Quality of Maternal Health Care

Group antenatal care, initially developed in the U.S. several decades ago, is a promising model that responds to women’s health and information concerns during pregnancy. Management Sciences for Health is testing the feasibility and acceptability of…

Women who receive skilled care during pregnancy often “drop out” during a critical period of the continuum of care and end up delivering at home or in the community without a certified, properly trained health professional. Based on nationally…

While studies of public facilities in India have indicated generally poor quality of care, evidence from private facilities—particularly for normal labor and delivery—is scarce. In an effort to address this evidence gap, a recent article from the…

Encouraging facility-based delivery as a strategy to increase skilled attendance at birth in order to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths has been a priority in the global maternal health agenda for decades. However, it has been widely recognized that…

Episiotomies have long been a topic of debate among clinicians, researchers and advocates. Over the past two decades, a growing body of literature and increased advocacy efforts have led to a general consensus that episiotomy should not be conducted as a…

Ensuring that women receive high quality, respectful maternity care is essential, but designing and implementing indicators to accurately measure women’s experiences can be challenging. Professor Saraswathi Vedam and colleagues recently published two…

Although the literature on violations of respectful maternity care principles around the globe is substantial, there have been relatively few studies conducted in the Nigerian context. A recent systematic review in PLOS One examined the quantitative and…

On 24 April 2017, providers, advocates, researchers and policymakers gathered at the Wilson Center to discuss the growing trend of overuse of medical interventions in global maternal health care. The event, titled, “Too Much Too Soon: Addressing…

Respectful maternity care is not only a crucial component of quality of care; it is a human right. In 2014, WHO released a statement calling for the prevention and elimination of disrespect and abuse during childbirth, stating that “every woman has the…

For Vietnam’s ethnic minorities, their cultural preferences and traditions surrounding childbirth are often portrayed as obstacles to the uptake of maternal health services. One cultural preference that is viewed as a barrier to receiving maternal health…