Imagine that you are a young woman who is pregnant, lives in a remote location far from a hospital, and you have a husband and mother-in law who think giving birth at home with an untrained attendant will suffice. Read more >>
Tag archives for Maternal Mortality
Winning the Fight Against HIV in Children
Originally published at Blog.AIDS.gov. Over thirty years ago, when the fight against HIV first began, the outlook for tackling the pandemic was bleak. Across the world, AIDS was seen as a death sentence. Within just a few years, it had devastated communities from the United States to South Africa. But the world continued to fight, [...]
Celebrating Success in Saving the Lives of Mothers
Ordinary women make extraordinary contributions as caregivers and caretakers, as breadwinners and bread-makers to families and societies. And even so, we know that women will not be able to thrive, unless they survive. On Tuesday, the U.S. Government celebrated remarkable country-level success in saving the lives of women during pregnancy and childbirth. Health ministers from [...]
Meet the Innovator: Jorge Odon
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” –Albert Einstein It all started with friendly bet amongst friends – who could get a cork out of an empty wine bottle with only a plastic bag? The friends had seen the trick on YouTube earlier and wanted to re-enact it. Somehow, Saving Lives at Birth finalist Jorge Odon, [...]
Collective Action to Advance the Health of Women and Newborns
Global maternal mortality has dropped by one third since 1990, but still every day an estimated 1,000 women lose their life in childbirth. For the past year, USAID, the UK Department for International Development, Australian Agency for International Development and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have worked in partnership to accelerate progress in improving [...]
Saving Lives Across Nepal: Female Community Health Volunteers
Taking a health sector initiative “to scale” and making it sustainable is a challenging development goal. Ambitious, but achievable. In Nepal, the Ministry of Health and Population has succeeded in bringing maternal and child health information and health services to every community in the country. This, in spite of the fact that the majority of [...]
Bangladesh: Maternal Deaths Decline by 40 Percent in Less Than 10 Years
Bangladesh is on track to meet the 2015 deadline for U.N. Millennium Development Goal 5 (50 percent reduction in maternal deaths). The Bangladesh Maternal Mortality and Health Service Survey[PDF] jointly funded by the Government of Bangladesh, USAID, Australian Aid (AusAID) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) found that maternal deaths in Bangladesh fell [...]
Maternal Death Preventable and Treatable with Low-Cost Interventions
Submitted by Deborah Armbruster, Sr. Maternal and Newborn Health Advisor In September, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that fewer women die each year from complications during pregnancy and childbirth than previously estimated, but efforts to sharply cut maternal mortality by 2015 are still off track. A new report found that 358,000 women died during [...]
The Ability to Plan Your Family Is a Game Changer
By: Ryan Cherlin Having seven children would be a challenge for any woman. In a developing nation like Mali, where the average number of children per woman is 6.6, calling it a challenge may be an understatement. Because they fall pregnant at an early age, young mothers don’t have the opportunity to finish their education, [...]
Dr. Raj. Shah Attends Launch of Pakistan’s Birthspacing Initiative
The U.S. and Pakistan have consulted closely on the shared objectives of addressing Pakistan’s National Health Policy, which outlines the priorities for the nation, which include family planning, maternal and child health, workforce development, and combating infectious diseases to meet the Millennium Development Goals. On Sunday, Dr. Shah attended the launch of the Pakistan Ministry [...]
