Challenges Health Workers Face When Trying to Provide High Quality Maternity Care

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

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews recently published a qualitative evidence synthesis of factors that influence the provision of intrapartum and postnatal care by skilled birth attendants in low- and middle-income countries. Meeting the needs of health workers is essential to ensuring that women receive high quality maternity care…read more

Saving Lives During Health Worker Strikes: Lessons From Kenya

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By: Nicole Sijenyi Fulton, Team Leader, Options Consultancy Services Ltd.

Over the past year, Kenya’s public health system has faced numerous health worker strikes. While political action is underway, what can health program managers do to prevent maternal and newborn deaths? Maternal and newborn health programs in Bungoma, Kenya have revealed effective strategies for safeguarding the health of pregnant women and newborns under challenging circumstances…read more

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

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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

Alarming Shortage of Health Personnel in Conflict-Affected Nigeria

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By: Anne Wittenberg, Program Specialist, United Nations Population Fund

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 1.7 million women affected by the conflict in Nigeria are of reproductive age, and some 276,000 of these women are likely to become pregnant this year. The violence has left more than 40% of health facilities either destroyed or badly damaged, and many doctors and nurses were forced to flee, creating a crisis for women who need maternal health care…read more