New Report Provides Snapshot of SRMNAH Workforce in East and Southern Africa

Posted on

By: Sarah Hodin, MPH, CD(DONA), LCCE, National Senior Manager of Maternal Newborn Health Programs, Steward Health Care

The United Nations Population Fund recently published “The State of the World’s Midwifery: Analysis of the Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Adolescent Health (SRMNAH) Workforce in East & Southern Africa.” The report uses the framework of the 2014 State of the World’s Midwifery report to assess the SRMNAH workforce in 21 countries in the region…read more

World Contraception Day: How Does Family Planning Impact Maternal Health?

Posted on

By: Sarah Hodin, MPH, CD(DONA), LCCE, National Senior Manager of Maternal Newborn Health Programs, Steward Health Care

World Contraception Day is an opportunity to remember that in many parts of the world, a large gap persists between women’s reproductive intentions and their access to family planning options. Integrating family planning services into maternal health services can be an effective strategy for reducing unmet need, especially in situations where maternity care is a woman’s primary contact with the health care system…read more

Adapting the Safe Childbirth Checklist to Reduce Stillbirths and Neonatal Deaths in India

Posted on

By: Sarah Hodin, MPH, CD(DONA), LCCE, National Senior Manager of Maternal Newborn Health Programs, Steward Health Care

In August 2017, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted a seminar featuring Beena Varghese, Senior Health Economist at the Public Health Foundation of India, who presented findings from a study she led in Rajasthan, India to examine the impact of an adapted version of the World Health Organization Safe Childbirth Checklist on rates of stillbirth and very early neonatal deaths…read more

On World Sepsis Day, Let’s Focus on Mothers and Newborns

Posted on

By: Sarah Hodin, MPH, CD(DONA), LCCE, National Senior Manager of Maternal Newborn Health Programs, Steward Health Care

13 September is World Sepsis Day, an opportunity for the global health community to recognize the burden of this morbidity and build momentum for prompt action. Sepsis, which is a result of the body’s response to infection, is responsible for roughly 11% of maternal deaths and 8% of newborn deaths worldwide…read more

The Best Available Tools to Measure Women’s Childbirth Experiences

Posted on

By: Sarah Hodin, MPH, CD(DONA), LCCE, National Senior Manager of Maternal Newborn Health Programs, Steward Health Care

Understanding women’s experiences during childbirth is an important component of addressing issues related to the quality of maternal health care. However, measuring the quality of maternal health care, and specifically women’s experiences, is notoriously difficult. A recent paper reviewed existing measurement tools that aim to capture women’s childbirth experiences and offered recommendations…read more