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How to Close the Mental Health Gap in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

This month on October 10th, we celebrate Mental Health Day. Indeed, there is much to celebrate, from the development of the WHO’s Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan (2013-2020), to policy reforms and new drugs to treat schizophrenia and other mental health diseases. Yet there is still more to be done.  It is estimated that in … Continue reading “How to Close the Mental Health Gap in Low- and Middle-Income Countries”

Three Approaches to Improving Maternal Mental Health From a Low-Resource Setting

The majority of developing countries have a high prevalence of maternal depression ranging from18-25%. Countries with a high prevalence of maternal depression need a universal approach to maternal psychosocial well-being during pregnancy and in the postnatal period. A universal approach means that all women in the perinatal period should receive an intervention on maternal psychosocial well-being, which is integrated into MNCH programs and is simple enough to be delivered by community health workers so as to prevent psychosocial morbidity… read more

Leadership in Maternal and Newborn Health: Dr. Shershah Syed

“[My patient] had waited 41 years for treatment. It took me just 20 minutes and 1 stitch to give back her dignity,” said Shershah Syed. Shershah, a leading obstetrician-gynaecologist in Pakistan, has long been a visionary campaigner for women’s rights, girl’s education and safe motherhood. By offering free life-saving operations in rural, slum area clinics, Shershah has improved the lives of thousands of rural women too poor to pay for treatment… read more

How to Treat Maternal Depression in Rural Ghana

Until recently, the health system in Ghana had been quite silent on maternal depression, which had a number of consequences on maternal and newborn outcomes. To address this need, The National Catholic Health Service, with funds from Grand Challenge Canada, rolled out a quality improvement project to reduce the treatment gap for perinatal depression in seven facilities in four regions in Ghana to improve early identification and treatment of maternally depressed women… read more

Why Maternal Mental Health Matters: A Case for Early Childhood Development

Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) programmes frequently depend upon the capacity of the primary caregiver, more often than not, the mother, to provide optimal care for her young child. Increasingly, early childhood strategies recognize the importance of addressing the caregiving context, both challenges and enablers, which influence the quality of care that a mother provides for her young child. These factors conspire to moderate the emotional availability a mother has to respond to her young child’s needs as well as the availability of resources she has to invest in herself and her child… read more

The Time Has Come to Maximize the Public Health Impact of Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, 10,000 women and 200,000 children under the age of one die each year as a consequence of malaria infection during pregnancy [1, 2]. On this year’s World Malaria Day, the global public health community is coming together to highlight the important and lifesaving role of intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp). IPTp … Continue reading “The Time Has Come to Maximize the Public Health Impact of Intermittent Preventive Treatment of Malaria in Pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa”

Exploring Possible Synergies Between Maternal Health and WASH

This blog post is cross-posted from the New Security Beat. Does access to quality water and sanitation have an effect on maternal health outcomes? That was a surprising topic of discussion on day one of the second-ever Global Maternal Health Conference hosted this week in Arusha, Tanzania. Surprising because, to be honest, I did not think there … Continue reading “Exploring Possible Synergies Between Maternal Health and WASH”

Gwyneth Lewis's Bio

MBBS, MPH, MRCGP, FFPHM, FRCOG, D.Sc. Gwyneth is widely known and respected by the maternal and newborn health community, both in the UK and more widely, and holds several roles in promoting global safer motherhood and newborn health. She is the clinical leader for international maternal health and policy in the Department of Health, London, … Continue reading “Gwyneth Lewis's Bio”