Exploring the Barriers and Facilitators of Kangaroo Mother Care

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By: Teertha Arora, Candidate for Masters in Public Health (Global Health), Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Research suggests that kangaroo mother care (KMC) can significantly reduce deaths in newborns as well as the risk of hypothermia and severe illness. Furthermore, it can lead to improved growth, breastfeeding practices and mother–child bonding. A recent study conducted by Chan and colleagues systematically reviewed the barriers and enablers of KMC within a health system…read more

How Kangaroo Mother Care Has Improved Newborn Health Outcomes and Supported Moms in Kenya

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By: Lutomia Mangala, Health Specialist, UNICEF Kenya

Kangaroo mother care involves prolonged continuous skin-to-skin contact between a mother or her surrogate and her preterm or low birth weight infant. For stable preterm infants, this low-cost, high-impact intervention has been shown to offer better thermal regulation and greater health benefits compared to conventional care…read more

10 Lessons From The BetterBirth Study

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By: Katherine Semrau, Director of the BetterBirth Program at Ariadne Labs, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and Associate Epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital Division of Global Health Equity

The BetterBirth Program team at Ariadne Labs and partners recently led one of the world’s largest maternal newborn health trials in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Using bedside peer-coaching of birth attendants and facility managers, along with the World Health Organization’s Safe Childbirth Checklist, researchers focused on improving birth attendants’ use of basic care practices. The results showed marked improvement in care—but no reduction in mortality rates…read more

What Do Women Want When It Comes to High Quality Maternal and Reproductive Health Care?

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By: Kayla McGowan, Project Coordinator, Women and Health Initiative, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Launched today on International Day for Maternal Health and Rights by the White Ribbon Alliance and partners, the What Women Want campaign aims to gather input from at least one million women and adolescent girls about how they define high quality maternal and reproductive health services. Take the one-question survey and spread the word!…read more