Reminder: This event will occur this Thursday, May 20th!
Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative, the Maternal Health Task Force, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the fifth event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health.
This event will feature:
Víctor Conde Altamirano, Obstetric Nets Manager, CARE Bolivia
John Koku Awoonor-Williams, East Regional Director, Ghana Health Service
Subodh Satyawadi, Chief Operating Officer, GVK Emergency Management & Research Institute of India
Patricia Bailey, Public Health Specialist, Family Health International and Columbia University.
May 20, 2010
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
6th Floor Flom Auditorium
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.
Access to skilled birth attendants and emergency obstetric care are key solutions to improving maternal morality, yet functioning referral systems and poor road infrastructure delay efficient care. Increased research, funding, knowledge sharing, and coordination between private and public sectors are necessary to make transportation and referral a global health priority.
Today’s discussion will highlight the lessons and knowledge gaps identified at a Wilson Center workshop in Washington DC with 25 experts from the transportation and maternal health communities, as well as representatives from the private sector and donor community.
Víctor Conde Altamirano, obstetric nets manager, CARE-Bolivia will discuss how transportation and referral data is being incorporated into Bolivia’s health system to improve maternal health. John Koku Awoonor-Williams, east regional director, Ghana Health Service, will address the utilization and maintenance of ambulances in rural Ghana. Subodh Satyawadi, chief operating officer, GVK Emergency Management Institute will discuss the lessons learned and challenges faced through India’s “Emergency 108” call system. Strategies and recommendations identified at the Wilson Center workshop in Washington DC will be provided by Patricia Bailey, public health specialist, Family Health International.
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. The Averting Maternal Death and Disability (AMDD) program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health provided valuable technical assistance to this transportation and referral meeting.
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), 6th Floor Flom Auditorium. 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.
For information on previous and future events in this series, click here.
Posts Tagged ‘Columbia University’
This Thursday: Policy Discussion on Improving Transportation and Referral for Maternal Health
Monday, May 17th, 2010 by KateMitch
Family Planning in Fragile States: Overcoming Cultural and Financial Barriers
Monday, April 5th, 2010 by KateMitch
Please join the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA), the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative and Environmental Change and Security Program, the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF), and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the fourth event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health.
Family Planning in Fragile States: Overcoming Cultural and Financial Barriers
The event will feature:
Nabila Zar Malick, Director, Rahnuma Family Planning Association of Pakistan
Karima Tunau, OB/GYN, Usmanu Danpodiyo Hospital
Grace Kodindo, Assistant Professor of Population and Family Health, Columbia University
Sandra Krause, Reproductive Health Program Director, Women’s Refugee Commission
April 29, 2010
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
6th Floor Flom Auditorium
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.
Countries threatened by conflict rank lowest on maternal and newborn health indicators and have fewer resources for reproductive health services such as family planning and emergency obstetric care. Improving access to sexual and reproductive health services in fragile states may challenge cultural beliefs and gender relations within a country. Program managers, policymakers, and donors can mitigate these tensions through culturally sensitive approaches and increased female participation during peacebuilding efforts.
Nabila Zar Malick, director, Rahnuma Family Planning Association of Pakistan, Karima Tunau, OB/GYN, Usmanu Danpodiyo Hospital in Nigeria, and Grace Kodindo, Chadian OB/GYN and assistant professor of population and family health, at Columbia University will discuss their experiences implementing family planning services in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Chad and address the cultural and financial barriers they overcame to increase investments for maternal and reproductive health in their countries. Sandra Krause, reproductive health program director, Women’s Refugee Commission, will offer recommendations on how policymakers can improve access to reproductive health services for women in fragile settings.
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–and in some cases controversial–issue 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), 6th Floor Flom Auditorium. A map to the Center is available here.
Note: Photo identification is required to enter the building. Please allow additional time to pass through security.
For information on previous and future events in this series, click here.
Announcing the Third Event in the Maternal Health Policy Series
Monday, February 22nd, 2010 by KateMitchMaternal and Newborn Health as a Priority for Strengthening Health Systems
Please join the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Global Health Initiative, Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF), and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for the third event of the series on Advancing Policy Dialogue on Maternal Health.
The event will feature presentations and discussion with Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard University School of Public Health; Helen de Pinho, Assistant Professor of Clinical Population and Family Health at Columbia University; and Agnes Soucat, Senior Health Economist & Lead Advisor for Health, Nutrition and Population with the World Bank.
March 8, 2010
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
6th Floor Flom Auditorium
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Please RSVP to globalhealth@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.
Interested but can’t attend?
Tune into the live or archived webcast here. The webcast will begin approximately 10 minutes after the posted meeting time.
About this event
Increasing investments for strengthening health systems requires improved donor coordination and additional research to help guide decisions about where investments will have the greatest return. The inclusion of key maternal health indicators such as access to emergency obstetric care is an important strategy to improving health systems and encourages the implementation of priority evidence-based interventions.
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–and in some cases controversial–issues within the maternal health community.
Click here to download the PDF announcement with more details about the event and the speakers.
Click here to view archived webcasts of the previous two events in this series.
Leaders in Maternal Health Comment on the New Maternal Mortality Estimates: AMDD
Friday, April 16th, 2010 by KateMitchThe Maternal Health Task Force is looking to those working in maternal health for their comments on the recent findings published in the Lancet that suggest a dramatic reduction in global maternal mortality.
The Averting Maternal Death and Disability Program (AMDD) is part of the Mailman School of Public Health in the Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University in New York City. AMDD works to strengthen national health systems to provide emergency care for all women experiencing life-threatening obstetric complications.
AMDD shares their thoughts on the recent Lancet publication with the Maternal Health Task Force:
On April 12, the Lancet published “Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980–2008: a systematic analysis of progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5.” We encourage you to read this article and participate in subsequent discussions on this critical issue.
AMDD’s response? First and foremost, a decline in maternal deaths worldwide is welcome news. The indicators show progress and we believe that progress needs – and deserves – recognition and continued support and funding.
At AMDD, we work with many partners in support of the basic human right of all women to survive pregnancy and childbirth, and we must continue our work to realize that right for every woman, everywhere.
We know that in order to deliver the kind of quality care that saves lives, we need strong health systems that provide an integrated platform for the key pillars known to reduce maternal deaths. These include the provision of family planning, skilled birth attendance, access to emergency obstetric care and, in the context of high HIV prevalence, access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Robust health systems that can comprehensively address the needs of all women are at the very core of reducing maternal death and disability.
Indeed, this study helps to focus global attention on those countries where such systems do not exist and where maternal mortality ratios remain unacceptably high. It also demonstrates that understanding country-specific contexts – a key focus for AMDD – matters in terms of sharpening our efforts and saving lives. But the study gives us only national averages. We know that very often these averages disguise deep inequity, with poor and marginalized populations suffering maternal mortality at rates far higher than the national average.
So we cannot celebrate prematurely – many women still needlessly suffer and ultimately die from entirely treatable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Our own research confirms that in many sub-Saharan African countries, some 60-90% of women with direct obstetric complications still do not receive the life-saving emergency obstetric services they need.
So while this study points to the important progress that has been made to date, let us refocus on those women whose lives – and deaths – comprise the flip side of these statistics. There is still much work to be done.
[Translate]
Tags: Access, AMDD, Averting Maternal Death and Disability, childbirth, Columbia University, Department of Population and Family Health, emergency obstetric care, family planning, health systems, HIV, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, inequity, integration, Lancet, Mailman School of Public Health, maternal death, maternal health, maternal mortality, new estimates, obstetric complications, pregnancy, quality of care, skilled birth attendance, sub-Saharan Africa
Posted in Commentary, News | 1 Comment »