Projects

Disparities in U.S. Maternal Health

With generous support from Merck for Mothers, the Maternal Health Task Force undertook a project in 2015 to raise awareness about the disparities in U.S. maternal health in the global context and to centralize knowledge related to maternal mortality in the U.S. 
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Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality

The Maternal Health Task Force is playing an integral role in advancing the global goals and strategies for Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) by driving the efforts of the EPMM Working Group and leading the technical work to develop a comprehensive monitoring framework.
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Knowledge Management System

Accessing the latest evidence on maternal newborn health can be challenging for many professionals around the world due to barriers such as expensive journal subscription fees, unreliable internet access and difficulty staying up-to-date with so many different publications. The MHTF aims to address these barriers through its knowledge management system. Learn more about this project>>

INTERGROWTH-21st

The INTERGROWTH-21st project, coordinated by the University of Oxford’s Maternal and Perinatal Health Institute (OMPHI), provided clinicians and researchers with globally standardized growth charts to accurately measure fetal and newborn growth.
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BetterCareTogether

BetterCareTogether was a social networking platform for maternal and newborn healthcare professionals to connect, share and discuss evidence-based resources.
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MHTF-PLOS Collection on Maternal Health

In order to increase global access to comprehensive information on maternal health, the MHTF collaborates with the Public Library of Science (PLOS) annually to curate freely available, open access collections of research on maternal health with a focus on low-income countries.
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Advancing Dialogue on Maternal Health Series

The Maternal Health Task Force works closely with the United Nations Population Fund and the Wilson Center Maternal Health Initiative to bring together the world’s leading maternal and newborn health policymakers, researchers and practitioners to discuss the most pressing issues in the global maternal and newborn health field.
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Safe Mothers and Newborns Leadership Workshop

The Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF), with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has teamed up with The Aga Khan University in Kenya and the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Spain to host an annual week-long workshop called the Safe Mothers and Newborns Leadership Workshop.
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Maternal Health Young Professionals Program

Recognizing the value of mentoring, the Maternal Health Task Force partnered with St. John’s Medical College and Research Institute to create the Maternal Health Young Professionals (MHYP) program, a year-long mentoring program for health professionals throughout India.
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Young Champions of Maternal Health

The Young Champions of Maternal Health program, started in 2009 by the Maternal Health Task Force in partnership with Ashoka and the Institute of International Education, was the first-ever international fellowship to focus specifically on supporting a new generation of global leaders dedicated to improving maternal health.
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Implementing INTERGROWTH-21st Tools at Jacaranda Health

The Maternal Health Task Force is the technical lead for the INTERGROWTH-21st implementation study at Jacaranda Health in Nairobi, Kenya, which is assessing the feasibility, acceptability and clinical impact of integrating new evidence-based tools for measuring fetal growth.
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Improving Maternal Health Measurement Capacity and Use

As part of an effort to end preventable maternal mortality, the MHTF aims to improve measurement capacity for maternal health through a) the development and validation of indicators to inform global standards and b) support to countries for the adoption and use of the indicators.
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Quality of Antenatal Care in Nigeria

The Maternal Health Task Force supported a research project in Nigeria that sought to understand local beliefs and experiences regarding the adequacy of antenatal care.
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Validation of the Skilled Birth Attendant (SBA) Indicator

The Maternal Health Task Force partnered with colleagues at the Population Council to review the skilled birth attendant (SBA) indicator, which is used widely as a proxy measure of quality of care.
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Strengthening the Maternal Health Care System in Ethiopia

In collaboration with Addis Continental Institute of Public Health and other local partners, the Maternal Health Task Force developed, implemented and evaluated a package of interventions designed to help strengthen the maternal health care system in Ethiopia.
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Maternal Health Innovations Fund

The goal of the Maternal Health Innovations Fund was to amplify the voices of women and health caregivers in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and South Kyrgyzstan to maximize women’s maternal health decision-making by leveraging both local knowledge and technical capacity.
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Hansen Project on Maternal and Child Health

The Hansen Project on Maternal and Child Health aimed to understand and prevent disrespect and abuse during childbirth across the globe, with particular focus on Tanzania and Ethiopia.
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Adding Content to Contact

The MHTF partnered with ICS Intergrare and the WHO’s Special Programme in Human Reproduction to assess antenatal and postnatal care programs in different countries and identify opportunities for integration and improvement.
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Case Study on Respectful Maternity Care Awareness-Raising

The Maternal Health Task Force is developing a case study on respectful maternity care awareness-raising efforts to inform the design of a novel communication framework that describes influential factors for effective awareness-raising campaigns related to health policy and human rights issues.Learn more about this project>>

Developing an Adapted Group Antenatal Care Model for Global Implementation

The Maternal Health Task Force is conducting formative research to explore the acceptability and feasibility of implementing an adapted group antenatal care model in urban India.Learn more about this project>>

Inclusion of Respectful Maternity Care in Professional Standards for Frontline Maternity Care Providers

The Maternal Health Task Force is conducting a systematic review to explore the extent to which respectful maternity care principles are included in professional codes of conduct and standard-setting documents for maternal health care providers. Learn more about this project>>

Maternal Health of Refugees Migrating from Democratic Republic of Congo to Burundi

The Maternal Health Task Force is conducting a mixed-methods study to assess the maternal health services available to women who have fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo in search of refuge in Burundi. Learn more about this project>>

Strategies for Measuring Prevalence of Disrespect and Abuse During Childbirth

Evidence indicates that disrespect and abuse (D&A) during facility-based childbirth is a widespread problem, but just how commonly it happens is not well understood. The MHTF conducted a systematic literature review to identify and compare methods for measuring the prevalence of D&A. Learn more about this project>>