Maternal and Child Health

Check out this post from Dr. Fred Sai, co-host of Women Deliver 2010 and former advisor to the Ghanaian government on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. You can follow the live stream of the Women Deliver 2010 conference from June 7th to 9th at www.womendeliver.org/webcast.

The Canadian Press reported over the weekend that Canada is planning to pledge $1 billion towards an initiative on maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) at this month’s G8 summit.

In 2006 I had never heard of obstetric fistula, a devastating childbirth injury caused by obstructed labor. You may be unfamiliar with fistula, since it has been almost completely eradicated in the U.S. through modern care and the use of C-sections. Fistula affects over two million women—predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

The New York Times reports on a surprising study released in the Lancet this week: the study, conducted in Ghana, showed that giving pregnant women vitamin A did not demonstrably save their lives or their babies’ lives.

A study published in The Lancet this week reports that maternal mortality has declined significantly for the first time in decades.