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Book Review: No Woman Left Behind
No Woman Left Behind: A Journey of Hope to Heal Every Woman Injured in Childbirth by Kate Grant My rating: 5 of 5 stars No Woman Left Behind: A Journey of Hope to Heal Every Woman Injured in Childbirth is a powerful and deeply moving memoir by Kate Grant, founding CEO of the Fistula Foundation.…
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Women’s Empowerment Program Update Four Years On
This past week I was thinking about the time I spent in Nepal with Coca- Cola to see the devastation after the earthquake and the global brand’s response to it. The April 2015 4.5 magnitude earthquake upended lives and left cities in rubble. I saw much of it during our travels through Kathmandu and its…
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Radiotherapy will be required to treat cervical cancer in low-and-middle income countries
When I was in Zambia I saw ways in which nurses treat cervical cancer in low resource settings. Women who do not benefit from the HPV vaccine and still develop cervical cancer are often subject to visual inspection of the cancer typically with a digital camera followed by cryotherapy to freeze the diseased part of…
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NEW: Drug That Prevents PostPartum Hemorrhage Added To WHO Essential Medicines List
As I have written many times before postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) or excessive uterine bleeding after childbirth is the leading cause of maternal mortality in low-and-middle income countries. The recommended drug to prevent PPH according to the World Health Organization (WHO) is oxytocin. When administered in its recommended dose it causes little to no side effects.…
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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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Will Trump’s Global Family Planning Cuts Cause Side Effects?
Actress and U.N. Population Fund Goodwill Ambassador Ashley Judd visited a refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan in 2016. AP Photo/Raad Adayleh Written by Rachel Sullivan Robinson, American University School of International Service President Donald Trump is leading an assault on family planning around the world. Most recently, his administration cut off U.S. contributions to the…
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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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Nepali Women Increase Earning Potential Through Business Training #5by20
The energy and enthusiasm was palpable as we walked into a room full of eager women entrepreneurs role-playing the everyday dynamic between business owners and their customers. While the room was loaded with fun and laughter during this exercise, its importance was not lost on any of the women who had come to the campus…
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Day 1 Dispatch: In Nepal With Coca-Cola #NepalNow
It’s been raining virtually nonstop since we arrived in Kathmandu on Sunday morning. There were downpours all day without any let up until the evening. I hope we get to see the sun on Tuesday. It’s the end of the monsoon season in Nepal, but I don’t think the weather quite wants to get rid of…
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Why We’re Traveling to Nepal With Coca-Cola #NepalNow #5by20
Last year I remember exactly where I was when the 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on April 25. I was on my way to Haiti to report on maternal health, and really good friends of mine from the International Reporting Project had been in Nepal for a very short time on a reporting trip when the quake hit.…
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The Status of Nepal: The Course for Moving Forward
It has been three months since the earthquake in Nepal. Over 9,000 people lost their lives and several more were injured. The latest figures state that over 117,000 people are displaced from their homes and over two million children have been affected. Like many countries at this time, Nepal is in great need of humanitarian assistance…
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Video: Maternal Health Care After Nepal’s Earthquakes
If there is one thing we’ve seen over the past month or so after the earthquakes in Nepal in April and May is there is an overall concerted effort to help women who are expecting babies during the aftermath of the natural disaster.
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Featured Video: #EndMaternalMortality
Merck for Mothers is a 10-year, $500 million global initiative that applies Merck’s scientific and business expertise to help reduce maternal mortality worldwide. So far, with our partners, they have helped an estimated 3.5 million women around the world including the United States. We agree, no woman should die giving life. Watch their #EndMaternalMortality video. Photo:…
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Featured Video: Periods Change Lives
Once girls get their period in low- and middle-income countries where resources are low, their lives change — sometimes irreparably. When girls get their periods they oftentimes have to drop out of school and work around their home instead. And on top of that, many cannot afford sanitary napkins. Irise International, an East African organization,…
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Maternal and Newborn Health News from the 68th World Health Assembly
The 68th World Health Assembly features the launch of two important reports – The WHO report on Strategies Toward Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality [PDF] and the Every Newborn Action Plan Progress Report [PDF]. Maternal health remains one of the most elusive Millennium Development Goal to achieve. While maternal deaths worldwide have been nearly halved since…
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Can Forests Help Fight Global Hunger?
Currently 805 million people are undernourished worldwide. That number is based on a number of factors including chronic and systemic poverty, a lack of access to improved growing methods and resources for small-holder farmers, a lack of purchasing power, as well as a lack of highly nutritious foods. Researchers believe forests can help remedy the…
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Aid Workers Continue Assistance After Second Nepal Earthquake
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal today roughly two weeks after the last earthquake shook the impoverished nation that took the lives of 8,000 people. Aid workers and NGOs are already in Nepal providing assistance and supplies are in the pipeline and have reached Kathmandu for distribution to remote areas. In sharp contrast to last month’s earthquake at…
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Featured Video: #WhatIsPossible for Global Maternal Health?
Today 800 women will die during childbirth from largely preventable causes. Most of those women live in low- and middle-income countries, but some mothers will also not make it through delivery right here in the United States. Most people don’t realize that the United States has the highest maternal mortality rate of any developed country in…
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Infographic: 2015 Mothers’ Index Rankings
As in years past, the Nordic countries lead the world in being the best countries to be a mother and to raise children. Save the Children’s Mothers’ Index ranked countries based on maternal health, children’s well-being, educational status, and economic and political status. Sub-Saharan African countries and Haiti rounded out the worst places to be…
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UNESCO Report Shows Sobering Global Education Progress
Fifteen years ago an educational framework was set in Dakar, Senegal at the World Education Forum that established goals to achieve “Education for All” by 2015. Since then, the number of children who are now out of school has fallen by half, but there are still 58 million children out of school globally and around…