Over the last three weeks, we’ve heard from authors around the world who have seen concrete practice and policy results from their articles in our MHTF-PLOS Collection for Maternal Health. Our Translating Research into Practice Series featured these authors and the influence of their papers. Find a summary of the collection here… read more
Five Ways an Innovative Program Increased Facility Birth in Nigeria
Posted onThe Midwives Service Scheme (MSS) was set up as a game changer to reduce maternal and child mortality so Nigeria could achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on maternal and child health (MCH). Since the publication of our PLoS Medicine paper, the MSS has subsequently been scaled up from 625 PHC facilities to an additional 375 facilities, providing 1,000 facilities across Nigeria with an additional 4,000 midwives and 1,000 community health extension workers. In addition, the MSS has influenced life-saving policy change which has increased facility deliveries and saved lives…read more
Using Research Findings to Influence Maternal Health Action: An Example From Nigeria
Posted onThe paper—When Women Deliver with No One Present in Nigeria: Who, what, where and so what, published in MHTF-PLOS Year Two collection—revealed that over one in five births in Nigeria was delivered with no one present (NOP) and 94% of those deliveries occurred in northern Nigeria. To decrease the number of NOP deliveries, authors recommended an increase in women’s access to and control of disposable income through financial incentives and changes to the broader socio-economic fabric. The paper has shaped the discourse on maternal and newborn health in Nigeria in the following contexts: a statewide community-based distribution of misoprostol and chlorhexidine that links mothers to providers, a policy dialogue involving local religious leaders, and a presentation of the results at a panel hosted by Harvard… read more
Improving Birth and Pregnancy Outcomes Through Registries in Southern Ethiopia
Posted onDeveloping countries lack vital registrations that are present in high-income countries. Because of the shortage of such essential information, translating policy into action and monitoring programmes to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths is difficult. As a follow-up to our paper, Maternal and Neonatal Mortality in South-West Ethiopia: Estimates and Socio-Economic Inequality, we developed, validated, and used community-based birth registration in a population of about half a million people in four woredas, or districts, in rural southern Ethiopia. The most important lesson we learnt is that it is possible to obtain high-coverage birth registration and measure maternal mortality in rural communities with trained community health workers…read more
Emergency Obstetric Referral and Transport in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Direction of Travel
Posted onOur study called for research to understand how referral and transport interventions work for obstetric emergencies. This research is crucial since decisions to seek care can be deferred or hindered, and even if decisions are rapidly made to seek care, transport may be unavailable or slow. This call has been met with new innovative research assessing key factors that affect the use and uptake of transport in obstetric emergencies and the effect of community-based loan funds to improve the utilization of health facilities for childbirth. Our topic has also received international attention with the World Health Organization supporting an international panel that recently identified research on transport and referral solutions as a priority area to improve maternal and newborn health in low-resource settings…read more
From Inaction to Advocacy: Placing Women and Children at the Center of Sustainable Development
Posted onWhile a maternal death is devastating in its own right, a mother’s death is not an isolated event; when a mother dies there are immediate and lasting repercussions for her children, her family, and the broader community. As the dawn of the Sustainable Development Goals fast approaches, it is important that we turn to evidence from the Impacts of Maternal Death on Living Children Study to inform advocacy efforts toward the inclusion of women’s reproductive health and gender equality as a central, fundamental part of global development. Check out this blog to view a panel of maternal health experts we convened for a live webcast to discuss the implications of this research and the strategies advocates can use to mobilize influential donors and decision-makers to prioritize investments in sexual and reproductive health… read more
Launch of Translating Research into Practice Series: Reflections From MHTF-PLOS Collection Authors
Posted onOver the last three years, the MHTF has partnered with PLoS to put together an annual collection on maternal health. These open-access collections were curated with the goal of increasing access to comprehensive research to global maternal health practitioners who may not have access to subscription-only journals. In order to evaluate the impact of these collections, we now launch the Translating Research into Practice Series. To create this series, we’ve followed up with authors from these collections to reflect back on their research and what has happened in terms of practice, policy, and further research since their publication. Follow this series over the next few weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays to hear the authors’ first-hand reflections and how research can be leveraged to create sustainable change… read more