‘I’ve Lost My Baby, My Home And My Life’: The perils of being pregnant in war-torn Yemen

ELLE UK Yemen HNN Team

Um Walid is lying in a hospital bed in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. The blanket keeping her warm is a deep red; the room is cast in a warm pinky-purple hue. She is sick, and struggling to search for the words to describe the loss of her unborn child just 21 days ago. ‘I … Continued

Mothers in Cameroon Are Dying at Shocking Rates. The GFF Will Help Change That.

Global Citizen Cameroon HNN Team

Despite investing more than its neighbors in sub-Saharan Africa on per-capita health spending, the country of Cameroon struggles to improve the reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health of its people — but that’s about to change. Cameroon ranks 18th among the countries with the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. In 2015, there … Continued

A Day in the Life of a Community Health Worker

USAID Afghanistan Afghanistan HNN Team

SACRIFICING TO MEET NEEDS Shakila is a volunteer Community Health Worker at a health post in Enjil District, Herat Province. Every day, prior to working a typical 24 hour shift at the health post, she leaves her two-year old son, Mohammad Moshfe, with her mother-in-law. “Everyone is welcome here. Enjil is a poor district. It … Continued

Uganda commits to improving maternal health care

New Vision Uganda HNN Team

Every year, worldwide, 303,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth, 2.7 million babies die during the first 28 days of life and 2.6 million babies are stillborn. Uganda and eight other countries have committed to halving preventable deaths of pregnant women and newborns in their health facilities within the next 5 years. The other countries … Continued

In Nepal, a Monthly Exile for Women

New York Times Nepal HNN Team

In remote western Nepal, where the Himalayas brush the sky, girls spend their childhoods as they have for generations, dreading growing up. Puberty starts a monthly exile. An entrenched, superstitious practice linked to Hinduism, Chaupadi, considers menstruating women impure and bad luck, rendering them untouchables. Menstruating women are banished, often to forests where they sleep … Continued

“Clinical Appeal” Creates New Appeal in Bangladesh Rural Health

bdnews24.com Bangladesh HNN Team

Not many women give birth at hospitals in Bangladesh, with only four in every 10 women delivering with the help of skilled hands. Postnatal care is also rare. But Suchitra Sutradhar is one of those few who, despite living in a remote village, gave birth at a facility and keeps coming to that centre for … Continued

Are we winning against maternal and infant mortality?

Researchers, activists, officials and journalists gather in Mexico City to discuss healthcare for mothers and infants.

A pledge to action on congenital disorders

Tanzania, United Republic of HNN Team

Close to 300 participants from 37 countries attended The 7th International Conference on Birth Defects and Disabilities in the Developing World (ICBD) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, from September 21-24, 2015.

Registration for Woman Deliver Conference 2016 Now Open

Women Deliver’s 4th Global Conference, taking place 16-19 May 2016, will be the largest gathering on girls’ and women’s health and rights in the last decade and one of the first major global conferences following the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Burundi refugees giving birth in unsafe conditions

Burundi HNN Team

the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimated more than 46,000 refugees were seeking shelter in Tanzania, following violence and unrest in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura.