Tanzania: Govt set to improve maternal health services

Tanzania, United Republic of

President Jakaya Kikwete has reiterated the government’s resolve to help its 100 hospitals and 200 health centres offer improved maternal health and other services.

Global Strategy: New Commitments

16 countries announced new commitments to dramatically reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality, as part of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.

Midwife Q&A: Are We Having Babies All Wrong?

Ina May Gaskin started delivering babies in 1970 while on a hippie cross-country trip known as the caravan. She had no medical training, just a master’s degree in English and a gut feeling that women deserved kinder, gentler births…

Emergency Birth Training Curbs Infant Mortality

Simple techniques, which initiate breathing in the newborn during the first minute of life, can reduce the newborn mortality rate by 50 percent.

Closely spaced pregnancies put maternal, newborn lives at risk

Pakistan

Getting pregnant soon after childbearing, miscarriage or abortion places mothers and newborns at a higher risk of health complications or even death.

MAMA knows best

MAMA’s three-year goal is straightforward: to provide a low-cost, highly-accessible mobile phone communication system for mothers in Bangladesh, India, and South Africa to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes.

Delivering safe childbirth in Afghanistan

Afghanistan

More women die in childbirth in Afghanistan than anywhere else in the world. Global attention since 9/11 has led to more desperately needed midwives – will that change as troops pull out?

ZAMBIA: Pregnant women ignore killer malaria

Zambia

For her first pregnancy, Kezia Banda did not like the idea of taking sulfdoxine pyremethanine, known by the brand name Fansidar, the recommended drug to protect her against malaria. The longer time she needs to complete a full dose of the malaria course puts her off. 

The main causes of maternal death in Nigeria can be avoided

Nigeria

Northern Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an expectant mother. Women who have had pre-natal care have a much better chance of delivering their babies safely

Ghana: Maternal, Infant Mortality Will Minimize

Ghana

Ghana’s First Lady, Ernestina Naadu Mills has expressed optimism that death rates among women and infants will minimize drastically in the coming years as a result of the successful completion of the Neo-natal Survival Programme.