rural communities with cellular phones to facilitate emergency care for pregnant women. Following are summaries of the new grants...
Collecting Stories of Mothers and Babies Saved
June 1st, 2010
At the Women Deliver 2010 conference, White Ribbon Alliance along with UNFPA will be debuting a multimedia exhibition called, "Stories of Mothers Saved." To celebrate the exhibit, they are hosting a countdown to Women Deliver with blog posts from people all over the world who have contributed to their multimedia exhibition. These blog posts include, Francois Zoungrana from Burkina Faso, Jameel Aldrbashi from Palestine, Smita Maniar from India, and Ahsan Mehboob from Pakistan.
Afghanistan Trains New Midwives
November 9th, 2009
This weekend, the Christian Science Monitor published an article called, “Amid war Afghanistan trains thousands of new midwives.” The article says:
Pashtoon Azfar, head of the Afghan Midwives Association, says the number of trained midwives has grown nearly six-fold since rebuilding effort in Afghanistan began. “In 2002, we had 467 midwives, but no one knew how qualified they were; for years, they had received no access to training,” says Ms. Azfar, also a midwifery specialist with the international nonprofit health organization Jhpiego, whose maternal health programs are funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Today, there are more than 2,400 midwives around the country who have been trained in a standardized and accredited two-year program, she says.