Policy debates in maternal, newborn and child health

This guide examines the conflict between maternal and child health, and between community-based and skilled care, providing a review of the current policy landscape and evidence base, with links to additional resources.

Introduction

Each year, over 10 million children die, 4 million of these in the first four weeks of life (the neonatal period). In this same period after birth, the majority of the world's 0.5 million maternal deaths also occur. The World Health Report 2005 calls for new momentum to address and improve maternal, neonatal and child health. More...

Maternal versus child health - who matters most?

Despite the name "maternal and child health", most MCH programmes in the 1980s focused on the child. Maternal programming was primarily limited to family planning. Some in the child survival movement even discussed the woman as if she were just another intervention to improve child survival. More...

Clinical versus community based care - a conflict?

As they gained independence in the 1950s and 60s, most countries in Africa and Asia were investing in facility-based care for the rich in urban settings. During the1970s and 80s, emphasis shifted to primary health care and mass training of community health workers and traditional birth attendants, with the aim of reaching the poor. More...

Conclusions and recommendations

Women, newborns and children all have rights and all would benefit from a health system that functions to deliver interventions from the pre-pregnancy period, through pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period into infancy and childhood. More...