The evaluation of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) by the Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutrition in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. Volume 3 focuses on developments since the publication of DCP2 and will also include the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume. The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced three key findings: 1. There is significant difficulty in measuring the burden of key conditions such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, nonsexually transmitted infections, infertility, and violence against women. 2. Investments in the continuum of care can have significant returns for improved and equitable access, health, poverty, and health systems. 3. There is a large difference in how RMNCH conditions affect different income groups; investments in RMNCH can lessen the disparity in terms of both health and financial risk.

All over the world, even as you read this, mothers in poor countries struggle to deliver their babies without lifesaving medical care. This is, perhaps, the last unreached frontier of modern medicine. Walk with Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese as she extends a hand of compassion and professional care to mothers in desperate danger. "In these days of high-tech medicine, it is refreshing that a doctor writes, first-hand, so passionately about people and their real lives. These moving stories should serve as a call for action by all who care." Professor Mahmoud F. Fathalla Past-President of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics "Reading Dr. Chamberlain Froese's vignettes, I was moved to tears and anger and prayer for the women who live in such poverty of health care. She has captured the pathos, hope and despair of women who have so little of what we see as essential health care during pregnancy and delivery. I believe this book has a vital message that will open new dimensions in understanding and compassion." Becky Davey, RN, BS, MN, International Consultant for Medical and Educational Advance "The medicalization of health care in the West has lead to a 'laissez faire' attitude towards childbirth. Blending experience with passion, Dr. Chamberlain Froese confronts and dispels conventional thinking by unveiling the tragic realities of pregnancy-related complications. Reading this book makes you uncomfortable; and it should. It unfolds the plight of those who daily live on the fulcrum of life.or death." Dr. John D. Hull President, EQUIP International Atlanta, Georgia Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese is a Canadian obstetrician/gynaecologist whose work has taken her to some of the many neglected mothers in the developing world: in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Ecuador, and most recently, Yemen and Uganda. When in Canada, she is based in Hamilton, Ontario, where she is an assistant professor at McMaster University and executive director of Save the Mothers. She is happily married to Thomas Froese, a freelance journalist. They have two children, Elizabeth and Jonathan.

Improving maternal health and reducing child mortality are among the eight UN Millennium Development Goals. This publication contains guidance on maternity protection in the workplace, focusing on measures that can be taken to establish a decent workplace and to identify workplace risks. The starting point is the Maternity Protection Convention (No. 183), adopted by the International Labour Conference in 2000 and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 191). The guide is intended for general use as a reference tool for employers, workers, trade union leaders, occupation health and safety advisors, labour inspectors and others involved in workplace health and maternity protection.

Each year more than 4 million children are born with birth defects. This book highlights the unprecedented opportunity to improve the lives of children and families in developing countries by preventing some birth defects and reducing the consequences of others. A number of developing countries with more comprehensive health care systems are making significant progress in the prevention and care of birth defects. In many other developing countries, however, policymakers have limited knowledge of the negative impact of birth defects and are largely unaware of the affordable and effective interventions available to reduce the impact of certain conditions. Reducing Birth Defects: Meeting the Challenge in the Developing World includes descriptions of successful programs and presents a plan of action to address critical gaps in the understanding, prevention, and treatment of birth defects in developing countries. This study also recommends capacity building, priority research, and institutional and global efforts to reduce the incidence and impact of birth defects in developing countries.

DIVAn investigation of the consequences resulting from fertility-related development interventions in Tanzania /div

The relative lack of information on determinants of disease, disability, and death at major stages of a woman's lifespan and the excess morbidity and premature mortality that this engenders has important adverse social and economic ramifications, not only for Sub-Saharan Africa, but also for other regions of the world as well. Women bear much of the weight of world production in both traditional and modern industries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, women contribute approximately 60 to 80 percent of agricultural labor. Worldwide, it is estimated that women are the sole supporters in 18 to 30 percent of all families, and that their financial contribution in the remainder of families is substantial and often crucial. This book provides a solid documentary base that can be used to develop an agenda to guide research and health policy formulation on female health--both for Sub-Saharan Africa and for other regions of the developing world. This book could also help facilitate ongoing, collaboration between African researchers on women's health and their U.S. colleagues. Chapters cover such topics as demographics, nutritional status, obstetric morbidity and mortality, mental health problems, and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

This open access edited book brings together new research on the mechanisms by which maternal and reproductive health policies are formed and implemented in diverse locales around the world, from global policy spaces to sites of practice. The authors – both internationally respected anthropologists and new voices – demonstrate the value of ethnography and the utility of reproduction as a lens through which to generate rich insights into professionals’ and lay people’s intimate encounters with policy. Authors look closely at core policy debates in the history of global maternal health across six different continents, including: Women’s use of misoprostol for abortion in Burkina Faso The place of traditional birth attendants in global maternal health Donor-driven maternal health programs in Tanzania Efforts to integrate qualitative evidence in WHO maternal and child health policy-making Anthropologies of Global Maternal and Reproductive Health will engage readers interested in critical conversations about global health policy today. The broad range of foci makes it a valuable resource for teaching in medical anthropology, anthropology of reproduction, and interdisciplinary global health programs. The book will also find readership amongst critical public health scholars, health policy and systems researchers, and global public health practitioners.