Maternal Health News and Research

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Birth registration key to achieving MDGs

With "less than 1,000 days to go until the 2015 deadline for the world's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ..., [t]he international community is busy examining the progress we've made and all the work remaining if we are to realize the vision that was laid out 12 years ago," Nigel Chapman, CEO of Plan International, writes in the Huffington Post's "Impact" blog.

17 Apr 2013

University of Manchester team to identify ways to improve maternal, child health in East Africa

Manchester midwives are to lead a major research project to improve midwifery services for women and babies in six East African countries.

16 Apr 2013

Blogs, opinion pieces recognize 1,000 day milestone until end of MDGs

April 5 marked 1,000 days until the end of the Millennium Development Goals, agreed to by the U.N. in 2000 as the world's first development agenda. International discussions are underway to determine the post-2015 development agenda.

9 Apr 2013

'Innovative' awareness campaigns on maternal health will push progress in Ghana

Despite international praise for Ghana's successful economic growth and its "reputation as a beacon of democracy in Africa," "4,000 women die every year and over 200,000 are disabled due to pregnancy-related complications," Kwesi Owusu, executive producer of the Maternal Health Channel television series, writes in a CNN opinion piece.

2 Apr 2013

Inflammation and epigenetics: an interview with Dr Belkina and Dr Denis, Boston University School of Medicine

Inflammation can be thought of as taking two major forms: acute or chronic. Acute inflammation, which can be painful, usually arises quickly and resolves quickly. It accompanies bacterial infections, traumatic injury and is useful to fight infections and promote healing.

28 Mar 2013

Determining the right questions for global health research

"Asking the right questions is the first step to generating the 'downstream' evidence needed for the implementation of health policies and practices, as my colleague E. Callie Raulfs-Wang described in her March 12 blog," Kristina Gryboski, technical adviser for the USAID Child Survival and Health Grants Program, writes in a post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," as part of the Global Health Research & Development Blog Series.

21 Mar 2013

Maternal vitamin D levels not found to affect children’s bone health

A study of nearly 4000 pairs of mothers and their children in the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol has shown that maternal vitamin D levels during pregnancy are not associated with the child’s bone health in later life. The research, published Online First in The Lancet, is the largest ever observational study of the effects of mothers’ vitamin D levels in pregnancy on their children’s bone health, and suggests that UK health guidelines may be overstating the importance of vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy.

20 Mar 2013

Non-invasive prenatal genetic screening: an interview with Dr. Charles Strom, Senior Medical Director, Quest Diagnostics

A new category of non-invasive genetic screening tests is gaining a great deal of interest in the medical field – including from Quest Diagnostics -- for its potential to help screen women during pregnancy for genetic abnormalities known as trisomies, the most common of which is Down syndrome.

From Quest Diagnostics 13 Mar 2013

Experts discuss elimination and prevention of all types of violence against women, girls

Scientists of the United States of America, Ireland, and Chile met this week in New York to discuss recent scientific evidence regarding abortion as a form of growing violence against women and girls.

11 Mar 2013

WASH Advocates, Maternal Health Task Force blog feature 'WASH & Women's Health' series

In "the first post in the series 'WASH & Women's Health,' which WASH Advocates is coordinating for the Maternal Health Task Force blog," Rebecca Fishman, director of operations and special projects at WASH Advocates, writes, "The blog series will be published ahead of International Women's Day (March 8), World Water Day (March 22), and during this United Nations-designed International Year of Water Cooperation.

28 Feb 2013

Quest Diagnostics offers access to a new non-invasive prenatal test developed by Natera

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX), the world’s leading diagnostic information services company, and Natera, a leading innovator in prenatal genetic testing, today announced that Quest Diagnostics will offer physicians access to Panorama™, a new non-invasive prenatal test developed by Natera.

From Quest Diagnostics 21 Feb 2013

Progress on reducing maternal mortality in Nigeria requires cooperation

Referencing the phrase "impatient optimists," coined by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Aminu Magashi, an adviser for the USAID-funded Targeted States High Impact Project, writes in Nigeria's Daily Trust, "Although in many developing countries, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 of improving maternal health by 2015 will not be achieved, we should all be optimistic and impatient to continue doing what we can to reduce the burden of maternal death which will positively reduce the burden of newborn and child mortality."

21 Feb 2013

U.K., Ugandan Government sign new healthcare alliance

A Ugandan-UK Healthcare Alliance, which will help improve health care for people living in the East African country, has been launched this week after being developed by a University of Manchester health professional.

From The University of Manchester 19 Feb 2013

Same 'bipartisan energy' surrounding PEPFAR needed to combat maternal mortality

Erin Thornton, executive director of Every Mother Counts, recalls her memories of President George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union announcement of PEPFAR in a Huffington Post "Global Motherhood" opinion piece.

16 Feb 2013

Opinion pieces, editorial address new report on effects of various policies on child, maternal health

The World Policy Analysis Centre recently released a report examining the effects of policies in a number of areas -- including health, education, discrimination, and labor laws -- on maternal and child health.

16 Feb 2013

Magazine examines maternal mortality in Africa; Ghanaian TV series aims to improve maternal health

The U.N.'s Africa Renewal reports on maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, citing a U.N. report released in May 2012, "Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2010," which "shows that maternal mortality has declined by 41 percent in the past 10 years in" the region.

15 Feb 2013

Blogs address IHME report on global health funding

"Last week, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) released 'Financing for Global Health: The End of the Golden Era?,' its fourth annual report analyzing trends in Development Assistance for Health (DAH) from 1990 through 2009, with estimates through 2011," the Maternal Health Task Force blog reports, noting, "One of the areas where there has been an increase in spending is the overall area of maternal, newborn and child health, including family planning." The blog outlines sections of the report that discuss MNCH funding.

14 Feb 2013

Valproate, pregnancy and IQ: an interview with Professor Kimford Meador

Valproate (sodium salt of valproic acid) is an anticonvulsant used in the treatment of epilepsy, migraine and bipolar disorder as well as some other off label psychiatric indications.

11 Feb 2013

'Impatient Optimists' blog reflects on recent Global Maternal Health Conference

In this post in the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Impatient Optimists" blog, Mariam Claeson, deputy director of maternal, newborn, and child health at the foundation; France Donnay, senior program officer for maternal, neonatal and child health at the foundation; and Melanie Walker, deputy director of global development special initiatives at the foundation, reflect on the Global Maternal Health Conference 2013, which took place recently in Arusha, Tanzania.

2 Feb 2013

Opinion pieces address Bill Gates' annual letter

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Wednesday released his annual letter.

1 Feb 2013