WHO Director-General calls on world leaders to support Universal Health Coverage high-level meeting

WHO HNN Team

This article was originally published by the World Health Organization here. Statement by Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus I have just returned from a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to review the response to the Ebola outbreak. I was reminded once again that Ebola is just one symptom … Continued

One woman and six newborns die every two hours from complications during pregnancy or childbirth in Yemen

UNICEF Yemen HNN Team

This article was originally published on the UNICEF website here. One woman and six newborns die every two hours in Yemen from complications during pregnancy or childbirth, UNICEF said in the first of a series of short snapshots on maternal and newborn health in Yemen. “Bringing life into the world in Yemen can all too … Continued

Rewriting Bungoma’s infant mortality story

Daily Nation (Kenya) Kenya HNN Team

This article by Evans Ongwae originally appeared in Daily Nation (Kenya) here. Through a targeted collaborative newborn support project, Mount Kenya University (MKU) and its partners are rewriting Bungoma County’s infant mortality story. The sad tale of the county losing 32 newborns for every 1,000 live births, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey … Continued

In South Sudan, Midwives Bring Down Deaths Despite the Odds

Associated Press South Sudan HNN Team

JUBA, South Sudan — Seated in a stifling hallway in South Sudan’s main hospital, the midwife recounted the day she watched a young mother bleed to death after giving birth. “She died while holding my hand,” said Aber Evaline, hanging her head. Her patient was one of more than 40 women who died in Juba’s … Continued

Preterm birth study completes emergency obstetrics training at six Ugandan hospitals

Makerere University Centre of Excellence for Maternal Newborn and Child Health Uganda HNN Team

An expectant mother is ushered into the maternity ward. Noticeably, she is in pain. She is quickly reviewed by a midwife. Although her gestation is 37 weeks, she is told she is in the second stage of labour and should be delivering shortly. She is a preterm labour case and is being treated as an … Continued

Nigeria’s ‘Flying Midwives’ Are Helping Save Moms and Babies

Time Nigeria HNN Team

By Aryn Baker | Photographs by Lynsey Addario for TIME February 7, 2019 In the small, whitewashed medical clinic of Banki, one of northeastern Nigeria’s largest camps for internally displaced people (IDP), midwife Stella Aneto takes a rare pause between deliveries to catch her breath. Before wiping down the clinic’s sole delivery bed with disinfectant, Aneto glances at the clinic … Continued

India Readies A New Cadre Of Certified Midwives To Improve Maternal, Infant Care

IndiaSpend India HNN Team

Karimnagar (Telangana) and Delhi: “As a nurse, we used to refer to mothers as patients. The first thing we learned as a midwife was to treat them as mothers and not patients,” said Jyothirmayee Akkaladevi, 35, as she rattled off a list of everything she had to unlearn to train as a midwife. Akkaladevi is … Continued

To avoid stillbirths, women in Kenya bribe overworked doctors

Al Jazeera Kenya HNN Team

Nairobi, Kenya – After Anne Khasakalla suffered two stillbirths in 2014 and 2015, she looked for a solution that would provide her with better healthcare. Friends told her that pregnant women in Kenya have to pay bribes to doctors and nurses to escape long queues of mothers waiting to deliver their babies. “During my first … Continued

Executive Board designates 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”

World Health Organization HNN Team

30 January 2019, Geneva – The Executive Board, today, designated the year 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and midwife”, in honor of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. This proposal will now be presented to Member States of the 72nd World Health Assembly for consideration and endorsement. The year 2020 is significant … Continued

WHO lays out recommendations to save newborns

The Week HNN Team

According to a recent report released by WHO titled Survive and thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn, it is crucial for the world to transform care for every newborn baby, in order to achieve the global target of health for all. Reducing neonatal mortality to 12 per 1,000 live births and under-five … Continued