Day Two (6/8) at Women Deliver 2010: Innovation and (High and Low) Technology

Tuesday (6/8) marked day two of Women Deliver 2010. Day two was all about innovation and (high and low) technology to improve the health of women and infants worldwide–in fact, the conference organizers marketed Tuesday’s sessions as a stand-alone symposium called Technology as a Catalyst for Social Transformation.

Take a look at two examples of technologies that were discussed at the conference on Tuesday…

Microbicide Vaginal Rings (High Tech)

“The nonprofit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) today announced the initiation of the first trial among women in Africa testing a vaginal ring containing an antiretroviral drug (ARV) that could one day be used to prevent HIV transmission during sex. The clinical trial, known as IPM 015, tests the safety and acceptability of an innovative approach that adapts a successful technology from the reproductive health field to give women around the world a tool to protect themselves from HIV infection…”

Read the full press release here.

Clean Delivery Kits (Low Tech)

Clean Birth Kits–Potential to Deliver?, a publication supported by Save the Children/Saving Newborn Lives, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Immpact (University of Aberdeen), and the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth, was released at a session at Women Deliver yesterday. The session was chaired by Claudia Morrissey of Save the Children; moderated by Richard Horton, Editor of the Lancet; and presenters included Wendy Graham of University of Aberdeen, and Haris Ahmed of PAIMAN. The goal of the session was to summarise the evidence base for clean delivery kits, discuss practical implementation experiences from the field, and to have a lively debate on the “risks” associated with promoting birth kits. The report will be available online soon.

Subscribe to the MHTF Blog for updates on this project/report–as well as updates on other MHTF projects and commentary on a variety of maternal health issues.

Check out a recent blog post, A Good Idea or an Expensive Diversion: Workshop on the Evidence Base for Clean Birth Kits, by Ann Blanc, Director of the Maternal Health Task Force, on a workshop leading up to the new report on delivery kits.

Click here for the webcast of a session at Women Deliver 2010 that explores “What’s on the Horizon” for new technologies in contraception.

Read Full Post »

Know Something About Clean Birth Kits? Help Close the Knowledge Gap!

If you have experience implementing Clean Birth Kits, you can help Saving Newborn Lives and Johns Hopkins University to close the knowledge gap around Clean Birth Kits—and gain a better understanding of their use and potential efficacy in improving maternal and newborn health.

The MHTF Blog

“Saving Newborn Lives and Johns Hopkins University are conducting a short survey on implementation experiences with Clean Birth Kits, including contents, methods of distribution, and incentives/disincentives issues. The survey also includes potential CBK “add ons.” The results will be used to summarize the evidence on the use of birth kits in various contexts, to identify knowledge gaps, and, where appropriate, to make programmatic recommendations.”

Click here to take the survey.

The survey will close this Sunday, June 6th.

Read Full Post »

Dr. Ann Blanc Asks Whether Clean Birth Kits are a “Good Idea or an Expensive Diversion”

Last week, Dr. Blanc, Director of the Maternal Health Task Force, attended a workshop on the evidence base for clean birth kits in London–and this week, she blogs about it on the MHTF Blog.   

MHTF Blog

“…Many questions were raised by participants about whether clean birth kits represent a good investment for maternal and newborn health. There was some concern expressed about the potential for birth kits to be an ‘expensive diversion’ away from much needed work on strengthening health systems, although some could also imagine ways in which birth kits could be used as a strategy for improving the quality of care in health facilities…”

Read the full post, A Good Idea or an Expensive Diversion? Workshop on the Evidence Base for Clean Birth Kits.

The workshop was organized by Immpact/University of Aberdeen and Saving Newborn Lives/Save the Children.

Read Full Post »

Ten Technologies that are Empowering Women Across the Developing World

Tom Watson, author of  CauseWired: Plugging In, Getting Involved, Changing the World, writes about ten technologies, both high and low tech, that are empowering women across the developing world—and several have the potential to directly improve maternal health.

The Daily Beast

Among the technologies Watson writes about are safe birthing kits with soap, a plastic sheet, a razor blade and string (pretty low-tech!); E-Learning to train and certify 20,000 nurses in Kenya by 2011; and text messaging/social networking platforms for communities to discuss and push for change on issues like female genital cutting and early marriage.

Read the full story, Technologies that Empower Women.

Read Full Post »