Earlier this week, the Department for International Development (DFID) announced a public consultation focused on reproductive, maternal and newborn health. The goal of the consultation is to gather views and opinions from around the world to inform their forthcoming business plan for improving reproductive, maternal and neonatal health.
“We particularly want to hear what people in the UK and around the world have to say on the subject of reproductive, maternal and newborn health. We want to know more about your views, opinions and experiences. This will help us to understand different viewpoints, how these issues might vary in different countries, and how DFID could work better with partners….”
There are four ways to participate in the public consultation: take a short survey, provide in-depth feedback, email a response, or facilitate a group discussion.
Click here to participate–and to learn more about how the consultation works.
Click here to read more about the forthcoming business plan for reproductive, maternal and neonatal health.
DFID Launches Public Consultation on Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health
Thursday, July 29th, 2010 by KateMitch
Virtual Forum: Join WHO in a 2 Week Discussion on Prevention of Maternal and Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity
Sunday, July 25th, 2010 by KateMitch
The World Health Organization (WHO) invites you to join the WHO Guidance Global Discussion Forum on Prevention of Maternal and Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity.
The online forum will be held from July 26th – August 6th, 2010.
The 2 week virtual discussion forum is designed to provide an opportunity for people to share their ideas, experience and opinions about the type of evidence-based guidance WHO should produce in order to support the reduction of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity.
Over the two-week forum participants will receive one to two emails per day: one email to introduce the day’s questions, and one daily digest of the contributions. Five questions will be addressed, and each discussed over two consecutive days. All contributions received will be acknowledged.
For any questions on this Virtual Global Discussion Forum please contact the forum facilitator: Cordelia Coltart at coltartc@who.int.
Click here for official announcement and invitation to the discussion forum.
REGISTER NOW!
The Maternal Health Task Announces New Grants, Innovative Maternal Health Projects to Inform National Policies
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 by KateMitch
NEW YORK, July 22—The Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth announced today that it has awarded eight new grants supporting innovative maternal health projects across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The projects, which will be carried out by local organizations in developing countries, will lead to national policy recommendations for improving maternal health.
Each 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:
In Bangladesh, scientists and nonscientists will collaborate at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) in translating new and existing knowledge about maternal health into proposals to improve government policies and practices. They will seek consensus on identifying key questions raised by three recent research programs, ensure access to the findings, reach out to national policymakers, and build ICDDR,B capacity and visibility for future work in knowledge translation.
In India, the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) will combat India’s high maternal mortality and morbidity rates by demonstrating the value of integrating maternal health programs into HIV and AIDS programs. Using forums, workshops, and consultations, CEDPA will evaluate existing programs of the government’s National Rural Health Mission, the National AIDS Control Programme, and the National Health Policy Administration in the Rajasthan area, to compile best practices and build consensus on a set of recommendations for policymakers.
In Malawi, the MaiMwana project will be a pilot effort to strengthen the current inadequate Maternal Death Review (MDR) system with a village-level program of maternal death audits. Kamuzu Central Hospital and the Mchinji District Hospital will support the formation of three-member MDR teams in each village to conduct a verbal autopsy (a structured interview) among relatives and neighbors within two days of every maternal death. Improved data will allow better analysis and service improvements and will contribute to recommendations to the Ministry of Health for a national audit procedure.
In Mexico, the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social (CIESAS) is conducting an assessment of the Ministry of Health’s Advanced Life Support for Obstetrics Program (ALSO), which manages delivery emergencies in Oaxaca. CIESAS will determine whether ALSO courses improve the technical skills and professional morale of health care providers enough to justify expanding the program nationwide.
In Peru, Future Generations, in partnership with the Peruvian Ministry of Health, will field test promising methods of reducing maternal and newborn mortality by organizing groups of pregnant women to share their pregnancy histories and experiences. In a controlled trial involving 500 pregnant women, health workers will guide the discussions, document benefits, develop a training manual and materials for possible nationwide use, hold workshops on the materials, and advocate for policy change.
In South Africa and Kenya, the mothers2mothers program, which offers education and emotional support to pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV, will field test “active client follow-up” to increase the number of HIV-positive pregnant women who return to a health care facility for care after an initial visit. In much of Africa, the return rate is low, posing a major obstacle to preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Mothers2mothers will use peer “mentor mothers” to send text messages or cell phone calls to previously contacted pregnant women to urge them to make return visits. Best practices will be collected for integration into the mothers2mothers standard model used continent-wide.
In Sri Lanka, the Department of Community Medicine at Rajarata University will work to improve the collection of data on the impact of maternal death and postpartum illness, a process that is now limited to hospital reports. University researchers will develop a survey questionnaire for field testing among a sample of expectant mothers in the resource-poor Anuradhapura District, where maternal mortality rates are high. Researchers will analyze the frequency and prevalence of health events and their direct and indirect economic impacts on families, to contribute to national service delivery planning.
In Tanzania, the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) will seek to improve emergency care for pregnant women and newborns by providing free cellular phones and business-related services for mid-level health care providers, to allow better communication with distant emergency obstetric specialists. Cooperating with district councils and a local telecommunications company IHI will evaluate the cost, feasibility, and implementation issues that arise if health workers at the district level have better access to long-distance counseling, faster referrals and resupply services, and emergency clinical support.
EngenderHealth is a leading international reproductive health organization working to improve the quality of health care in the world’s poorest communities. EngenderHealth empowers people to make informed choices about contraception, trains health care providers to make motherhood safer, promotes gender equity, enhances the quality of HIV and AIDS services, and advocates for positive policy change. The nonprofit organization works in partnership with governments, institutions, communities, and health care professionals in more than 20 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.engenderhealth.org.
The Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth brings together existing maternal health initiatives and engages new organizations to facilitate global coordination of maternal health evidence, programs, and policies. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Maternal Health Task Force convenes stakeholders and creates an inclusive setting to engage in dialogue, build consensus, foster innovation, and share information. For more information, visit www.maternalhealthtaskforce.org.
Contact:
Tim Thomas, Maternal Health Task Force/EngenderHealth
646-436-6555, tthomas@engenderhealth.org
The Impact of Maternal Mortality and Morbidity on Economic Development
Monday, July 19th, 2010 by KateMitch
Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative, the Maternal Health Task Force, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the sixth event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health.
featuring
Mayra Buvinic, Sector Director Gender and Development Group, World Bank
Dr. Nomonde Xundu, Health Attaché Embassy of South Africa in Washington DC
Mary Ellen Stanton, Senior Maternal Health Advisor, U.S. Agency for International Development
July 29, 2010
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
5th Floor Conference Room
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.
Investing in women and girls health is smart economics. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) women contribute to a majority of small businesses in the developing world and their unpaid work on the farm and at home account for one-third of the world’s GDP. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that maternal and newborn deaths cost the world $15 billion in lost productivity.
Mayra Buvinic, sector director of the gender and development group of the World Bank, will address the economic impact of maternal deaths and the role of education and gender equality on economic development. Dr. Nomonde Xundu, health attaché at the Embassy of South Africa in Washington DC will discuss the policy implications of maternal health and share lessons learned in empowering women and girl’s economic status in South Africa. Mary Ellen Stanton, senior maternal health advisor of USAID, will present the foreign policy and economic case for increased donor investment in maternal health.
About the Maternal Health Policy Series
The reproductive and maternal health community finds itself at a critical point, drawing increased attention and funding, but still confronting more than a half million deaths each year and a high unmet need for family planning. The Policy Dialogue series seeks to galvanize the community by focusing on important issues within the maternal health community.
The Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative is pleased to present this series with its co-conveners, the Maternal Health Task Force and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and is grateful to USAID’s Bureau for Global Health for further technical assistance.
If you are interested, but unable to attend the event, please tune into the live or archived webcast at www.wilsoncenter.org. The webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time. You will need Windows Media Player to watch the webcast. To download the free player, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.
Location: Woodrow Wilson Center at the Ronald Reagan Building: 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (”Federal Triangle” stop on Blue/Orange Line), 5th floor conference room. A map to the Center is available at www.wilsoncenter.org/directions. Note: Photo identification is required to enter the building. Please allow additional time to pass through security.
Girls Discovered: Global Mapping of Adolescent Girls
Monday, July 19th, 2010 by KateMitch
This post was originally posted on Maternal Mortality Daily.
I recently learned about a great resource for those working to improve the lives of women and girls, Girls Discovered: Global Maps of Adolescent Girls. The website has three main sections: Maps and Data, Sunita’s Story, and Take Action. The project is a collaborative effort of the Coalition for Adolescent Girls and Maplecroft.
The Maps and Data section has a nearly endless number of interactive maps and data sets focused on adolescent girls around the world across a number of health, education, social, economic, and population indices. Several of the maps provide interesting information about maternal health or issues impacting maternal health around the world–such as abortion legalization, age specific fertility, global anemia rates, births attended by skilled personnel, and several more.
Sunita’s Story seamlessly combines photos and narrative with maps and data to tell the personal story of one girl in India, Sunita, while also presenting the national burden and geographic distribution of the issues that she faces throughout her life.
The Take Action section has three PDF downloadable plans for taking action to address many of the issues facing adolescent girls that are mapped on the site. There is a global action plan, a national action plan for India, and a local action plan for India.
Description of the project:
“The welfare of adolescent girls is crucial in determining economic and social outcomes for countries today, and in the future. For girls to become healthy mothers, productive citizens and economic contributors, their unique needs must be seen and understood.
Yet today, adolescent girls are undercounted and so underserved. Counting them is the first step to increasing their visibility.
Girls Discovered takes that first step. As a comprehensive source of maps and data on the status of adolescent girls worldwide, Girls Discovered helps donors, policy makers and implementing agencies target their investments.
This one-stop shop for information on adolescent girls is sourced from organizations operating in the public interest, and is meant for researchers, practitioners, advocates, policy-makers and the public – anyone who seeks change for the world’s 600 million adolescent girls.”
Mapping for Maternal Health:
A number of organizations have recently started using mapping technologies to provide visual representation of research and data while others are using mapping tools to link organizations working in maternal health in an effort to build a stronger and more interconnected community of maternal health professionals.
Here is a brief list of interesting maternal health mapping projects, including the three MHTF maternal health maps:
- Countries Resized Relative to Maternal Deaths (Show World)
- Girls Discovered: Global Maps of Adolescent Girls
- Interactive Map Highlighting Maternal Mortality Over Time (IHME)
- JSI Initiatives to Improve Women’s Health (John Snow, Inc)
- Mapping Maternal Health (Maternova)
- Maternal Health Knowledge Hubs (MHTF)
- Maternal Mortality (WorldMapper)
- MPH Programs Offering a Concentration in Maternal Health (MHTF)
- Organizations Working in Maternal Health (MHTF)
- Static Maps Illustrating Annual Rates of Change in MMR (IHME)
For more information on the mapping activities of the Maternal Health Task Force, click here.
If you know of other maternal health mapping initiatives, please let us know in the comments section of this post!
Top 5 Highlights from the Women Deliver 2010 Conference
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by KateMitch
On July 1st 2010, the Women Deliver team announced the top five highlights from the Women Deliver 2010 Conference. See below for a message from our friends at Women Deliver–with a great summary of what happened at the conference and useful links to learn more about each of the highlights.
Conference participants at Women Deliver 2010.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the second Women Deliver global conference. To put world leaders on notice that the time for action on maternal health is now, 3,400 advocates, policymakers, development leaders, health care professionals, youth, and media from 146 countries converged on Washington, DC on June 7-9 at Women Deliver 2010. More than 800 speeches and presentations were given at the six plenaries and 120 breakout sessions. The heads of five UN agencies, plus the Secretary-General of the United Nations, attended. Thirty countries, UN agencies, the World Bank, corporations, and foundations helped support Women Deliver. Please see below for highlights and recaps of the conference.
1. Key Statements. Read the outcome statements from the:
- The Minister’s Forum
- The Parliamentarians
- The First Ladies of Ghana, Sierra Leone and Zanzibar
2. Webcasts. Watch the videos from our plenary sessions and our press conferences, and watch Hillary Clinton’s address to the Women Deliver 2010 attendees.
3. Photos. Take a look at photos from the plenary sessions, breakout sessions and other conference events, and download them at no cost.
4. Programme. Review the plenary and breakout sessions that were held at Women Deliver 2010.
5. Publications and Advocacy Tools. Visit our Knowledge Center to download publications and advocacy tools, including:
- Women Deliver 2010 Pocket Card for fast facts on how women deliver for the world.
- Why It’s the Right Time: Moving on Reproductive Health Goals by Focusing on Adolescent Girls, the background paper on how promoting girls’ sexual and reproductive health brings us closer to achieving the MDGs.
- Targeting poverty and gender inequality to improve maternal heath, the background paper on the ways in which poverty and gender inequality pose significant barriers to maternal health care access and utilization, and thereby impact maternal mortality.
Stay tuned for our summary report on breakout sessions by theme.
Global Maternal Health Conference 2010: July 6th Update
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by KateMitch
From the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010 co-organizers: The Public Health Foundation of India and the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth.
An exciting program for the Global Maternal Health Conference is taking shape. The conference will cover 6 themes: maternal health interventions and programs, underlying factors affecting maternal health, measurement–trends and methods, reproductive health, health systems, and policy and advocacy.
Registration for a limited number of participants will open July 15. Check here for updates.
Internship Opportunity to Research the Use of the NASG to Prevent Maternal Death in Zambia
Thursday, July 1st, 2010 by KateMitch
The application process is now closed for this position. (7/22/10)
The Safe Motherhood Program at UCSF is accepting applications for an upcoming internship opportunity in the Copper-belt of Zambia. The intern(s) (2 or more interns are needed) will support the start-up of a randomized control trial of the Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) in 24 midwifery-led clinics as a low-tech and low-cost life-saving method for treating shock, resuscitating, stabilizing and preventing further bleeding in women with obstetric hemorrhage.
See below for background information on the Safe Motherhood Program and the use of the NASG–as well as details on the internship including expected deliverables, qualifications, timeline, and information on how to apply.
Background
The mission of Safe Motherhood Program at the University of California, San Francisco, is to prevent maternal deaths by promoting women’s health and human rights. This international research program is part of the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, which engages in the advancement of new reproductive health technologies and development of innovative programs to improve reproductive health. The Safe Motherhood Program is also a member of the Women’s Health and Empowerment Center of Expertise (COE), one of three centers within the University of California Global Health Institute. The primary goals of the Safe Motherhood Program are to:
- Conduct rigorous, relevant and timely research resulting in new and applicable knowledge
- Reduce pregnancy related death and disability
- Ensure maternal survival through principles of respect, dignity and equality
- Create direct and practical links from research to policy to implementation
- Train health care workers in low-resource settings
- Raise community awareness of maternal health
- Disseminate information and innovations globally
Working with distinguished colleagues in a variety of countries, the Safe Motherhood Program has the knowledge, skills, vision, technology, and energy to make a real difference in the advancement of women’s reproductive health throughout the world.
Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG)
In many poor countries women deliver at home, often without skilled attendants or at clinics with limited services available. If complications arise and a woman bleeds heavily, one, two or all of the “three delays” (Thaddeus and Maine, 1994) may impede her ability to access timely treatment. Many women do not survive these delays. In recognition of the direct and indirect root causes of maternal death and disability, the Safe Motherhood Program works to ensure all women have an equitable opportunity to survive childbirth.
A major research effort of the Safe Motherhood Program, the NASG is a low-technology and low cost life-saving device used to treat shock, resuscitate, stabilize and prevent further bleeding in women with obstetric hemorrhage (www.lifewraps.org). Use of the NASG as part of standard management of shock and hemorrhage has demonstrated promising outcomes for women in low-resource settings, where appropriate health care providers and technologies are limited or non-existent. To date, NASG use has reduced maternal mortality and morbidity by over 50%.
Internship Opportunity
To build upon the early and promising data, a randomized cluster trial is underway in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Specifically, the trial addresses the question of whether the early application of the NASG at midwife-led maternity clinics, before transport to a Referral Hospital, will decrease maternal mortality and morbidity.
The internship will take place in the Copper-belt of Zambia and support the start-up of the randomized control trial of the NASG in 24 midwifery-led maternity clinics. The intern(s) (2 or more interns are needed) will work with the clinics during their transition from Phase 2 study (women with obstetrical complications transported to referral facility) to Phase 3 of the research study (women with obstetrical complications transported to referral facility in the NASG). Specific activities will include: Observing clinical procedures at the clinics and supporting clinical protocol adherence, observing data collection and supporting research protocol adherence, helping/training data collectors become familiar with data collection forms, matching data collection forms begun at the clinic with data collection forms completed at the referral facilities, supervising cleaning and completion of data collection forms, and training new providers (midwives, residents, medical officers) in the addition of the NASG to emergency response for hemorrhage.
The intern(s) will receive mentorship and supervision from the Safe Motherhood team members both in Zambia and in the US during the field experience.
Deliverables
Weekly reports on progress, participation in weekly calls/Skype with Project Coordinator are expected.
Qualifications
Professional degree, graduate student or junior faculty in the health or social sciences (such as medicine, nursing, public health, anthropology, sociology, etc.)
Previous experience in health or social science research
Knowledge of global sexual and reproductive health, maternal health preferred
Ability to work well with partners
Flexibility and willingness to travel
Highest preference for those with some midwifery/obstetric experience or those who have worked on field-based research projects
Timeline
The internship requires a minimum eight-week commitment (Fall 2010 – Winter 2011) to live and work in Zambia. Preference will be given to applicants who can remain in Zambia longer than 8-weeks.
Expression of Interest
To apply for the internship, please send a current resume and cover letter to Ms. Elizabeth Butrick (ebutrick@globalhealth.ucsf.edu) with copy to Ms. Jennifer Clark (JClark@globalhealth.ucsf.edu) by August 15, 2010.
For more information on the use of the NASG (specifically the LifeWrap), check out a recent guest post from the Director of the Safe Motherhood Project, Suellen Miller, on the Maternal Health Task Force’s new MedScape blog, GlobalMama. (You will need to register with MedScape. Registration is free.)
Also, take a look at www.lifewrap.org for additional information about LifeWraps.
The LifeWrap: A First-Aid Device to Address Obstetric Hemorrhage
Thursday, July 1st, 2010 by KateMitch
Recently the Maternal Health Task Force launched a new blog, GlobalMama, on Medscape that provides the vast MedScape audience with insights from the MHTF into the maternal health field. We are excited to introduce our first GlobalMama guest blogger, Dr. Suellen Miller, Director of the Safe Motherhood Program at the University of California, to our readers. In her first post, Dr. Miller writes about a first-aid device called a LifeWrap, used to address obstetric hemorrhage. See below for an excerpt of her post–and please visit GlobalMama to read the full post.
More than 600 women die for every 100,000 live births in Zambia. Here a woman is being treated in the LifeWrap
“…We are researching a first-aid device called the LifeWrap (generic name, the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, NASG) which can save the lives of women with obstetric hemorrhage. This device, resembling the lower half of a wetsuit, is an amazing tool that health care providers use to resuscitate women in shock, decrease bleeding, and stabilize them during transport and delays which may otherwise claim their lives…”
Visit GlobalMama, the new blog of the Maternal Health Task Force, to read the full post.
DFID Launches Public Consultation on Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health
Thursday, July 29th, 2010 by KateMitch
Virtual Forum: Join WHO in a 2 Week Discussion on Prevention of Maternal and Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity
Sunday, July 25th, 2010 by KateMitchThe World Health Organization (WHO) invites you to join the WHO Guidance Global Discussion Forum on Prevention of Maternal and Perinatal Mortality and Morbidity.
The online forum will be held from July 26th – August 6th, 2010.
The 2 week virtual discussion forum is designed to provide an opportunity for people to share their ideas, experience and opinions about the type of evidence-based guidance WHO should produce in order to support the reduction of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity.
Over the two-week forum participants will receive one to two emails per day: one email to introduce the day’s questions, and one daily digest of the contributions. Five questions will be addressed, and each discussed over two consecutive days. All contributions received will be acknowledged.
For any questions on this Virtual Global Discussion Forum please contact the forum facilitator: Cordelia Coltart at coltartc@who.int.
Click here for official announcement and invitation to the discussion forum.
REGISTER NOW!
The Maternal Health Task Announces New Grants, Innovative Maternal Health Projects to Inform National Policies
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 by KateMitch
NEW YORK, July 22—The Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth announced today that it has awarded eight new grants supporting innovative maternal health projects across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The projects, which will be carried out by local organizations in developing countries, will lead to national policy recommendations for improving maternal health.
Each 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:
In Bangladesh, scientists and nonscientists will collaborate at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) in translating new and existing knowledge about maternal health into proposals to improve government policies and practices. They will seek consensus on identifying key questions raised by three recent research programs, ensure access to the findings, reach out to national policymakers, and build ICDDR,B capacity and visibility for future work in knowledge translation.
In India, the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) will combat India’s high maternal mortality and morbidity rates by demonstrating the value of integrating maternal health programs into HIV and AIDS programs. Using forums, workshops, and consultations, CEDPA will evaluate existing programs of the government’s National Rural Health Mission, the National AIDS Control Programme, and the National Health Policy Administration in the Rajasthan area, to compile best practices and build consensus on a set of recommendations for policymakers.
In Malawi, the MaiMwana project will be a pilot effort to strengthen the current inadequate Maternal Death Review (MDR) system with a village-level program of maternal death audits. Kamuzu Central Hospital and the Mchinji District Hospital will support the formation of three-member MDR teams in each village to conduct a verbal autopsy (a structured interview) among relatives and neighbors within two days of every maternal death. Improved data will allow better analysis and service improvements and will contribute to recommendations to the Ministry of Health for a national audit procedure.
In Mexico, the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropologia Social (CIESAS) is conducting an assessment of the Ministry of Health’s Advanced Life Support for Obstetrics Program (ALSO), which manages delivery emergencies in Oaxaca. CIESAS will determine whether ALSO courses improve the technical skills and professional morale of health care providers enough to justify expanding the program nationwide.
In Peru, Future Generations, in partnership with the Peruvian Ministry of Health, will field test promising methods of reducing maternal and newborn mortality by organizing groups of pregnant women to share their pregnancy histories and experiences. In a controlled trial involving 500 pregnant women, health workers will guide the discussions, document benefits, develop a training manual and materials for possible nationwide use, hold workshops on the materials, and advocate for policy change.
In South Africa and Kenya, the mothers2mothers program, which offers education and emotional support to pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV, will field test “active client follow-up” to increase the number of HIV-positive pregnant women who return to a health care facility for care after an initial visit. In much of Africa, the return rate is low, posing a major obstacle to preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Mothers2mothers will use peer “mentor mothers” to send text messages or cell phone calls to previously contacted pregnant women to urge them to make return visits. Best practices will be collected for integration into the mothers2mothers standard model used continent-wide.
In Sri Lanka, the Department of Community Medicine at Rajarata University will work to improve the collection of data on the impact of maternal death and postpartum illness, a process that is now limited to hospital reports. University researchers will develop a survey questionnaire for field testing among a sample of expectant mothers in the resource-poor Anuradhapura District, where maternal mortality rates are high. Researchers will analyze the frequency and prevalence of health events and their direct and indirect economic impacts on families, to contribute to national service delivery planning.
In Tanzania, the Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) will seek to improve emergency care for pregnant women and newborns by providing free cellular phones and business-related services for mid-level health care providers, to allow better communication with distant emergency obstetric specialists. Cooperating with district councils and a local telecommunications company IHI will evaluate the cost, feasibility, and implementation issues that arise if health workers at the district level have better access to long-distance counseling, faster referrals and resupply services, and emergency clinical support.
EngenderHealth is a leading international reproductive health organization working to improve the quality of health care in the world’s poorest communities. EngenderHealth empowers people to make informed choices about contraception, trains health care providers to make motherhood safer, promotes gender equity, enhances the quality of HIV and AIDS services, and advocates for positive policy change. The nonprofit organization works in partnership with governments, institutions, communities, and health care professionals in more than 20 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.engenderhealth.org.
The Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth brings together existing maternal health initiatives and engages new organizations to facilitate global coordination of maternal health evidence, programs, and policies. Supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Maternal Health Task Force convenes stakeholders and creates an inclusive setting to engage in dialogue, build consensus, foster innovation, and share information. For more information, visit www.maternalhealthtaskforce.org.
Contact:
Tim Thomas, Maternal Health Task Force/EngenderHealth
646-436-6555, tthomas@engenderhealth.org
The Impact of Maternal Mortality and Morbidity on Economic Development
Monday, July 19th, 2010 by KateMitchPlease join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative, the Maternal Health Task Force, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the sixth event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health.
featuring
Mayra Buvinic, Sector Director Gender and Development Group, World Bank
Dr. Nomonde Xundu, Health Attaché Embassy of South Africa in Washington DC
Mary Ellen Stanton, Senior Maternal Health Advisor, U.S. Agency for International Development
July 29, 2010
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
5th Floor Conference Room
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.
Investing in women and girls health is smart economics. According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) women contribute to a majority of small businesses in the developing world and their unpaid work on the farm and at home account for one-third of the world’s GDP. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) estimates that maternal and newborn deaths cost the world $15 billion in lost productivity.
Mayra Buvinic, sector director of the gender and development group of the World Bank, will address the economic impact of maternal deaths and the role of education and gender equality on economic development. Dr. Nomonde Xundu, health attaché at the Embassy of South Africa in Washington DC will discuss the policy implications of maternal health and share lessons learned in empowering women and girl’s economic status in South Africa. Mary Ellen Stanton, senior maternal health advisor of USAID, will present the foreign policy and economic case for increased donor investment in maternal health.
About the Maternal Health Policy Series
The reproductive and maternal health community finds itself at a critical point, drawing increased attention and funding, but still confronting more than a half million deaths each year and a high unmet need for family planning. The Policy Dialogue series seeks to galvanize the community by focusing on important issues within the maternal health community.
The Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative is pleased to present this series with its co-conveners, the Maternal Health Task Force and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and is grateful to USAID’s Bureau for Global Health for further technical assistance.
If you are interested, but unable to attend the event, please tune into the live or archived webcast at www.wilsoncenter.org. The webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time. You will need Windows Media Player to watch the webcast. To download the free player, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download.
Location: Woodrow Wilson Center at the Ronald Reagan Building: 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW (”Federal Triangle” stop on Blue/Orange Line), 5th floor conference room. A map to the Center is available at www.wilsoncenter.org/directions. Note: Photo identification is required to enter the building. Please allow additional time to pass through security.
Girls Discovered: Global Mapping of Adolescent Girls
Monday, July 19th, 2010 by KateMitchThis post was originally posted on Maternal Mortality Daily.
I recently learned about a great resource for those working to improve the lives of women and girls, Girls Discovered: Global Maps of Adolescent Girls. The website has three main sections: Maps and Data, Sunita’s Story, and Take Action. The project is a collaborative effort of the Coalition for Adolescent Girls and Maplecroft.
The Maps and Data section has a nearly endless number of interactive maps and data sets focused on adolescent girls around the world across a number of health, education, social, economic, and population indices. Several of the maps provide interesting information about maternal health or issues impacting maternal health around the world–such as abortion legalization, age specific fertility, global anemia rates, births attended by skilled personnel, and several more.
Sunita’s Story seamlessly combines photos and narrative with maps and data to tell the personal story of one girl in India, Sunita, while also presenting the national burden and geographic distribution of the issues that she faces throughout her life.
The Take Action section has three PDF downloadable plans for taking action to address many of the issues facing adolescent girls that are mapped on the site. There is a global action plan, a national action plan for India, and a local action plan for India.
Description of the project:
“The welfare of adolescent girls is crucial in determining economic and social outcomes for countries today, and in the future. For girls to become healthy mothers, productive citizens and economic contributors, their unique needs must be seen and understood.
Yet today, adolescent girls are undercounted and so underserved. Counting them is the first step to increasing their visibility.
Girls Discovered takes that first step. As a comprehensive source of maps and data on the status of adolescent girls worldwide, Girls Discovered helps donors, policy makers and implementing agencies target their investments.
This one-stop shop for information on adolescent girls is sourced from organizations operating in the public interest, and is meant for researchers, practitioners, advocates, policy-makers and the public – anyone who seeks change for the world’s 600 million adolescent girls.”
Mapping for Maternal Health:
A number of organizations have recently started using mapping technologies to provide visual representation of research and data while others are using mapping tools to link organizations working in maternal health in an effort to build a stronger and more interconnected community of maternal health professionals.
Here is a brief list of interesting maternal health mapping projects, including the three MHTF maternal health maps:
- Countries Resized Relative to Maternal Deaths (Show World)
- Girls Discovered: Global Maps of Adolescent Girls
- Interactive Map Highlighting Maternal Mortality Over Time (IHME)
- JSI Initiatives to Improve Women’s Health (John Snow, Inc)
- Mapping Maternal Health (Maternova)
- Maternal Health Knowledge Hubs (MHTF)
- Maternal Mortality (WorldMapper)
- MPH Programs Offering a Concentration in Maternal Health (MHTF)
- Organizations Working in Maternal Health (MHTF)
- Static Maps Illustrating Annual Rates of Change in MMR (IHME)
For more information on the mapping activities of the Maternal Health Task Force, click here.
If you know of other maternal health mapping initiatives, please let us know in the comments section of this post!
Top 5 Highlights from the Women Deliver 2010 Conference
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by KateMitchOn July 1st 2010, the Women Deliver team announced the top five highlights from the Women Deliver 2010 Conference. See below for a message from our friends at Women Deliver–with a great summary of what happened at the conference and useful links to learn more about each of the highlights.
Conference participants at Women Deliver 2010.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the second Women Deliver global conference. To put world leaders on notice that the time for action on maternal health is now, 3,400 advocates, policymakers, development leaders, health care professionals, youth, and media from 146 countries converged on Washington, DC on June 7-9 at Women Deliver 2010. More than 800 speeches and presentations were given at the six plenaries and 120 breakout sessions. The heads of five UN agencies, plus the Secretary-General of the United Nations, attended. Thirty countries, UN agencies, the World Bank, corporations, and foundations helped support Women Deliver. Please see below for highlights and recaps of the conference.
1. Key Statements. Read the outcome statements from the:
- The Minister’s Forum
- The Parliamentarians
- The First Ladies of Ghana, Sierra Leone and Zanzibar
2. Webcasts. Watch the videos from our plenary sessions and our press conferences, and watch Hillary Clinton’s address to the Women Deliver 2010 attendees.
3. Photos. Take a look at photos from the plenary sessions, breakout sessions and other conference events, and download them at no cost.
4. Programme. Review the plenary and breakout sessions that were held at Women Deliver 2010.
5. Publications and Advocacy Tools. Visit our Knowledge Center to download publications and advocacy tools, including:
- Women Deliver 2010 Pocket Card for fast facts on how women deliver for the world.
- Why It’s the Right Time: Moving on Reproductive Health Goals by Focusing on Adolescent Girls, the background paper on how promoting girls’ sexual and reproductive health brings us closer to achieving the MDGs.
- Targeting poverty and gender inequality to improve maternal heath, the background paper on the ways in which poverty and gender inequality pose significant barriers to maternal health care access and utilization, and thereby impact maternal mortality.
Stay tuned for our summary report on breakout sessions by theme.
Global Maternal Health Conference 2010: July 6th Update
Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 by KateMitch
From the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010 co-organizers: The Public Health Foundation of India and the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth.
An exciting program for the Global Maternal Health Conference is taking shape. The conference will cover 6 themes: maternal health interventions and programs, underlying factors affecting maternal health, measurement–trends and methods, reproductive health, health systems, and policy and advocacy.
Registration for a limited number of participants will open July 15. Check here for updates.
Internship Opportunity to Research the Use of the NASG to Prevent Maternal Death in Zambia
Thursday, July 1st, 2010 by KateMitchThe application process is now closed for this position. (7/22/10)
The Safe Motherhood Program at UCSF is accepting applications for an upcoming internship opportunity in the Copper-belt of Zambia. The intern(s) (2 or more interns are needed) will support the start-up of a randomized control trial of the Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG) in 24 midwifery-led clinics as a low-tech and low-cost life-saving method for treating shock, resuscitating, stabilizing and preventing further bleeding in women with obstetric hemorrhage.
See below for background information on the Safe Motherhood Program and the use of the NASG–as well as details on the internship including expected deliverables, qualifications, timeline, and information on how to apply.
Background
The mission of Safe Motherhood Program at the University of California, San Francisco, is to prevent maternal deaths by promoting women’s health and human rights. This international research program is part of the UCSF Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, which engages in the advancement of new reproductive health technologies and development of innovative programs to improve reproductive health. The Safe Motherhood Program is also a member of the Women’s Health and Empowerment Center of Expertise (COE), one of three centers within the University of California Global Health Institute. The primary goals of the Safe Motherhood Program are to:
- Conduct rigorous, relevant and timely research resulting in new and applicable knowledge
- Reduce pregnancy related death and disability
- Ensure maternal survival through principles of respect, dignity and equality
- Create direct and practical links from research to policy to implementation
- Train health care workers in low-resource settings
- Raise community awareness of maternal health
- Disseminate information and innovations globally
Working with distinguished colleagues in a variety of countries, the Safe Motherhood Program has the knowledge, skills, vision, technology, and energy to make a real difference in the advancement of women’s reproductive health throughout the world.
Non-pneumatic Anti-Shock Garment (NASG)
In many poor countries women deliver at home, often without skilled attendants or at clinics with limited services available. If complications arise and a woman bleeds heavily, one, two or all of the “three delays” (Thaddeus and Maine, 1994) may impede her ability to access timely treatment. Many women do not survive these delays. In recognition of the direct and indirect root causes of maternal death and disability, the Safe Motherhood Program works to ensure all women have an equitable opportunity to survive childbirth.
A major research effort of the Safe Motherhood Program, the NASG is a low-technology and low cost life-saving device used to treat shock, resuscitate, stabilize and prevent further bleeding in women with obstetric hemorrhage (www.lifewraps.org). Use of the NASG as part of standard management of shock and hemorrhage has demonstrated promising outcomes for women in low-resource settings, where appropriate health care providers and technologies are limited or non-existent. To date, NASG use has reduced maternal mortality and morbidity by over 50%.
Internship Opportunity
To build upon the early and promising data, a randomized cluster trial is underway in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Specifically, the trial addresses the question of whether the early application of the NASG at midwife-led maternity clinics, before transport to a Referral Hospital, will decrease maternal mortality and morbidity.
The internship will take place in the Copper-belt of Zambia and support the start-up of the randomized control trial of the NASG in 24 midwifery-led maternity clinics. The intern(s) (2 or more interns are needed) will work with the clinics during their transition from Phase 2 study (women with obstetrical complications transported to referral facility) to Phase 3 of the research study (women with obstetrical complications transported to referral facility in the NASG). Specific activities will include: Observing clinical procedures at the clinics and supporting clinical protocol adherence, observing data collection and supporting research protocol adherence, helping/training data collectors become familiar with data collection forms, matching data collection forms begun at the clinic with data collection forms completed at the referral facilities, supervising cleaning and completion of data collection forms, and training new providers (midwives, residents, medical officers) in the addition of the NASG to emergency response for hemorrhage.
The intern(s) will receive mentorship and supervision from the Safe Motherhood team members both in Zambia and in the US during the field experience.
Deliverables
Weekly reports on progress, participation in weekly calls/Skype with Project Coordinator are expected.
Qualifications
Timeline
The internship requires a minimum eight-week commitment (Fall 2010 – Winter 2011) to live and work in Zambia. Preference will be given to applicants who can remain in Zambia longer than 8-weeks.
Expression of Interest
To apply for the internship, please send a current resume and cover letter to Ms. Elizabeth Butrick (ebutrick@globalhealth.ucsf.edu) with copy to Ms. Jennifer Clark (JClark@globalhealth.ucsf.edu) by August 15, 2010.
For more information on the use of the NASG (specifically the LifeWrap), check out a recent guest post from the Director of the Safe Motherhood Project, Suellen Miller, on the Maternal Health Task Force’s new MedScape blog, GlobalMama. (You will need to register with MedScape. Registration is free.)
Also, take a look at www.lifewrap.org for additional information about LifeWraps.
The LifeWrap: A First-Aid Device to Address Obstetric Hemorrhage
Thursday, July 1st, 2010 by KateMitchRecently the Maternal Health Task Force launched a new blog, GlobalMama, on Medscape that provides the vast MedScape audience with insights from the MHTF into the maternal health field. We are excited to introduce our first GlobalMama guest blogger, Dr. Suellen Miller, Director of the Safe Motherhood Program at the University of California, to our readers. In her first post, Dr. Miller writes about a first-aid device called a LifeWrap, used to address obstetric hemorrhage. See below for an excerpt of her post–and please visit GlobalMama to read the full post.
More than 600 women die for every 100,000 live births in Zambia. Here a woman is being treated in the LifeWrap
“…We are researching a first-aid device called the LifeWrap (generic name, the non-pneumatic anti-shock garment, NASG) which can save the lives of women with obstetric hemorrhage. This device, resembling the lower half of a wetsuit, is an amazing tool that health care providers use to resuscitate women in shock, decrease bleeding, and stabilize them during transport and delays which may otherwise claim their lives…”
Visit GlobalMama, the new blog of the Maternal Health Task Force, to read the full post.
Attention Global Maternal Health Conference Participants: Join the Global Team of Guest Bloggers!
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 by KateMitchBlogging is an effective communications strategy for sharing information in real time and fueling dialogue around key maternal health issues. With the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010 right around the corner, our team is looking forward to a lively online discussion around the happenings of the conference. In an effort to fuel a robust dialogue with a variety of global perspectives, we are connecting with global health and development bloggers around the world.
At this time, we are in the process of identifying a cohort of articulate guest bloggers to convey the important activities happening at the conference. If you are attending the conference (either as a presenter or a participant, either in India or remotely via live webcast) and would like to guest blog about the work you are presenting or the sessions you attend, please submit a brief statement of interest or a sample blog post of less than 300 words to Kate Mitchell (kmitchell@engenderhealth.org).
Guest blog posts will be posted on the MHTF Blog and will be cross-posted on a number of other leading sexual and reproductive health, development, and global health blogs.
If you plan to blog about the conference on your own blog, please let us know! We would love to discuss linking to your posts and possibly cross-posting.
For more information, please contact Kate Mitchell (kmitchell@engenderhealth.org).
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Tags: blogging, conference blogging, development bloggers, global health bloggers, Global Maternal Health Conference 2010, guest blogging, MHTF, MHTF Blog, online discussion, Opportunities in Maternal Health, PHFI, sexual and reproductive health blogs, statement of interest
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