Maternal Health News and Research

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Recent releases in Global Health

The WHO's March Bulletin is a special themed issue focusing on communicable diseases in Southeast Asia. The publication addresses tuberculosis, cholera, neglected tropical diseases and family planning in the region (March 2010).

6 Mar 2010

MASSIVEGOOD launched to enable travelers make contributions towards major global health causes

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Bill Clinton join today with international recording artists will.i.am and David Guetta, South African singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka, and director Spike Lee, to launch MASSIVEGOOD, an innovative fundraising movement that will enable travelers to make a "micro-contribution" towards major global health causes every time they buy a plane ticket, reserve a hotel room or rent a car.

5 Mar 2010

Also in Global Health News: U.S. Ambassador to U.N.; Male circumcision; River blindness in Ecuador; Nursing shortage in Caribbean; Maternal health in Bolivia; Drug-resistant TB in North Korea; Cholera vaccine

Betty King reported to her new position as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports. "Washington's Geneva mission had been without an ambassador since Warren W. Tichenor left his post on Jan. 20, 2009 - when Barack Obama was sworn in as president," according to the news service (3/3).

4 Mar 2010

Efficient healthcare system in sub-Saharan Africa can reduce maternal deaths

More than 500,000 women die each year worldwide due to complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth. Half of these women live in sub-Saharan Africa. A research team from the King Juan Carlos University (URJC) in Madrid says these women are not dying as a result of any illness, but rather from a lack of basic healthcare measures.

19 Feb 2010

ACHF receives $2.5M as gift from KCCFA in support of childhood cancer research

The Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation received a gift of $2.5 million today from the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta in support of childhood cancer research at the Alberta Children's Hospital, as well as the Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute for Child and Maternal Health and the Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute - both at the University of Calgary.

17 Feb 2010

NPR examines Obama administration's global family planning policies

NPR's "Morning Edition" examines how global family planning fits into the Obama administration's global health policy. "The administration has already restored funding for the United Nations Population ... Fund, which for eight years received no U.S. support. And in his first week, President Obama lifted an executive order that existed in the Reagan and Bush administrations that prohibited U.S.-funded programs from providing information about abortion services," according to NPR.

4 Feb 2010

U.S. government resumes medical evacuations from Haiti; new food voucher distribution targeting women begins

"The U.S. government said on Sunday it would resume military evacuation flights" within 12 hours for critically ill and injured Haitians who were harmed in the Jan. 12 earthquake, Reuters reports (Rosenberg/Brown, 1/31). Medical evacuations had been suspended for a few days, but the reason for the suspension "is unclear as various government authorities have provided different explanations," the Wall Street Journal reports.

2 Feb 2010

Opinions: Clean water; oversight of U.N. bookkeeping; Obama's global health goals; maternal mortality

"Long before the earthquake, Haiti was mired in a crisis that only a few experts noticed - a severe lack of clean drinking water," writes Joseph Treaster, editor of the University of Miami's Internet magazine on global water issues and the environment, in a Miami Herald opinion piece that examines the interconnectedness between water and health problems in Haiti, as well as other countries around the world.

29 Jan 2010

Also in global health news: Pakistan's farm land; PMTCT in Kenya; Burkina Faso's maternal health; health care access in Middle East

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Tuesday the country plans to sell farmland to foreign investors despite warnings by the U.N. that doing so could compromise farmers' rights, Reuters reports.

28 Jan 2010

Clinton rebuffs criticism of U.S. aid to Haiti, pledges redoubling of efforts to help quake survivors

"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she resents criticism of the U.S. effort to help stricken Haiti and pledged to redouble efforts to help survivors of the Jan. 12 earthquake," the Associated Press/CBSNews.com reports. "I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake," she said.

27 Jan 2010

WHO Director-General highlights global health gains, challenges at executive board meeting

During the WHO's recent executive board meeting, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan reflected on public health gains over the past decade and the challenges that lie ahead, Nigeria's Guardian reports. Chan commended the international community's response to H1N1 and global efforts to reduce child mortality, fight malaria and tuberculosis.

27 Jan 2010

Progress on MDG targets is 'key priority' in 2010 for U.N. Secretary-General

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday called 2010 "the year of development" and said "he would make the drive to achieve" the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 "one of his key priorities this year," Agence France-Presse/My Sinchew reports.

13 Jan 2010

Obama administration supports Cairo conference goals, Clinton says

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday "reiterated the Obama administration's support" for universal access to family planning, improving maternal health care and other goals outlined at the 1995 International Conference on Population and Development Action Plan held in Cairo, Egypt, All Headline News reports.

12 Jan 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

A Lancet Comment examines the "grossly insufficient" progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of reducing under-5 child mortality. "Accelerated progress can be achieved, even in the poorest environments, through: integrated, evidence-driven, and community-based programmes that focus on addressing the major causes of death, including pneumonia, diarrhoea, newborn disorders, malaria, HIV, and undernutrition; reaching the unreached with a basic package of interventions at large scale and achieving coverage with equity; and using data for action and advocacy," the comment concludes (You et al., 1/9).

9 Jan 2010

VOA News examines obstetric fistula in Africa

VOA News examines obstetric fistula in Africa and looks at health officials' efforts to prevent and treat the condition.

24 Dec 2009

New WHO report shows considerable progress in malaria

According to the World Health organization’s World Malaria Report 2009 released earlier this week, more than one third of affected countries included in the study have witnessed reduction in malaria cases by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2008.

18 Dec 2009

Doubling of global investments in family planning, birth control could cut maternal, newborn deaths, report says

By doubling investments in family planning and birth control, developing countries could nearly halve newborn deaths and reduce maternal deaths by 70 percent, a new report said Thursday, Reuters reports.

4 Dec 2009

More investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care will reduce maternal and newborn deaths

Maternal deaths in developing countries could be slashed by 70% and newborn deaths cut nearly in half if the world doubled investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care, shows a new report by the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Currently, more than half a million maternal deaths and 3.5 million newborn deaths, many of them easily preventable, occur each year in developing countries.

4 Dec 2009

British First Lady highlights maternal mortality worldwide

Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and head of the Maternal Mortality Campaign, highlighted global maternal mortality at the Royal College of Midwives annual conference on Friday, the U.K. Press Association reports.

30 Nov 2009

IPS examines next year's UNGASS on MDGs, improvements in maternal health

Inter Press Service reports that the September 2010 U.N. Generally Assembly meeting will feature a three-day special session (UNGASS) on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

24 Nov 2009

Maternal Health News and Research

Recent releases in Global Health

MASSIVEGOOD launched to enable travelers make contributions towards major global health causes

Also in Global Health News: U.S. Ambassador to U.N.; Male circumcision; River blindness in Ecuador; Nursing shortage in Caribbean; Maternal health in Bolivia; Drug-resistant TB in North Korea; Cholera vaccine

Efficient healthcare system in sub-Saharan Africa can reduce maternal deaths

ACHF receives $2.5M as gift from KCCFA in support of childhood cancer research

NPR examines Obama administration's global family planning policies

U.S. government resumes medical evacuations from Haiti; new food voucher distribution targeting women begins

Opinions: Clean water; oversight of U.N. bookkeeping; Obama's global health goals; maternal mortality

Also in global health news: Pakistan's farm land; PMTCT in Kenya; Burkina Faso's maternal health; health care access in Middle East

Clinton rebuffs criticism of U.S. aid to Haiti, pledges redoubling of efforts to help quake survivors

WHO Director-General highlights global health gains, challenges at executive board meeting

Progress on MDG targets is 'key priority' in 2010 for U.N. Secretary-General

Obama administration supports Cairo conference goals, Clinton says

Recent releases in Global Health

VOA News examines obstetric fistula in Africa

New WHO report shows considerable progress in malaria

Doubling of global investments in family planning, birth control could cut maternal, newborn deaths, report says

More investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care will reduce maternal and newborn deaths

British First Lady highlights maternal mortality worldwide

IPS examines next year's UNGASS on MDGs, improvements in maternal health

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