Maternal Health News and Research

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Experts call on international community to commit attention and resources to cervical cancer prevention

Women's health leaders today called on the international community to commit the resources needed to ensure that women and girls worldwide have equal access to cervical cancer prevention technologies. At the WOMEN DELIVER conference, the Declaration for Universal Access to Cervical Cancer Prevention was issued by leading women's health, cancer and business organizations, including PATH, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the International Union Against Cancer.

9 Jun 2010

Gates Foundation announces 5-year, $1.5 billion commitment for maternal, child health

During the Women Deliver conference on Monday Melinda Gates announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "will spend $1.5 billion over the next five years on maternal and child health, family planning and nutrition in developing countries, a pledge that signals a new focus for the foundation known for concentrating on vaccines and AIDS," the Wall Street Journal reports (Jordan, 6/7).

9 Jun 2010

Opinions: Improving maternal health

"Delivering A Better Future For Women and Girls," East African (Manguyu, 6/7).

8 Jun 2010

UNFPA, CARE partner to improve health of women and girls

Leaders from UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund, and CARE International announced today at the Women Deliver Conference an agreement to enhance collaboration on maternal health programs in more than 25 countries. This unique collaboration will bring together UNFPA's effective work with national governments and CARE's expertise in engaging local communities.

8 Jun 2010

G8 final communique draft shows agreement on maternal, child health initiative, funding amounts not yet set

A final communique draft completed last month for the upcoming G8 summit states that leaders will agree on a maternal health initiative that focuses on improving access to sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning, in the developing world, the Globe and Mail reports. The draft leaves "G8 countries free to decide whether their programs on reproductive health will fund abortions" (Clark, 6/4).

8 Jun 2010

U.N. Secretary-General, Sec. of State Clinton address Women Deliver conference

Governments worldwide should work with the U.N. on a joint action plan to significantly improve the health of women and children around the world by 2015, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a speech at the opening of the Women Deliver conference on Monday in Washington, DC, Agence France-Presse reports.

8 Jun 2010

British PM calls for G8, G20 to reduce maternal mortality, announces new health worker training fund

In a Guardian opinion piece, published on Thursday, British Prime Minister David Cameron says G8 and G20 nations should reduce maternal mortality in developing countries and set "'an ambitious target' of saving three million more lives by 2015," the Guardian reports (Watt, 6/3).

5 Jun 2010

SOGC urges strategy for preventing deaths during delivery, childbirth

As the G8 approaches, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) is urging the Canadian government to recognize that a strategy on maternal and child health must focus on preventing deaths during delivery and childbirth as 80% of maternal deaths in low-resource countries take place at that time.

4 Jun 2010

Canada willing to spend $1B on G8 maternal, child health initiative

Canada has told other G8 countries that it "is willing to put about $1 billion toward maternal and child health - as long as other countries ante up, too," the Canadian Press/Winnipeg Free Press reports.

2 Jun 2010

Obama's National Security Strategy released, includes global health, food security priorities

"The Obama administration on Thursday released a sweeping statement of its national security goals," the Los Angeles Times reports. The 52-page document "calls for the United States to strengthen international institutions, to heed treaties and norms, and to build stronger ties to allies, including to the emerging powers of India, Brazil and China.

29 May 2010

Globe and Mail examines links between maternal health, HIV/AIDS ahead of G8 summit

"While the G8 is putting maternal health at the top of its agenda for next month's summit, fears are growing that the club of wealthy nations is neglecting one of the biggest killers of women: AIDS," the Globe and Mail reports in a piece that examines the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and what the newspaper describes as the G8's "backtracking" on previous pledges to provide universal access HIV/AIDS drugs.

29 May 2010

G8 summit recommendations: Funding and resources for maternal, child health must be increased

Governments and other organizations must intensify efforts to improve the health of women and children, particularly in the developing world where the lion's share of deaths occur, says Dr. Philip Baker, an internationally renowned medical researcher in obstetrics & gynecology. Baker is the lead author on a G8 positioning paper that included consultations with 20 of the world's leading medical experts on women and children's health.

27 May 2010

Global scientific research organizations release recommendations for how G8 should improve maternal, child health

The Royal Society of Canada, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and other scientific research organizations from around the world released a statement on Tuesday with recommendations for G8 countries on how to improve the health of women and children worldwide, the Toronto Star reports.

27 May 2010

With 7.7M child deaths expected this year, study finds global child deaths falling faster than expected

Researchers estimate that 7.7 million children under the age of 5 will die this year, an indication that global child deaths "seem to have fallen faster than officials thought," according to a study, published online Monday in the Lancet, the Associated Press reports (Cheng, 5/23).

25 May 2010

To achieve MDGs, economic policies must help poor, UNDP head says

Economic policies that help the poor will bring the world closer to meeting the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] - "[g]lobal targets to halve poverty and improve basic health by 2015," Helen Clark, the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) administrator, said Friday at the end of a four-nation tour of Africa, Agence France-Presse reports.

17 May 2010

Recent releases in Global Health

As the 193 WHO member states gather at next week's World Health Assembly (WHA) "a draft global code of practice on the international recruitment of health personnel will be on the agenda. Negotiation and adoption of a WHO code of practice is an unprecedented opportunity to advance global consensus to address the critical challenges of migration of health workers and its effect on health systems worldwide," the authors of a Lancet Comment write.

15 May 2010

U.N. Secretary-General discusses G8, G20 commitments during visit to Ottawa

On Wednesday, ahead of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed several topics in a "speech warning that leaders of the G8 and G20 countries should not use global economic and financial difficulties as 'an excuse' to neglect previous pledges of billions of dollars for the world's poor - for doubling aid to Africa, food security, malaria and AIDS programs and maternal and child health care," Canwest News Service/Calgary Herald writes (O'Neill, 5/12).

14 May 2010

Scientists discover link between offspring lung function and maternal vitamin A supplementation

Vitamin A is critical to maternal health and child survival, yet in most developing countries Vitamin A deficiency is a leading cause of blindness and increased child mortality. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has long been a leader in vitamin A research, and scientists at the School recently discovered a link between offspring lung function and maternal vitamin A supplementation.

13 May 2010

Opinions: Abortion in Canada's G8 initiative; Security of Afghan women; U.S. global development strategy; Mother's Day; U.S. food security initiative; Polio eradication

National Post columnist Jonathan Kay examines the ongoing debate over whether Canada's G8 child and maternal health initiative should include abortions, which according to a 2006 Oxford University Press-World Bank report, are "one small chunk of a bigger puzzle. A much larger problem, in terms of the number of female lives affected, is the decidedly less headline-grabbing subject of hemorrhages - which include antepartun hemorrhages … and primary postpartum hemorrhages.

12 May 2010

Globe and Mail special issue examines Africa, includes look ahead at G20 meeting, interview with Pres. Obama

The Globe and Mail examines Ethiopia and Malawi's role in next month's G20 talks in Toronto, Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has invited both countries to participate in the meeting, which could significantly affect Africa because it has become the "premier forum for confronting global economic problems and for co-ordinating solutions," according to the Globe and Mail.

11 May 2010

Maternal Health News and Research

Experts call on international community to commit attention and resources to cervical cancer prevention

Gates Foundation announces 5-year, $1.5 billion commitment for maternal, child health

Opinions: Improving maternal health

UNFPA, CARE partner to improve health of women and girls

G8 final communique draft shows agreement on maternal, child health initiative, funding amounts not yet set

U.N. Secretary-General, Sec. of State Clinton address Women Deliver conference

British PM calls for G8, G20 to reduce maternal mortality, announces new health worker training fund

SOGC urges strategy for preventing deaths during delivery, childbirth

Canada willing to spend $1B on G8 maternal, child health initiative

Obama's National Security Strategy released, includes global health, food security priorities

Globe and Mail examines links between maternal health, HIV/AIDS ahead of G8 summit

G8 summit recommendations: Funding and resources for maternal, child health must be increased

Global scientific research organizations release recommendations for how G8 should improve maternal, child health

With 7.7M child deaths expected this year, study finds global child deaths falling faster than expected

To achieve MDGs, economic policies must help poor, UNDP head says

Recent releases in Global Health

U.N. Secretary-General discusses G8, G20 commitments during visit to Ottawa

Scientists discover link between offspring lung function and maternal vitamin A supplementation

Opinions: Abortion in Canada's G8 initiative; Security of Afghan women; U.S. global development strategy; Mother's Day; U.S. food security initiative; Polio eradication

Globe and Mail special issue examines Africa, includes look ahead at G20 meeting, interview with Pres. Obama

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