Linkages Among Reproductive Health, Maternal Health and Perinatal Outcomes

MHTF Director Ann Blanc published an article in the December 2010 issue of Seminars in Perinatology.

She and her colleagues reviewed about 1,000 studies dealing with reproductive health, maternal health, and perinatal and neonatal outcomes and found:

Our review amply demonstrates that opportunities for assessing outcomes for both mothers and newborns have been poorly realized and documented…This review demonstrates that RHMNH are inextricably linked, and that, therefore, health policies and programs should link them together. Such potential integration of strategies would not only help improve outcomes for millions of mothers and newborns but would also save scant resources. This would also allow for greater efficiency in training, monitoring, and supervision of health care workers and would also help families and communities to access and use services easily.