Born Too Soon

FIGO HNN Team

FIGO News Between 2000 and 2016 the global neonatal mortality rate fell by 39 percent, an enormous achievement. However, there is still a long way to go. This week, world-renowned experts in gynecology and obstetrics took another step forward, meeting with international political leaders for the Birth: Clinical Challenges in Labour and Delivery Congress on … Continued

Is India’s Healthcare System Failing Premature Babies Even Before They Are Born?

First Post India HNN Team

An estimated 15 million babies are born too early every year, or in other words, preterm (before 37 completed weeks of gestation). That is more than 1 in 10 babies. Approximately 1 million children die each year due to complications of preterm birth. Many survivors face a lifetime of disability, including learning disabilities and visual … Continued

Detecting and diagnosing infection in women during and after pregnancy in Togo

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health Togo HNN Team

The Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health (CMNH) has launched a new programme in Togo, which aims to better understand the causes of infection in women during and after pregnancy, and determine the usefulness of an early warning score to detect possible infection. Last month, Dr Mary McCauley, Academic Clinical Lecturer at CMNH, travelled to … Continued

Looming famine threatens the lives of 2 million pregnant women and new mothers in Yemen

UNFPA Yemen HNN Team

SANA’A, Yemen – Four years into conflict, Yemen has become home to the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Over 22 million people are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. Two thirds of the population do not know when their next meal will come. “Some days I cannot provide food [for my children],” said 28-year-old … Continued

These Women Are Saving Lives, One Pregnancy at a Time

New York Times Sierra Leone, Uganda HNN Team

Regions of sub-Saharan Africa have some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Geographical obstacles, scarce financial resources and the terrors of political insurrection can transform what should be one of the happiest times of a woman’s life into a race for survival. While this issue has been covered extensively from a geopolitical … Continued

C-Sections Have Nearly Doubled Since 2000. That Isn’t Necessarily A Good Thing

TIME HNN Team

Nearly twice as many babies were born via caesarean sections (C-sections) in 2015 as in 2000, a new report says. Almost 30 million C-sections were performed globally in 2015, accounting for 21% of all live births, according to World Health Organization and UNICEF data published Thursday in the Lancet. In 2000, 16 million babies were … Continued

Huge numbers of stillborn babies ‘may have been missed’

The Guardian HNN Team

Hundreds of thousands of deaths a year are not being recognised in international estimates, research suggests Hundreds of thousands of babies who died in the womb could have been missed out of international estimates on stillbirths, research suggests. According to figures for 2015, an estimated 2.6 million babies a year worldwide are stillborn – dying … Continued

Inside a Neonatal Clinic in South Sudan: ‘In Some Ways, It Felt Wrong to Be Here’

New York Times South Sudan HNN Team

JUBA, South Sudan — We noticed the quiet first. As we removed our dirt-caked sneakers, slipped on flip flops and entered the nursery in Juba Teaching Hospital’s newborn ward, a hushed tension washed over us. A bulb flickered relentlessly above the dozen or so newborns in the room. Many of the babies here weighed less … Continued

Dying babies and no doctors: A look inside a Yemeni hospital

Yemen HNN Team

When Kenan was born four months premature, there were no doctors at al-Sadaqa Hospital to care for him. So his grandmothers tried to save him. They placed the infant in an incubator, but it was broken. They tried a second one. It wouldn’t heat up. It had been 24 hours since a doctor had last … Continued

Health workers saving preterms with simple interventions

New Vision Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda HNN Team

A 0.6kg newborn lies peacefully in an incubator at Jinja Regional Referral Hospital. After a routine check from the midwife on duty, all seems well. “It is in good state. I am certain we are going to save this one too,” says the midwife, with fulfilment written on her face. Preterm birth complications according to … Continued