Maternal and Child Health

Are Health Workers Delivering for Women? And Are We Delivering for Health Workers?

June 2013 by Rebecca Kohler
TAGS: Health Workers, Maternal and Child Health, MGD, Women Deliver

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

Rebecca KohlerIn 2010, an estimated 287,000 women died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Of these deaths, 85% occurred in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. This represents a global decline of 47% since 1990—but falls disappointingly short of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target of 75%.

Last week, I returned from Women Deliver, the largest global meeting of the decade to focus on the health and well-being of girls and women. With just two and a half years left to meet the MDGs, more than 4,500 participants in Kuala Lumpur rallied around the need to accelerate progress to achieve MDG 5: to improve maternal health. Read more »

Health Workers Can Help Stamp Out Poverty

October 2012 by Corinne Farrell
TAGS: Family Planning, Global Health, Health Workers, Maternal and Child Health

This piece was originally published on InterAction’s blog on 10/17/12.

Corinne FarrellThey say wealthier is healthier, and there’s evidence to back that up.

While money alone can’t buy good health, the poor are significantly more likely to experience poor health. But like many of poverty’s symptoms, poor health can also cause poverty.

A severe illness can obliterate a family’s financial health, whether from the cost of treatment or a loss of livelihood. You may know someone who lost a job, a home, or financial security after receiving treatment for a devastating diagnosis. Read more »

Getting Health Workers to the Women Who Need Them

September 2012 by Maurice Middleberg
TAGS: Frontline Health Workers, Health Workers, Maternal and Child Health

This post was originally published on the Huffington Post’s Global Motherhood Blog.

Maureen Kanyiginya is a young midwife with a gentle, confident presence. Sitting on a bench in a grassy area outside the rural health center where she works, in western Uganda, she says she loves helping mothers and delivering their babies. “I make mothers comfortable,” she states firmly. “I’m a health worker.”

Maureen provides vital care for women in a remote area of a country that has a critical shortage of health workers, according to the World Health Organization. Uganda is one of 57 countries with fewer than 2.3 doctors, nurses, and midwives per thousand people. Read more »

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