What happened at Women Deliver 2010? Take a Look at Five Important Highlights!

On July 1st, the Women Deliver team announced the top five highlights from the 2010 conference (June 7-9). See below for a summary of the conference highlights–with links to publications, videos, photos, and additional information that came out of the conference. This post was originally posted on the Women Deliver website and is reposted on [...]

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In Rwanda, Text Messages Are Improving Access to Information and Transportation for Pregnant Women

Several U.N. agencies recently collaborated on a text messaging initiative to improve communication between community health workers and pregnant women in a community in Rwanda. Local women, health workers, and hospital directors are raving about the initiative but scaling up the project throughout the country may prove challenging; only 6% of the population in Rwanda [...]

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Various News Organizations are Taking Different Approaches to the New MMR Estimates: The Columbia Journalism Review Analyzes Their Responses to the Story

On Wednesday, the Columbia Journalism Review published a thoughtful analysis of how the media is covering the new global maternal mortality estimates published in the Lancet on Monday. The piece provides a good overview of  how a handful of major news organizations are choosing to frame the story–raising questions about why some organizations  are choosing to focus on the content of the Lancet paper, [...]

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New Study by UNFPA Shows How Maternal Deaths Represent Major Inequities in Argentina

The Latin American Herald Tribune reports on a new study by UNFPA that highlights the incidence of maternal deaths, the frequency of abortion, and the concentration of new HIV cases among the most marginalized sector of the Argentine population.  The Latin American Herald Tribune “…The maternal mortality rate remains ‘relatively elevated in relation to the [...]

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Immpact Seeks Research Assistant for Maternal Health Research

Immpact is looking for a researcher to conduct a scientific literature review of the quality of international maternal health care—and prepare proposals/implementation of formative research studies to improve quality of maternal health services in developing countries. Immpact About Immpact and their current research activities “Immpact is a research unit at the University of Aberdeen with [...]

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PBS Special on Maternal Health in Haiti Viewable Online

A NOW team from PBS recently went to Haiti to investigate high levels of maternal mortality in the country. They happened to be in the Haiti when the earthquake hit. In collaboration with the Bureau for International Reporting (BIR), a non-profit video news production company, PBS produced Saving Haiti’s Mothers, a show that examines the [...]

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UNFPA Asks for Help in Meeting the Needs of an Estimated 37,000 Pregnant Women Affected by the Earthquake in Haiti

UNFPA is asking for help as they try to establish emergency obstetric services for the estimated 37,000 pregnant women affected by Tuesday’s earthquake in Haiti. ReliefWeb “…To meet the urgent maternal health and other needs of women, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is seeking about $4.6 million as part of the coordinated United Nations [...]

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Hillary Clinton Will Reaffirm U.S. Commitment to Universal Access to Reproductive Health Services

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech comes in time for the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and marks a renewed  support for and dedication to reaching the goals of ICPD and other related UN agreements, including the Millennium Development Goals, by 2015. ICPD called on governments and development agencies [...]

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Nigeria Establishes a Media Network on Reproductive Health

Lagos state government, in collaboration with United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has established a media network on population and development, reproductive health rights and gender equality AllAfrica.com “The media network was established at the just concluded three-day workshop held at Lagos Building Investment Conference in Ikeja. Speaking at the forum, Director, Public Enlightenment, in the [...]

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Jeffrey Sachs Reflects on the Millennium Development Goals

These goals are too powerful to let go of! In this piece, Hope Bursts Through, from the Ottawa Citizen, Sachs discusses progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. He does not talk specifically about MDG5 (the focus of this blog), but he does talk about the goals in general terms.  He outlines the ways in which [...]

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Asia-Pacific region accounts for almost half of the maternal deaths recorded annually around the world

International Press Service News Agency Q&A with Noeleen Heyzer, U.N. under-secretary general and head of UNESCAP Nearly 15 years after a landmark international conference to advance the rights and freedoms of women, the picture in the Asia-Pacific region is mixed, says a leading women’s rights advocate and senior United Nations official. Most disturbing for Heyzer [...]

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