Global Maternal Health Conference to be Live Streamed!

Final preparations are underway for the Global Maternal Health Conference in Delhi! With only a couple of weeks until the conference, things have been very busy at the Maternal Health Task Force! Take a look below for the recently finalized live stream schedule. We will be streaming (open-access, no registration necessary) all plenary sessions as well as a number of parallel and panel sessions. In addition, ALL sessions will be archived for future viewing.

If you are interested in guest blogging about the conference sessions, click here for more info.

Cross-posted from the MHTF Blog.

In just a couple of weeks, the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) and the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) will convene an unprecedented gathering of over 600 maternal health experts and their allies in a global technical and programmatic meeting. The Global Maternal Health Conference 2010 aims to build on the existing momentum around MDG5.  The conference will focus on lessons learned, neglected issues, and innovative approaches to reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. The anticipated outcome is increased consensus around the evidence, programs and advocacy needed to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity.

In an effort to engage and inform a broader audience, the plenaries and several sessions will be live streamed.

For information on each of the sessions that will be live streamed–including speakers and abstracts, click on the session title below.

This schedule is in India Standard Time. Click here for a time zone converter!

ACCESS LIVE STREAM FOR ALL SESSIONS HERE.

August 30th, 2010

9:00-10:00 Inaugural

11:00-12:30 Plenary Session:
Global Progress on Maternal Health: The Numbers and Their Implications

13:30- 15:00 Parallel Session:
Human Resources for Maternal and Newborn Health: The Key Element

15:30- 17:00 Parallel Session:
Extremely Affordable Technologies for Maternal and Newborn Survival

August 31st, 2010

9:00-10:30 Plenary:
Community and Facility Interventions: Reframing the Discussion

10:45-12:15 Parallel Session:
Task-Shifting to Expand Access to EmOC: Developing a Deeper Understanding of What it Takes

13:45-15:15 Parallel Session:
Prevention and Treatment of Postpartum Hemorrhage

15:30-17:15 Panel Session:
The Next Generation of Maternal Health Solutions from the Young Champions of Maternal Health

September 1st, 2010

9:00-10:00 Plenary Session:

Maternal Health Accountability: Successes, Failures and New Approaches

10:45-12:15 Parallel Session:
Indian Models of Public-Private Partnerships

13:45-15:15 Parallel Session:
Informatics to Improve Systems

15:30-17:15 Panel Session:
Maternal Health Digital

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Letters to the Editor Add New Dimension to the Coverage of the Recent Lancet Publication on Maternal Mortality

On April 13th 2010, the New York Times published an article,  Maternal Deaths Decline Sharply Across the Globe, about the recent findings published in the Lancet that suggest a dramatic reduction in global maternal mortality. Since then, the paper has published a series of Letters to the Editor. These letters come  from leaders of organizations working on reproductive and maternal health and from health professionals working on maternal health on the ground in countries where maternal mortality continues to be a major problem.

The New York Times

A variety of opinions and sentiments are expressed in these letters that certainly add depth to the initial story published in the Times. Two themes pound through the letters: a new sense of hope that improvements in maternal health are possible and a sense of urgency that this battle has not yet been won–that now, more than ever, is the time for the maternal health community to stick together (despite squabbles among advocates over whether or not the Lancet should have published the paper when they did) and engage in concerted efforts (that include emergency obstetric care, HIV services, and expanded access to family planning) to achieve MDG5.

A careful look at these letters will stimulate a much more robust understanding of the myriad of factors contibuting to global maternal mortality—as well as the potential implications of the findings of the Lancet paper and necessary next steps towards achieving MDG5.

Some authors express cautious excitment that investments are (or might be depending on the author) paying off while simultaneously declaring that it is not yet time to celebrate; far too many women are still dying of pregnancy-related causes!  Joanne Jorissen Chiwaula, director of the African Mothers Health Initiative describes her frustration with Chris Murray (one of the authors of the Lancet paper) for downplaying the importance of emergency obstetric care services in favor of playing up the importance of HIV services, when a comprehensive approach is really what is needed. Mary Robinson, president of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, calls attention to the relationship between maternal health and discimination against women, lack of reproductive choices for women, child marriage, sexual violence, unsafe abortions and inability to own property. She emphasizes the importance of considering maternal health in the context of human rights—and also points out the need to focus on strengthening entire health systems. 

Take a look at a group of Letters to the Editor published on April 18th, and more on April 19th.

For readers comments on the initial story in the Times, click here.

And for Nicholas Kristof’s take on the new maternal mortality estimates, click here.

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