Maternal and child health
Maternal and child health is a particularly important concern in developing country contexts. The divide between developed and developing contexts is considerable, as 99 per cent of maternal deaths occur in poor countries and mostly around childbirth.
Mother-baby interventions require a functioning health system that can provide skilled care during pregnancy and childbirth, responsive referral systems and emergency care in the event of an obstetric or neonatal emergency. However, access and demand issues complicate service provision, which is exacerbated by issues of culture, status and finances, as well as other health care barriers such as restricted transport to clinics. Monitoring and evaluation of maternal and child health programming is challenging and methods continue to evolve. Some methods are provided here.
- Child health inequities in developing countries
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This paper, in the International Journal for Equity in Health, compares the magnitude of inequities in child malnutrition across urban and rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and investigates the extent to which disparities within urban areas are accounted for by the characteristics of communities, households and individuals.
Recommended reading
- Organizing delivery care: what works for safe motherhood?
- ( M. A. Koblinsky; O. Campbell; J. Heichelheim / Bulletin of the World Health Organization : the International Journal of Public Health , 1999)
- Approaches to delivering midwifery and obstetric care in countries that have relatively low maternal mortality ratios are examined. This policy and practice paper by researchers from MotherCare/JSI an...
Latest Additions
- Weak health systems obstruct progress towards achieving the MDGs for maternal and child health
- ( World Health Organization , 2008)
- This World Health Organization report tracks coverage for interventions needed to attain the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5. The report is based on data drawn from national surveys and global da...
- The consequences of under-reporting births and deaths in Vietnam
- ( M. Malqvist;L. Eriksson;N. T. Nga / BMC International Health and Human Rights , 2008)
- This paper, published in BMC International Health and Human Rights, analyses to what extent births and neonatal deaths are unreported in Vietnam and discusses the consequences at local and internation...
- Economic growth does not necessarily translate into improvements in child survival
- ( Save the Children Fund , 2008)
- This Save the Children report considers why millions of children under the age of five continue to die every year, even though proven remedies and practical measures are available to help save them. I...
