To mark the launch of the fourth MHTF-PLOS collection, “Neglected Populations: Decreasing Inequalities and Improving Measurement in Maternal Health,” the MHTF will be hosting a panel discussion featuring a Senior Editor at PLOS and several authors who contributed papers to the collection. The event will take place at the Leadership Studio at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on November 21, 2016 from 12:30-1:30pm. Please RSVP to mhtf@hsph.harvard.edu…read more
The Lancet Maternal Health Series: “The Scale, Scope, Coverage, and Capability of Childbirth Care”
Posted onThe Lancet Maternal Health Series published in September 2016 contains six papers highlighting the importance of improving access to high quality maternal health care for all women across the globe. In paper 3, “The scale, scope, coverage, and capability of childbirth care,” Campbell and colleagues examine the adequacy of global intrapartum care with a particular focus on who helps women deliver and where those deliveries take place. They also recommend strategies for improving access to high quality maternal health care…read more
The Global and National Maternal Mortality Targets for the Sustainable Development Goals
Posted onThere has been some confusion recently about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets for reducing maternal mortality. The SDG global target is to reduce the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030. In addition to this global target, there are separate country-level targets: The primary national target is that every country should reduce its MMR by at least two-thirds from 2010 baseline levels by 2030. The secondary target, which applies to countries with the highest maternal mortality burdens, is that no country should have an MMR greater than 140 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030…read more
Trust Black Women: Reproductive Justice in the United States and Around the World
Posted onThe Women and Health Initiative and the Women, Gender, and Health interdisciplinary concentration at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health hosted a seminar featuring Monica Simpson, Executive Director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Though Monica’s talk focused on reproductive justice in United States, the issues she discussed are indeed global ones. Disrespect and abuse during childbirth, for example, has been documented around the world. Women in rural areas cannot access maternity care because they live too far away from a health facility; and even if they manage to get to a facility, they may deliver without electricity, safe water and the resources necessary to manage obstetric emergencies. Additionally, millions of women around the world have an unmet need for family planning…read more
Global Handwashing Day: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Maternal Health
Posted onThis past Saturday was Global Handwashing Day, an event dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of handwashing for preventing diseases and saving lives. One of the Sustainable Development Goals is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, reflecting the growing prioritization of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The implications of WASH for the health of mothers around the world are enormous: approximately 10-15% of global maternal deaths are due to infection caused by poor hygiene practices. Explore resources illustrating how WASH plays a critical role in improving maternal health outcomes during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum…read more
Celebrating One Year Since the 2015 Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference
Posted onExactly one year has passed since the 2015 Global Maternal Newborn Health Conference, an event organized by the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) in collaboration with USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program, Saving Newborn Lives at Save the Children and other partners. Researchers, policymakers, funders, implementers and other stakeholders from around the world gathered in Mexico City to share new evidence, identify knowledge and implementation gaps, build inter-disciplinary consensus and discuss strategies for integrating and improving global maternal newborn health…read more
The Lancet Maternal Health Series: “Beyond Too Little, Too Late and Too Much, Too Soon”
Posted onThe Lancet Maternal Health Series published last month contains six papers highlighting the importance of improving access to high quality maternal health care for all women across the globe. In paper 2, “Beyond too little, too late and too much, too soon: A pathway towards evidence-based, respectful maternity care worldwide,” Miller and colleagues examine two extremes in global obstetric care: Too little, too late and too much, too soon…read more
“Too Far to Walk”: 20 Years Later, Distance Remains a Barrier to Maternal Health
Posted onIn 1994, Thaddeus and Maine published their groundbreaking article, “Too Far to Walk: Maternal Mortality in Context.” More than 20 years later, distance remains a major barrier to maternity care for many women around the world. Where a woman lives should not dictate whether she can access high quality maternity care. The recommendations from Thaddeus and Maine deserve to be reexamined in our current context. Efforts to increase facility-based delivery must seriously consider the daily lives of women, including the many obstacles they encounter on the way to the health facility…read more
Global Leaders in Maternal and Newborn Health: Prof. Marleen Temmerman (Kenya)
Posted onProfessor Marleen Temmerman is Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Aga Khan University (AKU) Hospital Nairobi and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health AKU – East Africa. Prior to that, she was the Director of the Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR) at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva. She is the founding director of the International Centre of Reproductive Health (ICRH) at Ghent University with sister organizations in Kenya and Mozambique and a large global collaborative network. In 2007, Professor Temmerman was elected as a Senator in the Belgian Parliament where she was member of the Commission on Social Affairs and Chair of the Commission on Foreign Affairs. She is one of the penholders of the UN Global Strategy for Women’s, Children and Adolescents’ Health 2016-2030 and also serves as Senior WHO Advisor in Women, Adolescent and Child Health. She is a member of the Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in the Post-2015 World and a Senior Fellow in the Institute for Global Health Diplomacy in Geneva…read more
International Day of the Girl Child: Improving the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Adolescents Around the Globe
Posted onOn International Day of the Girl Child, we are reminded of the importance of addressing the health needs of young women and girls. In 2013, maternal disorders were the fourth leading cause of death for young girls ages 15-19, largely due to the high prevalence of early pregnancy, unsafe sex and child marriage…read more