May 17

State Of The World's Mothers 2012. Save The Children

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From the press release:

Save the Children's thirteenth State of the World's Mothers report shows Niger as the worst place to be a mother in the world — replacing Afghanistan for the first time in two years. Norway comes in at first place. The Best and Worst Places to Be a Mom ranking, which compares 165 countries around the globe, looks at factors such as a mother's health, education and economic status, as well as critical child indicators such as health and nutrition. This year, the United States ranks 25th.

+ Link to full report (PDF; 6.86 MB)

+ Link to executive summary (PDF; 733 KB)

+ Link to 2012 Mothers' Index Ranking (PDF; 127 KB)

+ Link to publication web page for interactive report and additional content

 Post from Docubase By Peggy Garvin

September 23

Accountability For Maternal Health Care In South Africa. Human Rights Watch

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“Stop Making Excuses” : Accountability for Maternal Health Care in South Africa
Human Rights Watch, August 8, 2011
 

This report documents maternity care failures that include abuse of maternity patients by health workers and substandard care in Eastern Cape Province, putting women and their newborns at high risk of death or injury. It examines shortcomings in the tools used by health authorities to identify and correct health system failures that contribute to poor maternal health. Eastern Cape has some of the worst health indicators in South Africa, including high infant, child, and maternal mortality rates. But analyses by government and other public health experts show that other regions experience the same problems, including negative attitudes by health workers, poor quality care, administrative and financial management inefficiencies, and lack of accountability for health system failures.

Download the full report (PDF, 548.72 KB)

 

September 17

Trends In Maternal Mortality: 1990 To 2008

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Estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank

 

Overview

Millennium development goal (MDG) 5 Target 5A calls for the reduction of maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by three quarters between 1990 and 2015. It has been a challenge to assess the extent of progress due to the lack of reliable and accurate maternal mortality data – particularly in developing-country settings where maternal mortality is high. As part on going efforts, the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank revised and improved earlier methods to estimate maternal mortality in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, and 2008; and developed methodology to present trends in maternal mortality from 1990 to 2008 at country, regional, and global levels.

This report highlights the following.

  • Ten out of 87 countries with maternal mortality ratios over 100 in 1990, are on track with an annual decline of 5.5% between 1990 and 2008. At the other extreme, 30 made insufficient or no progress since 1990.

     

  • The study shows progress in sub-Saharan Africa where maternal mortality decreased by 26%.

     

  • In Asia, the number of maternal deaths is estimated to have dropped from 315 000 to 139 000 between 1990 and 2008, a 52% decrease.

     

  • 99% of all maternal deaths in 2008 occurred in developing regions, with sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia accounting for 57% and 30% of all deaths respectively.
Download report
[pdf 2.31MB]

Methods

Technical report [pdf 2.31Mb]

Files and programmes [zip 3.31Mb]
Data and programmes (R and STATA) used for computing the maternal mortality estimates

 

September 02

UN Population Award 2008

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A report of the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund on UN Population Award 2008 has been issued (A/63/255). This year the award was given to Damme Billie Miller of Barbados in recognition of her achievements in the area of gender, sexual and reproductive health, and to Family Care International of the United States in recognition of its achievements in building a global platform and partnership to end the maternal mortality and in providing assistance for women at risk in developing countries, particularly in Africa (Press-release).
About the Award, Previously in UN Pulse.

UN Pulse: Permanent Link: UN Population Award 2008
July 29

Mother, Infant And Young Child Nutrition &Amp; Malnutrition, A Portal

Children, including infants Nutrition Mothers Trackbacks (0)
Announcing the release of http://motherchildnutrition.org - a new portal
about Mother, Infant and Young Child Nutrition & Malnutrition
 
The fight against persistent underweight, stunting and wasting among
children in developing countries is based on appropriate maternal,
infant and young child feeding practices including micronutrient
deficiencies prevention and control. However, wasted children are those
at immediate risk of dying and will need timely detection and correct
management for their survival.
 
With new technologies, increased resources and greater understanding now
more available than ever for tackling malnutrition, practice on the
ground is still struggling to show results as it attempts to keep up
with the pace.
 
This website and the links contained therein aim to address these
shortfalls by offering online access to the latest worldwide
developments in the fields of preventive and curative nutrition. We
would hope that a growing online community of practitioners,
contributors and an interested public, develops through continued
interest and usage.
 
More than half of all child deaths are associated with malnutrition,
which weakens the body's resistance to illness.
 
I trust that you will find this portal useful. Kindly forward this email
to your health care network, colleagues, friends and relatives. Everyone
should have access to this information. After all, everyone has the
right to make a difference.
 
Nand Wadhwani
Health Education to Villages
http://hetv.org
 
Thanks to Fareeda Jadwat for this.