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[Featured Video] Simple Birth Kit for Mothers in Developing World
Women in low-and-middle-income countries need clean birth kits in order to stave off deadly infections in themselves and their newborns. This is the case not only during home births with midwives but also in institutionalized settings. Zubaida Bai, founder of Ayzh, a social enterprise that creates clean, safe birthing kits for women as well as reproductive, newborn…
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5 Maternal Health Interventions That Save Mothers’ Lives
Every day 800 women die during childbirth or from pregnancy complications. This startling statistic represents women who not only live in sub-Saharan Africa where most maternal deaths occur but also throughout the world. In order to reduce the number of maternal deaths in low- and middle-income countries across the globe design teams, social entrepreneurs, innovators, and…
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Dutch Company Now Offers Slave-Free Chocolate Bars in the US
I love all kinds of chocolate. I love dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate with caramel, chocolate with nuts, you make it and I’ll eat it. This company, Tony’s Chocolonely, however, has decided to make the delicious desert the right way. Until yesterday I had no idea there was still slavery in the world,…
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5 Organizations to Support During South Sudan’s Famine
In February the United Nations officially declared a famine in South Sudan. What is most disheartening about this most recent famine in the world’s youngest country is it’s largely man-made. Constant infighting among South Sudanese opposition forces and the government makes growing crops nearly impossible. And, the instability in the country continues to drive up…
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3 Ways You Can Help On World Malaria Day
Today is World Malaria Day. This year’s theme: End Malaria for Good. While 6.8 million malaria deaths were averted between 2000 – 2015, there are still 3.2 billion people who are susceptible to contracting the disease every day and a half million children die from malaria every year. There is a long way to go…
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Three African Countries Chosen for First Malaria Vaccine Trials
For decades, there has been consistent chatter, research, and hope for a potential malaria vaccine. Now, all three are finally coming to fruition to roll out the world’s first clinical malaria vaccine trials. The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) announced today that Ghana, Kenya, and Malawi have been chosen for the WHO-coordinated pilot…
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WATCH: Ed Sheeran Visits Liberia for Red Nose Day
The Red Nose Day campaign to end child poverty returns in the U.S. on Thursday, May 25, in conjunction with a night of special programming and the third annual “Red Nose Day Special” on NBC. One of the best ways to help vulnerable children in low-and-middle-income countries is by telling their authentic stories to those…
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New Maternal Health Mobile App for Tanzanian Women Seeks Crowdfunding
The more technology improves in low-and-middle income countries the quicker mobile apps will be invented and scaled to better people’s live. We already know that banking apps have transformed the exchange of money and have helped economies like Kenya’s thrive. Now, innovators are looking to create more and more mobile apps to transform health care…
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To Empower Women, Give Them Better Access to Water
Bethany Caruso, Emory University Imagine going through your day without ready access to clean water for drinking, cooking, washing or bathing. Around the world, 663 million people face that challenge every day. They get their water from sources that are considered unsafe because they are vulnerable to contamination, such as rivers, streams, ponds and unprotected…
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8 Simple Ways to Provide Free Menstrual Products to Girls and Women in Need (Updated)
Every 28 days, millions of girls and women in developing countries miss school or work – up to 50 days per year – because they lack access to affordable menstrual products. And, it’s not just a problem in poor countries. Right here in the United States, women and girls who lack means often need both menstrual…
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Announcing #MaternalHealthChat Starting November 8 With Jacaranda Health
We are very pleased and excited to announce our new weekly chats all about maternal health with some of the leading maternal health experts, researchers, practitioners, and organizations in the world under the #maternalhealthchat hashtag. Starting on Tuesday, November 8 at 1 PM EST with Jacaranda Health we will host 30-minute chats each week all about maternal and reproductive health…
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Maternal Malnutrition Affects Future Generations: Kenya Must Break the Cycle
By Elizabeth Echoka, Kenya Medical Research Institute and Lydia Kaduka, Kenya Medical Research Institute Nutrition of women before and during pregnancy and when breastfeeding is critical in determining the health and survival of the mother and of her unborn baby. Undernourished pregnant women have higher reproductive risks. They are more likely to experience obstructed labour, or…
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Better Maternal Care in Africa Can Save Women from Suffering in Childbirth
Kareemah Gamieldien, Cape Peninsula University of Technology Every year just over 500,000 women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth across the world. Another 20 million experience severe complications. But many of these complications are entirely avoidable – including obstructed and protracted labour and one of its side-effects, obstetric fistula. An obstetric fistula is a…
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Why Mothers Aren’t Accessing Antenatal Care Early in Their Pregnancies
Anja Smith, Stellenbosch University South Africa has extremely high maternal mortality levels. This is true when compared with developed countries as well as other developing countries. According to the World Health Organisation, for every 100,000 live births in the country in 2015, 138 women died due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. In Sweden, fewer than…
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Why a new vaginal ring could be a game-changer in HIV prevention
Thesla Palanee-Phillips, University of the Witwatersrand The results of the two studies showing that a vaginal ring can help reduce the risk HIV infection among women is being hailed as an important HIV prevention breakthrough. Launched four years ago, the two clinical trials, known as ASPIRE and The Ring Study, set out to determine how…
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HIV ‘Test and Treat’ Strategy Can Save Lives
By Sydney Rosen, Boston University The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to take a tremendous toll on human health, with 37 million people infected and 1.2 million deaths worldwide in 2014. In sub-Saharan Africa, where the HIV epidemic has been most devastating, more than 25 million people are HIV-infected, about 70 percent of the global total.…
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What’s Driving sub-Saharan Africa’s Malnutrition Problem?
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest level of food insecurity in the world. An estimated 220 million people lack adequate nutrition. The nature of the problem is shifting rapidly, with overweight status and obesity emerging as new forms of food insecurity while malnutrition persists. But continental policy responses do not address this changing reality.
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Photo Essay: Standing in Line for Voluntary Male Circumcision
Over the past decade there has been growing research that purports the long-held belief that Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision (VMMC) can drastically decrease the rates of HIV, sexually transmitted diseases, and urinary tract infections in low-and middle-income countries. In Tanzania, for example, where these photos were taken at an IntraHealth International mobile clinic, HIV can…
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West Africa Declared Ebola Free, Despite Recent Outbreak
For two years Ebola has drastically ravaged three West African countries – Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia – and has taken the lives of 11,300 people according to the Guardian UK. Over 28,000 people were diagnosed with Ebola and still live with the pain and stigma of the disease. Since Liberia has not reported a…
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![Maternal Health Around the World [Infographic]](https://socialgoodmoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/651340.jpg)
Maternal Health Around the World [Infographic]
Brought to you by Nursing@Georgetown: Nurse Midwife programs Photo: United Nations