Basic newborn care and neonatal resuscitation: A multi-country analysis of health system bottlenecks and potential solutions
Posted onTraining midwives to save expectant mothers in Chiapas
Posted onMaternal and child survival initiative saves millions of lives
Posted onPractice Makes Perfect and Saves Lives: The Case for Obstetric Emergency Drills
Posted onLuckily, devastating, obstetric emergencies are rare. But due to their rarity, pregnant women are at risk of not receiving the care they need when they face life-threatening complications if clinicians don’t have a way to maintain knowledge and skills in managing obstetric emergencies. Stepping outside of the classroom, obstetric emergency drills—a simulation of managing a woman with the most common obstetric emergencies—allows both midwives and physicians to gain and maintain knowledge, build skills, develop teamwork and improve communication to safely manage these complications… read more
Taking a Walk in Her Shoes: How a Midwife Exchange Program Improved Maternal Health in Ethiopia
Posted onHospital leaders and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health recognized a complicated problem in obstetric care in Addis Ababa. Primary health centers saw few patients and referred many unnecessarily to overcrowded tertiary hospitals. To help fix the problem, they created a midwife exchange program… read more
Lauri Romanzi on Rethinking Maternal Morbidity Care in a Historical Context
Posted onIn May 1855, Dr. James Marion Sims opened the first obstetric fistula hospital in New York City. Just 40 years later, it closed, reflecting a sharp decline in maternal morbidity rates in the United States and other Western countries. The Waldorf Astoria Hotel now stands on the site of the former hospital. “We know that we have eradicated obstetric fistula in high income countries; it happened at the turn of the 20th century,” says Dr. Lauri Romanzi, project director of Fistula Care Plus, in this week’s podcast. That timing is crucial, says Romanzi, because there is a narrative that argues certain social determinants must be changed to eradicate fistula in developing countries today, such as forced marriage, teen pregnancy, women’s education and suffrage, antenatal care, and gender-based violence… read more