Consultation: Strengthening quality midwifery education

World Health Organization HNN Team

Strengthening quality midwifery education for Universal Health Coverage 2030 Global online consultation Have your voices heard! Check out the evidence, let us know what is missing. Find out what the global consultations have prioritized for action. Do you think the new 7-Step Action Plan addresses the key activities needed. Tell us how YOU will make … 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

In world’s worst humanitarian crisis, the miracle of a safe birth

UNFPA Yemen HNN Team

JARDAN, Yemen – Over a million pregnant women and new mothers require urgent aid in Yemen, the site of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Mohsina was one of these women when she went into labour at the end of a complicated and painful pregnancy. Luckily, her story had a happy – and surprise – ending. … 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

Experts call for intensified efforts to reduce maternal, newborn deaths

Outlook India India HNN Team

New Delhi, Jan 21 Experts have called for strengthening sexual and reproductive health services in member countries of WHO South-East Asia region, to reduce deaths of mothers and babies, which continues to be at “unacceptable levels”. “Though millions of lives are now being saved due to efforts in recent years, it is unacceptable that mothers … Continued

In Nigeria, Faith in Health Care is Saving Lives

Nigeria HNN Team

In Nigeria, MCSP is improving maternal and child health by removing the obstacles that threaten access to high-quality services. At 321 facilities across two states, we’re helping providers – in training or already working – to prevent needless deaths by translating new and improved knowledge & skills into practice. A close ally in this fight … Continued

Where Doulas Calm Nerves and Bridge Cultures During Childbirth

New York Times HNN Team

HALMSTAD, Sweden — Maria Hussein, who escaped the war in Syria, was many hours into labor in a Swedish hospital when the midwife realized her fetus was in distress, and called in an obstetrician to help. The doctor began giving Ms. Hussein instructions and reassurance in Swedish. Oksana Kornienko, who works as a doula culture … Continued