Knowledge Summary 22: Reaching Child Brides

Child marriage affects 10 million girls under the age of 18 every year. The negative health and social impact of child marriage include higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, sexually transmitted infection, social separation, and domestic abuse compared with older married women. The UN defines Child Marriage as a Human Rights violation and is working to end this practice globally, however many girls still fall victim each year. While the importance of ending the practice of child marriage cannot be overlooked, targeted interventions are also needed to mitigate the negative health and development impacts. Health services can serve as an entry point for health and social interventions to decrease the risks associated with pregnancy and improve reproductive and child health. Health services can also facilitate opportunities for multi-sectoral connections such as formal and informal education and income generation to mitigate the negative impact of child marriage

Knowledge Summary 23: Human Rights & Accountability

Progress has been made in reducing maternal and child mortality, yet millions continue to die from preventable causes. These deaths represent an accountability challenge and a major concern shared by both the health and human rights communities. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) commit to reducing these deaths. Powerful complementarities exist between MDGs and human rights.1 The MDGs generate attention, mobilise resources and contribute technical health monitoring approaches. Human rights offer a fundamental emphasis on accountability, systematic and sustained attention to inequities and a legal grounding of commitments. This knowledge summary explores human rights accountability systems at community, country, regional and international levels and the potential synergies for achieving both human rights and public health goals including, and beyond, the MDGs

Regional collaborations as a way forward for maternal, newborn and child health:the South Asian healthcare professional workshop

This article reviews the importance of regional initiatives in the context of global efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goal 4 and 5 and describes the action-oriented multi-country healthcare professional association (HCPA) workshops organized by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. The South Asian HCPA workshop served as a catalyst for strengthening the ability of HCPAs in South Asian countries to organize and coordinate their activities effectively, play a larger role in national planning, and collaborate with other key stakeholders in maternal, newborn and child health

Why Do Mothers Die? The Silent Tragedy of Maternal Mortality

More than two decades after the launch of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, maternal health in many developing countries has shown little or no improvement. Year after year, more than half a million mothers continue to die in silence. The specificities of the complex cross-cutting issue only partly explain why tireless efforts have led to insufficient progress so far. While some success stories prove that results can be obtained quickly, the dissensions and deficiencies the Initiative has encountered have strongly weakened its impact. However, recent developments over the past 3 years allow us to foresee the silence will soon be broken. While advocacy begins to subsequently raise awareness, more financial means are mobilized. As a consensus on the priority interventions has finally been reached (Women Deliver conference, London, October 2007), more coordinated actions and initiatives are being developed. The strive for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals helps to create the political momentum the cause strongly needs to generate new leadership, develop and implement the adequate strategies. Sensible focus on resources and structure as well as innovative management will be crucial in that process

Private Enterprise for Public Health: Opportunities for Business to Improve Women's and Children's Health

This guide, developed by FSG and published by the Innovation Working Group in support of the global Every Woman, Every Child effort, explores how companies can create shared value in women's and children's health. The document sets out opportunities for multiple different industries to develop new product and services, improve delivery systems and strengthen health systems that can support global efforts to save 16 million women's and children's lives between now and 2015. It particularly notes that companies need not wait for health services to "catch up" with their economic model, but rather they can work proactively to help accelerate change, by partnering with other industries, civil society and the public sector to create collective impact in a specific location. The aim of the guide is to catalyze these transformative partnerships

Impact of the Nursing Home Visit to the newborn/ infant/family

Objective: To identify the impact of the home visit to the newborn/infant/family, when performed by nurses, on the health and well-being of the child and family. Methodology: A systematic review of the literature was carried out following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, based on a research on the EBSCO and pubmed platform, and bibliographical references of the articles found, with the chronological frieze 2010 and 2017. Were included Randomized controlled trials evaluating the impact of the home visit of nursing performed when they were newborns/infants, in the health and wellbeing of the child and family, in children/adolescents/families. Results: We selected 11 articles, randomized controlled trials, 7 experimental and 4 follow-up. The data systematization process was carried out using tables that facilitated the analysis of the studies. We have found studies that evaluate the impact of the home visit to the newborn/infant/family in the short (2) and long (9) term, developed with great heterogeneity in the intervention of the home visit performed and evaluated impacts, but the results show gains in the well-being of children and families. Conclusions: It is evident from the results found that the home visit of the newborn/ infant/family, performed by nurses, has a positive impact on the health and well-being of the child and the family

Innovative package for frontline maternal, newborn and child health workers in South Sudan

Improving maternal, newborn, and child health is a leading priority worldwide. It is a particularly urgent issue in South Sudan, which suffers from the world’s worst maternal mortality and among the worst newborn and child mortalities. A leading barrier to improving these health indices is limited frontline health worker capacity. In partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Division of Global Health and Human Rights (Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA) has developed and is currently implementing its novel Maternal, Newborn, and Child Survival (MNCS) Initiative throughout much of South Sudan. The purpose of MNCS is to build frontline health worker capacity through a training package that includes:1. A participatory training course2. Pictorial checklists to guide prevention, care, and referral3. Re-useable medical equipment and commodities.Program implementation began in November 2010 utilizing a training-of-trainers model. To date, 72 local trainers and 632 frontline health workers have completed the training and received their MNCS checklists and commodities. Initial monitoring and evaluation results are encouraging as further evaluation continues. This innovative training package may also serve as a model for building capacity for maternal, newborn, and child health in other resource limited settings beyond South Sudan

Research priorities of women at risk for preterm birth: findings and a call to action.

BACKGROUND:Traditional hierarchical approaches to research give privilege to small groups with decision-making power, without direct input from those with lived experience of illness who bear the burden of disease. A Research Justice framework values the expertise of patients and communities as well as their power in creating knowledge and in decisions about what research is conducted. Preterm birth has persisted at epidemic levels in the United States for decades and disproportionately affects women of color, especially Black women. Women of color have not been included in setting the agenda regarding preterm birth research. METHODS:We used the Research Priorities of Affected Communities protocol to elicit and prioritize potential research questions and topics directly from women of color living in three communities that experience disproportionately high rates of preterm birth. Women participated in two focus group sessions, first describing their healthcare experiences and generating lists of uncertainties about their health and/or healthcare during pregnancy. Women then participated in consensus activities to achieve 'top-priority' research questions and topic lists. The priority research questions and topics produced by each group were examined within and across the three regions for similarities and differences. RESULTS:Fifty-four women participated in seven groups (14 sessions) and generated 375 researchable questions, clustered within 22 topics and four overarching themes: Maternal Health and Care Before, During, and After Pregnancy; Newborn Health and Care of the Preterm Baby; Understanding Stress and Interventions to Prevent or Reduce Stress; and Interpersonal and Structural Health Inequities. The questions and topics represent a wide range of research domains, from basic science, translational, clinical, health and social care delivery to policy and economic research. There were many similarities and some unique differences in the questions, topics and priorities across the regions. CONCLUSIONS:These findings can be used to design and fund research addressing unanswered questions that matter most to women at high risk for preterm birth. Investigators and funders are strongly encouraged to incorporate women at the front lines of the preterm birth epidemic in research design and funding decisions, and more broadly, to advance methods to deepen healthcare research partnerships with affected communities