We have a new post up today on our Medscape blog, Global Mama on the relationship between family planning, maternal health and climate change. Be sure to check it out.
New Post on Global Mama
Monday, January 31st, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
Gates 2011 Annual Letter
Monday, January 31st, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
The Gates Foundation released the 2011 Annual Letter from Bill Gates today, which focuses on the final push to eradicate polio. Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan are the four countries where polio remains a problem, and each of the four also has a high burden for maternal mortality. While polio and maternal health do not necessarily have a great level of overlap, addressing diseases of poverty, such as polio, malaria and other neglected tropical diseases has positive health benefits in general that may have spillover effects to maternal health.
In addition to focusing on polio, the letter does address some other significant health issues that the Gates Foundation will be addressing in the coming year, including maternal and child health:
Melinda has been a strong leader on maternal and child health issues. She gave an especially powerful speech last year to the Women Deliver conference (www.gatesfoundation.org/womendeliver). The plight of mothers and their babies is something she feels deeply, and it’s something we talk about a lot.
Weekend Reading
Friday, January 28th, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
This week on the MHTF blog:
- We heard updates from the Young Champions of Maternal Health
- Hannah Knight wrote about the progress of the Global Voices for Maternal Health project
- Ann Starrs told us about commitments made on maternal and child health
- CEDPA asked for case studies on best practices for integrating HIV/AIDS and maternal health
- We wrote about the enhancements we’ve made to the maps on our site
Some reading for the weekend
- Malaria protection and pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa
- The World Bank published an outline of the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development
- Melinda Gates on educating pregnant women in India
RH Reality Check – Obstetric Fistula
Friday, January 28th, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
Earlier this week, RH Reality Check launched a series of blog posts focusing on obstetric fistula. The effort is a collaboration between a number of organizations, including EngenderHealth, UNFPA, The Campaign to End Fistula, The Fistula Foundation, Guttmacher Institute and the International Women’s Health Coalition:
The series is being published in conjunction with renewed efforts by advocates and the public health community to increase U.S. international support for efforts to address obstetric fistula, a wholly preventable but debilitating condition…generally rooted in lack of access to health care and discrimination against women. Fistula affects the lives of individual women, their children and families, and also grossly undermines women’s economic productivity and participation in society. The global public health community has called for comprehensive strategies both to prevent new cases and treat existing cases of fistula. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) will soon introduce legislation intended to support a comprehensive U.S. approach to fistula as part of a broader commitment to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide.
Maternal Health Advocacy Guide for Parliamentarians
Thursday, January 27th, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
In order to improve maternal health, medical professionals and NGO workers need to engage with government officials, including elected representatives. Many approaches for parliamentarians and other elected officials are outlined in “Maternal Health: An Advocacy Guide for Parliamentarians,” a recent publication from the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD). The publication:
pinpoints the challenges in advocating for and providing adequate maternal health. It highlights the decisive role that parliamentarians can play in addressing these challenges. Its primary purpose is to provide guidance and orientation on how to improve maternal and newborn health. Its primary target audience, parliamentarians and other elected representatives, will find it very useful for advocacy purposes and awareness generation in the area of maternal health.
Views from the frontline of maternal healthcare: Over 2000 practitioners worldwide make their voices heard!
Thursday, January 27th, 2011 by Raji Mohanam
Written by: Hannah Knight, Community Moderator for Global Voices for Maternal Health (GVMH) at University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
An online project, run by the Oxford Maternal & Perinatal Health Institute and Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Oxford, has recently sought the expert views of over 2000 healthcare providers in 91 countries so as to identify: a) barriers to providing best-practice care in maternal health and b) potential solutions using an innovative ‘crowdsourcing’ initiative.
The results of the Global Voices for Maternal Health study are expected to give new weight to the views of midwives, nurses and doctors on the frontline in the fight against preventable maternal deaths. The data, which are being collected over a 9-month period until March 2011, should provide a useful tool for implementing the required changes to health care delivery in these countries, as well as for advocacy and priority-setting purposes.
The participants were drawn from over 900 healthcare facilities worldwide, which together oversee approximately 2.5 million deliveries annually. As Principal Investigator, Dr. José Villar, said: “This represents one of the largest ever direct consultations with practitioners in the history of medicine regarding their views on how to improve the clinical care that they provide.”
Data analysed so far reveal low rates of uptake for several safe, effective and affordable interventions for the prevention and management of obstetric complications:
- Almost 40% of respondents reported that the WHO’s six clean delivery principles (clean hands, clean delivery surface, clean perineum, clean cord cutting instrument, clean cord ties, and clean cord care of the newborn) were not routinely followed in their facility
- Over 20% of respondents had never seen clinical practice guidelines for the active management of the third stage of labour
- 35% of respondents revealed that magnesium sulphate was not routinely used to prevent fits in women with severe pre-eclampsia in their facility
The next stage of the analysis will be to examine the barriers that have been identified as playing an important role, to assess how improving access to these interventions can be achieved within developing country health systems. As Bill Gates recently said during a meeting of global Health Ministers in China, “If we don’t change the systems, even the best tools may do no good, because they may never get to the people who need them.”
The full results of the study, which is funded by the Maternal Health Task Force, are due to be published later this year.
For more information on the initiative, visit the GVMH website: www.globalvoices.org.uk
Dispatches from the Field: Young Champions of Maternal Health Check In
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
The Young Champions of Maternal Health have continued to contribute blogs on their progress implementing projects with Ashoka Fellows around the world. This month, the Young Champions share their insights into topics as diverse as celebrating the holidays in a new country with new friends, creating a comic book to use as a learning tool with young mothers in Brazil, the challenges (and excitement!) of striving toward sustainability, the question of accurately measuring impact, and one Young Champion’s process of breaking down lofty goals (revolutionizing family planning in Oman, for example) into a series of smaller, more immediately realizable chunks. You can click through to their individual blog posts below. They will continue to blog about their experiences every month, and you can learn more about Ashoka, the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth, the individual Young Champions, and the program here. Enjoy!
“Building Bridges” by Anna Dion
“Why do Women Die in Mali?” by Carolina Damásio
“Building Partnerships” by Egwaoje Ifeyinwa Madu
“Challenges in Bridging the Idea and Practice” by Faatimaa Ahmadi
“Progress in Pakistan with Nigeria on the Horizon” by Faisal Siraj
“No Santa in India” by Hellen Mammeja Kotlolo
“Comic Books for Safe Motherhood” by Julianne Parker
“Doing Research and Developing My Own Project” by María Laura Casalegno
“Mall of Mom” by Martha Fikre Adenew
“Eating Your Cake and Having It!” by Onikepe Oluwadamilola Owolabi
“Young Champions Come of Age!” by Peris Wakesho
“Positive Fragmentation” by Sara Al-Lamki
“A December Full of Gifts” by Seth Cochran
“A Starfish Saved” by Yeabsira Mehari
“YES but How…” by Zubaida Bai
Advocating for Maternal Health and Neglected Tropical Diseases
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by admin
Christopher Lindahl, of the MHTF, recently wrote a post for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases on the links between maternal health and neglected tropical diseases as global health issues. Be sure to check it out.
Map Enhancements
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
Working with Women Deliver, we’ve created a map documenting organizations working in maternal health throughout the world. As the map has become more populated, we realized that additional features were needed to enhance the users’ experience. Many of the enhancements may go unnoticed as they simply ease the use of the maps, but two features may change the way you use the maps.
First, we have added a search function to the map to allow you to find organizations that are of interest to you. Whether that is an organization working explicitly on fistula or one that has an office in Buenos Aires, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for even if you don’t know the name of the organization.
The second major enhancement that you’ll find is the ability to download data to Excel. Using this feature, you can download latitude and longitude coordinates and other information to plot in a GIS program or use however you wish.
These enhancements will hopefully increase the ease of use of the maps and allow you to use the information in new ways. If you have an example of how you’re using the information on our maps, please let us know online or send an email to Christopher Lindahl at clindahl@engenderhealth.org.
New Post on Global Mama
Monday, January 31st, 2011 by Christopher Lindahl
Gates 2011 Annual Letter
Monday, January 31st, 2011 by Christopher LindahlThe Gates Foundation released the 2011 Annual Letter from Bill Gates today, which focuses on the final push to eradicate polio. Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan are the four countries where polio remains a problem, and each of the four also has a high burden for maternal mortality. While polio and maternal health do not necessarily have a great level of overlap, addressing diseases of poverty, such as polio, malaria and other neglected tropical diseases has positive health benefits in general that may have spillover effects to maternal health.
In addition to focusing on polio, the letter does address some other significant health issues that the Gates Foundation will be addressing in the coming year, including maternal and child health:
Melinda has been a strong leader on maternal and child health issues. She gave an especially powerful speech last year to the Women Deliver conference (www.gatesfoundation.org/womendeliver). The plight of mothers and their babies is something she feels deeply, and it’s something we talk about a lot.
Weekend Reading
Friday, January 28th, 2011 by Christopher LindahlThis week on the MHTF blog:
- We heard updates from the Young Champions of Maternal Health
- Hannah Knight wrote about the progress of the Global Voices for Maternal Health project
- Ann Starrs told us about commitments made on maternal and child health
- CEDPA asked for case studies on best practices for integrating HIV/AIDS and maternal health
- We wrote about the enhancements we’ve made to the maps on our site
Some reading for the weekend
- Malaria protection and pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa
- The World Bank published an outline of the 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development
- Melinda Gates on educating pregnant women in India
RH Reality Check – Obstetric Fistula
Friday, January 28th, 2011 by Christopher LindahlEarlier this week, RH Reality Check launched a series of blog posts focusing on obstetric fistula. The effort is a collaboration between a number of organizations, including EngenderHealth, UNFPA, The Campaign to End Fistula, The Fistula Foundation, Guttmacher Institute and the International Women’s Health Coalition:
The series is being published in conjunction with renewed efforts by advocates and the public health community to increase U.S. international support for efforts to address obstetric fistula, a wholly preventable but debilitating condition…generally rooted in lack of access to health care and discrimination against women. Fistula affects the lives of individual women, their children and families, and also grossly undermines women’s economic productivity and participation in society. The global public health community has called for comprehensive strategies both to prevent new cases and treat existing cases of fistula. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) will soon introduce legislation intended to support a comprehensive U.S. approach to fistula as part of a broader commitment to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide.
Maternal Health Advocacy Guide for Parliamentarians
Thursday, January 27th, 2011 by Christopher LindahlIn order to improve maternal health, medical professionals and NGO workers need to engage with government officials, including elected representatives. Many approaches for parliamentarians and other elected officials are outlined in “Maternal Health: An Advocacy Guide for Parliamentarians,” a recent publication from the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD). The publication:
pinpoints the challenges in advocating for and providing adequate maternal health. It highlights the decisive role that parliamentarians can play in addressing these challenges. Its primary purpose is to provide guidance and orientation on how to improve maternal and newborn health. Its primary target audience, parliamentarians and other elected representatives, will find it very useful for advocacy purposes and awareness generation in the area of maternal health.
Views from the frontline of maternal healthcare: Over 2000 practitioners worldwide make their voices heard!
Thursday, January 27th, 2011 by Raji MohanamWritten by: Hannah Knight, Community Moderator for Global Voices for Maternal Health (GVMH) at University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
An online project, run by the Oxford Maternal & Perinatal Health Institute and Nuffield Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Oxford, has recently sought the expert views of over 2000 healthcare providers in 91 countries so as to identify: a) barriers to providing best-practice care in maternal health and b) potential solutions using an innovative ‘crowdsourcing’ initiative.
The results of the Global Voices for Maternal Health study are expected to give new weight to the views of midwives, nurses and doctors on the frontline in the fight against preventable maternal deaths. The data, which are being collected over a 9-month period until March 2011, should provide a useful tool for implementing the required changes to health care delivery in these countries, as well as for advocacy and priority-setting purposes.
The participants were drawn from over 900 healthcare facilities worldwide, which together oversee approximately 2.5 million deliveries annually. As Principal Investigator, Dr. José Villar, said: “This represents one of the largest ever direct consultations with practitioners in the history of medicine regarding their views on how to improve the clinical care that they provide.”
Data analysed so far reveal low rates of uptake for several safe, effective and affordable interventions for the prevention and management of obstetric complications:
- Almost 40% of respondents reported that the WHO’s six clean delivery principles (clean hands, clean delivery surface, clean perineum, clean cord cutting instrument, clean cord ties, and clean cord care of the newborn) were not routinely followed in their facility
- Over 20% of respondents had never seen clinical practice guidelines for the active management of the third stage of labour
- 35% of respondents revealed that magnesium sulphate was not routinely used to prevent fits in women with severe pre-eclampsia in their facility
The next stage of the analysis will be to examine the barriers that have been identified as playing an important role, to assess how improving access to these interventions can be achieved within developing country health systems. As Bill Gates recently said during a meeting of global Health Ministers in China, “If we don’t change the systems, even the best tools may do no good, because they may never get to the people who need them.”
The full results of the study, which is funded by the Maternal Health Task Force, are due to be published later this year.
For more information on the initiative, visit the GVMH website: www.globalvoices.org.uk
Dispatches from the Field: Young Champions of Maternal Health Check In
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 by Christopher LindahlThe Young Champions of Maternal Health have continued to contribute blogs on their progress implementing projects with Ashoka Fellows around the world. This month, the Young Champions share their insights into topics as diverse as celebrating the holidays in a new country with new friends, creating a comic book to use as a learning tool with young mothers in Brazil, the challenges (and excitement!) of striving toward sustainability, the question of accurately measuring impact, and one Young Champion’s process of breaking down lofty goals (revolutionizing family planning in Oman, for example) into a series of smaller, more immediately realizable chunks. You can click through to their individual blog posts below. They will continue to blog about their experiences every month, and you can learn more about Ashoka, the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth, the individual Young Champions, and the program here. Enjoy!
“Building Bridges” by Anna Dion
“Why do Women Die in Mali?” by Carolina Damásio
“Building Partnerships” by Egwaoje Ifeyinwa Madu
“Challenges in Bridging the Idea and Practice” by Faatimaa Ahmadi
“Progress in Pakistan with Nigeria on the Horizon” by Faisal Siraj
“No Santa in India” by Hellen Mammeja Kotlolo
“Comic Books for Safe Motherhood” by Julianne Parker
“Doing Research and Developing My Own Project” by María Laura Casalegno
“Mall of Mom” by Martha Fikre Adenew
“Eating Your Cake and Having It!” by Onikepe Oluwadamilola Owolabi
“Young Champions Come of Age!” by Peris Wakesho
“Positive Fragmentation” by Sara Al-Lamki
“A December Full of Gifts” by Seth Cochran
“A Starfish Saved” by Yeabsira Mehari
“YES but How…” by Zubaida Bai
Advocating for Maternal Health and Neglected Tropical Diseases
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by adminChristopher Lindahl, of the MHTF, recently wrote a post for the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases on the links between maternal health and neglected tropical diseases as global health issues. Be sure to check it out.
Map Enhancements
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by Christopher LindahlWorking with Women Deliver, we’ve created a map documenting organizations working in maternal health throughout the world. As the map has become more populated, we realized that additional features were needed to enhance the users’ experience. Many of the enhancements may go unnoticed as they simply ease the use of the maps, but two features may change the way you use the maps.
First, we have added a search function to the map to allow you to find organizations that are of interest to you. Whether that is an organization working explicitly on fistula or one that has an office in Buenos Aires, you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for even if you don’t know the name of the organization.
The second major enhancement that you’ll find is the ability to download data to Excel. Using this feature, you can download latitude and longitude coordinates and other information to plot in a GIS program or use however you wish.
These enhancements will hopefully increase the ease of use of the maps and allow you to use the information in new ways. If you have an example of how you’re using the information on our maps, please let us know online or send an email to Christopher Lindahl at clindahl@engenderhealth.org.
Making Acccountability Count
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 by Christopher LindahlWritten by: Ann Starrs, President, Family Care International
When UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon formally launched the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health last September during the 2010 UN General Assembly meeting, a range of stakeholders made commitments totaling $40 billion for improved maternal and child health programs and services. The Global Strategy, a plan to save the lives of 16 million women and children in the world’s poorest countries, cuts across all the Millennium Development Goals, especially those related to health (MDGs 4, 5 and 6). It is designed to serve as a global roadmap to identify and mobilize resources, policies, and critical interventions, with engagement by governments, donors, academic institutions, health professional associations, NGOs, corporations, and many others.
These ambitious goals and generous pledges, promising though they may be, are not enough to bring real change. That will come only when commitments are translated into real money and concrete action. As my organization, Family Care International, wrote in our own commitment to the Global Strategy, “commitments don’t save lives until they are actually delivered.”
During a strategy meeting in Washington, DC last Friday, I shared an overview (here) on the Global Strategy, noting that accountability will be the key to ensuring that the Global Strategy drives clear, quantifiable progress toward achievement of MDG targets by 2015. The Global Strategy document stated this clearly:
Last month, the UN announced the establishment of a high-level Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health, co-chaired by the President of Tanzania and the Prime Minister of Canada. This Commission, with members from developed and developing countries, academia, civil society and the private sector, is charged with developing a framework for tracking resources and results at the global and country levels. Its two working groups — on ‘accountability for resources’ and ‘accountability for results’ – are already hard at work; the Commission’s draft report is due to the UN this May.
As a member of the results working group, I will return to the MHTF blog soon to solicit your input on appropriate indicators, measurement needs, and accountability mechanisms (each working group has posted a “discussion forum” page here) , and to report back on our progress.
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Tags: accountability, Ann Starrs, child health, Family Care International, funding, Global Strategy for Women, health policy, women's health
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