Main Description

The promotion of maternal health and mortality reduction is of worldwide importance, and constitutes a vital part of the UN Millennium Development Goals. The highest maternal mortality rates are in developing countries, where global and regional initiatives are needed to improve the systems and practices involved in maternal care and medical access. Taking a practical policy approach, this book covers the background and concepts underlying efforts to improve maternal and perinatal mortality, the current global situation and problems that prevent progress. It includes case studies and examples of successful strategies, recommends good practices, and provides a critical analysis of knowledge gaps to inform areas for future research.

Readership

Public health practitioners, policy makers, programme officers and agencies working in developing countries.

Main Contents

PART I: THE GLOBAL CONTEXT

1. An introduction to maternal and perinatal health

2. The millennium development goals

3. The politics of progress: the story of maternal mortality

4. The epidemiology of maternal mortality

5. The epidemiology of stillbirths and early neonatal deaths

PART II: PROGRAME IMPLEMENTATION

6. Health systems

7. Financing maternity care

8. Implementing clinical interventions within maternal health programmes

9. Medical conditions in pregnancy: preventing and managing indirect obstetric morbidity

10. Improving the availability of services

11. Geographical access, transport and referral systems

12. Demand for maternity care: beliefs, behaviour and social access

13. Empowering the community: BRAC’s approach in Bangladesh

14. Quality of care

15. Monitoring and evaluation

16. Addressing maternal health in emergency settings

'This book is timely and important. It is not just an easy to use reference text for those working in maternal and perinatal global health. Rather, it is a call to arms for all obstetric and neonatal trainees and clinicians…I urge you to read it.' PLOS Medicine

Hussein Julia Hussein trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Ireland and the UK. She worked in Afghanistan as a clinician and then in 'public health obstetrics', implementing maternal mortality reduction programmes for UNICEF and the UK government in several countries in Asia and sub Saharan Africa. Currently at the University of Aberdeen, she is a senior researcher with interests in programme implementation, monitoring and evaluation, quality of maternity care and capacity strengthening.