The Global Maternal Health Workforce

The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews recently published a qualitative evidence synthesis of factors that influence the provision of intrapartum and postnatal care by skilled birth attendants in low- and middle-income countries. Meeting the needs…

Over the past year, Kenya’s public health system has faced numerous health worker strikes. While political action is underway, what can health program managers do to prevent maternal and newborn deaths? Maternal and newborn health programs in Bungoma,…

Cambodia has made huge gains in bringing down maternal mortality. According to the latest data, nearly 90% of all births in Cambodia now take place under the care of a skilled birth attendant. But in remote provinces like Rattanakiri, progress is only…

In 2015, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation launched an initiative to strengthen professional midwifery in Mexico, where roughly 23,000 traditional midwives provide care for less than 3% of the nearly 2.4 million births annually. Despite…

There is strong evidence supporting the use of birth companions as providers of emotional support during labor to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes, as well as women’s experiences with maternity care. However, despite the substantial body of…

The United Nations Population Fund recently published “The State of the World's Midwifery: Analysis of the Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Adolescent Health (SRMNAH) Workforce in East & Southern Africa.” The report uses the framework of the…

As South Sudan grapples with a four-year civil war and persistent famine, it is also struggling with one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world. Health experts attribute the high rate of maternal deaths to an ailing health care system,…

How do developing countries facing severe shortages in well-trained, equitably distributed health workers ensure access to high quality maternal health care for all women? There are several potential solutions that may be feasible in the short-term,…

The United Nations Population Fund estimates that 1.7 million women affected by the conflict in Nigeria are of reproductive age, and some 276,000 of these women are likely to become pregnant this year. The violence has left more than 40% of health…

One strategy that Rwanda has used to improve maternal health is engaging voluntary community health workers known as Animatrice de Santé Maternelle (ASMs). ASMs provide several services including health promotion and education, monitoring and reporting…