Maternal Health News and Research

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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

Health, policy experts gather for 3-day conference on family planning

By offering family planning services to people seeking HIV/AIDS information and treatment, Africa's population growth rate could be curbed by 2.5 percent, health experts said Monday during an international family health conference in Kampala, Uganda, Agence France-Presse reports (11/16).

18 Nov 2009

World's poorest countries fail to address HIV despite low cost and effective preventive health efforts

A proven and cost-effective strategy for turning the tide on global AIDS still remains significantly underutilized, World Vision warned in advance of World AIDS Day. Efforts to prevent mother-to-baby transmission of HIV must be urgently scaled up in high-prevalence countries to avoid needless infection of children, the Christian humanitarian organization said.

11 Nov 2009

WHO report calls for improved health care for women, girls

A new WHO report, released Monday, said women tend to "receive poorer quality care throughout their lives, particularly as teenagers and elderly people" even though they live six to eight years longer than men, Reuters reports. The WHO said women worldwide are "'denied a chance to develop their full human potential' because many of their critical medical needs are ignored" (MacInnis, 11/9).

10 Nov 2009

Rights group highlights maternal health issues in India

"India is falling behind other countries in meeting international commitments to improve obstetric care because it does not adequately monitor deaths and injuries in the critical period following childbirth and fix gaps in its health system and programmes," Human Rights Watch said Wednesday, the Hindu reports.

6 Nov 2009

Breastfeeding: ADA position paper details health benefits for both infants and mothers

The American Dietetic Association has released an updated position paper on breastfeeding that details health benefits for both infants and mothers and encourages promotion of breastfeeding whenever possible.

4 Nov 2009

Opinions: Obstetric fistula; malaria and climate change

In a New York Times opinion piece, columnist Nicholas Kristof examines a new plan to tackle obstetric fistula, "a childbirth injury, often suffered by a teenager in Africa or Asia whose pelvis is not fully grown." According to Kristof, "Just about the happiest thing that can happen to such a woman is an encounter with Dr. Lewis Wall, an ob-gyn at Washington University in St. Louis.

3 Nov 2009

Recent releases in Global Health

"Action always leads to reaction, a fundamental law of nature," write the authors of an introduction appearing in a Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (JAIDS) supplemental issue that focuses on global health systems.

30 Oct 2009

UNFPA maternal health conferences wrap up

Two United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) conferences this week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, gathered "international policymakers, government ministers, and lawmakers" to address the half a million maternal deaths annually, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports. Although the U.N. "hopes to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters between 1990 and 2015," this Millennium Development Goal target "has seen the least progress in recent years," the news organization writes.

29 Oct 2009

More than 150 health ministers meet in Ethiopia to discuss maternal mortality

At a U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, "[h]ealth ministers from around the world have agreed that swift action must be taken to reduce the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth," the BBC reports. While there appeared to be some agreement "that family planning was the most cost-effective way of [tackling] the problem ... no unanimous declaration was adopted at the Addis Ababa talks," according to the news service (10/26).

27 Oct 2009

Campaign seeks to hold governments accountable to meeting MDG targets

Inter Press Service examines the Stand Up Take Action campaign, which took place October 16-18 to highlight the Millennium Development Goals' [MDG] 2015 deadline.

19 Oct 2009

USAID awards Abt Associates 'Strengthening Health Outcomes Through Private Sector' grant

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded a five-year grant, Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector, to Abt Associates, Inc. Sub-recipients under the grant are Banyan Global, Jhpiego, Marie Stopes International, the Monitor Group, and O'Hanlon Health Consulting, LLC.

13 Oct 2009

'Tens of thousands' of pregnant Indian women die from 'preventable causes,' report says

Despite a government guarantee of free maternal health care, tens of thousands of pregnant women in India die from mostly "preventable causes," according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, released on Wednesday, the BBC reports.

9 Oct 2009

Health experts examine maternal mortality in Africa at conference

Inter Press Service reports on a discussion among health experts at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics' (FIGO) 19th World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Cape Town, South Africa, about maternal mortality rates in Africa. More than 2,000 gynecologists, obstetricians and other health workers are attending the conference, which runs from Oct. 4-9.

7 Oct 2009

More than 1 million babies worldwide born prematurely die in first month, Study says

Each year more than 1 million babies born prematurely - before 37 weeks of development in the womb or within the first month of life - the "March of Dimes said Sunday in the first comprehensive global report on premature births," CNN reports. Nearly 10 percent of total births worldwide, or 12.9 million infants, are preterm, the study found.

6 Oct 2009

Preterm birth rate continues to rise

More than one million infants die each year because they are born too early, according to the just released White Paper, The Global and Regional Toll of Preterm Birth.

5 Oct 2009