Report Card on Maternal Mortality

A new report on maternal mortality, released by UNICEF, highlights the risks faced during pregnancy and childbirth by women in developing countries.
The report, Progress for Children: A Report Card on Maternal Mortality states that, according to the latest data, more than 99 per cent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, [...]

Maternal Health in the Spotlight

Yesterday, the event we co-organized at the UN Millennium Hotel was a giant success. At Commitment to Progress for Mothers, Newborns and Children, the co-hosts, Presidents of Chile, Finland, and the United Republic of Tanzania, put the world on alert that the 2015 targets to reduce maternal and child mortality will not be met without [...]

Sign Your Name to Support MDGs

Hip-hop star Will.I.Am launched a new video campaign called “In My Name.” He got celebs and participants to sign their name in support of acheiving the MDGs. Even better — he’s asking us to get involved. Click here to add your name to the list, or you can submit your own video to YouTube and Will.i.am [...]

Groove Your Bump!

Check out this hysterical and slighty unorthodox video from Oxfam and The White Ribbon Alliance. As they say: “If you think this is dangerous, try giving birth in poor countries without a midwife hospital or medicine.”

Misoprostol Approved in Uganda

The Uganda government approved the use of the low-cost drug, misoprostol, to treat and prevent excessive bleeding in mothers during childbirth to curb the high maternal mortality rates.
Dr. Stephen Mallinga, the health minister, explained that the government had previously delayed licensing the drug, which can also be used to induce labour, because of fears of [...]

“Death in Birth”

There’s a moving article in this week’s TIME magazine about maternal mortality around the world. Vivienne Walt writes:
In a hospital ward in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, Fatmata Conteh, 26, lay on a bed, having just given birth to her second child. She had started bleeding from a tear in her cervix, [...]

Film Awards for Health

Facing the Truth, a 30-minute televised drama on the importance of HIV tests for pregnant women in Cambodia won a coveted Freddie Awards at this year’s celebration. The Freddie Awards are given in the US for international health and medical media achievements–Facing the Truth won under the category of Prevention. The film was shot in [...]

Beyond HIV: Many STIs Can Kill Pregnant Women

Masimba Biriwasha wrote a blog post on RH Reality Check today about the need to screen pregnant women for other STIs than HIV. She references a new study that was conducted in Cameroon on gynaecological morbidity–defined as “any condition, disease or dysfunction of the reproductive system that is not related to pregnancy, abortion or childbirth [...]

Sarah Brown on Maternal Mortality

“500,000 women a year die in childbirth… you can save them.” — Sarah Brown.
In many parts of the world, it is still the tradition for an expectant mother to say goodbye to her husband, her other children and her neighbours when she goes to give birth, understanding that she might not see them again.
Click here [...]

A Global Fund for Africa

Check out this article: Africa Seeks a Global Fund to Fight Maternal Deaths.