What Makes Community Health Care Work?

As a follow up piece to the column "Villages Without Doctors" published in the New York Times this week, Tina Rosenberg examines why some community health care models are more sustainable than others, and how successful models can be taken to scale.

Mozambique, MCHIP Program Gives Pregnant Women Reasons To Give Birth in Hospitals

Mozambique

Improved maternal health services under the Model Maternities Initiative has increased the number of facility births with a skilled birth attendant present, a critical factor in safeguarding the lives of mother and child.

India takes step forward in tackling maternal health

India

Delhi’s high court has ordered the capital’s government to build shelters for destitute pregnant women so they can receive care when giving birth. It is treating maternal mortality as a human rights violation

Africa Regional Meeting to Focus on Interventions for Impact in Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care

The disparate impact of pregnancy-related complications on women in the developing world are bringing together experts from across Africa to a special meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to promote and increase interventions that will save women’s lives.

Villages Without Doctors

India

In the United States and other wealthy countries, lay people can fill in the gaps in left by doctors’ care.  In poor countries, people with no or little formal medical training are successfully substituting for doctors and nurses.

Ascertaining child and maternal mortality rates

Pakistan

The Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) announce that a country-wide survey will be started on March 1 to ascertain child and maternal mortality rates in Pakistan.

State of World’s Midwifery: New Report to Document Birth Attendance in 60 Countries

The report, which will be the first of its kind, is intended to strengthen midwifery capacity around the world and provide new information and data from 60 countries.

Study finds simple interventions reduce newborn deaths in Africa

Zambia

Training community birth attendants in rural Zambia in a simple newborn resuscitation protocol reduced neonatal deaths by nearly 50 percent – a finding that shows high potential to save lives in similar remote settings.

Nigeria: ‘MDG unrealistic without reduction in infant mortality’

Nigeria

Dr. Chinyere Ezeaka, has said the Millennium Development Goal four is not achievable if newborn mortality and under-five mortality are not reduced in Nigeria.

Simple training halves baby deaths

Zambia

Scientists from Boston have now proved, in a controlled trial, that simple interventions and resucitation techniques, could be taught to tradional birth attendants, cutting the neonatal death rate in two.