WHO today released its first roadmap to tackle postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) – defined as excessive bleeding after childbirth - which affects millions of women annually and is the world’s leading cause of maternal deaths.
Despite being prevent...able and treatable, PPH results in around 70 000 deaths every year. For those who survive, it can cause disabilities and psychological trauma that last for years.
“Severe bleeding in childbirth is one of the most common causes of maternal mortality, yet it is highly preventable and treatable,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This new roadmap charts a path forward to a world in which more women have a safe birth and a healthy future with their families.”
The Roadmap aims to help countries address stark differences in survival outcomes from PPH, which reflect major inequities in access to essential health services. Over 85% of deaths from PPH happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Risk factors include anaemia, placental abnormalities, and other complications in pregnancy such as infections and pre-eclampsia.
Many risk factors can be managed if there is quality antenatal care, including access to ultrasound, alongside effective monitoring in the hours after birth. If bleeding starts, it also needs to be detected and treated extremely quickly. Too often, however, health facilities lack necessary healthcare workers or resources, including lifesaving commodities such as oxytocin, tranexamic acid or blood for transfusions.
“Addressing postpartum haemorrhage needs a multipronged approach focusing on both prevention and response - preventing risk factors and providing immediate access to treatments when needed - alongside broader efforts to strengthen women’s rights,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, WHO Director for Sexual and Reproductive Health and HRP, the UN’s special programme on research development and training in human reproduction. “Every woman, no matter where she lives, should have access to timely, high quality maternity care, with trained health workers, essential equipment and shelves stocked with appropriate and effective commodities – this is crucial for treating postpartum bleeding and reducing maternal deaths.”
more
The guidance document provides a set of indicators for assessing the status of development, implementation and monitoring of key policy interventions for prevention and control of NCDs ...attribute-to-highlight medbox">and injuries. It promotes city-level evidence based decision-making processes to identify gaps and take appropriates actions to strengthen responses. Additionally, using the standardized indicators can facilitate cross-city learning, sharing best practices and lessons learnt in implementing various policy interventions.
more
Links to the Humanitarian Charter and international law
This guidance note is intended primarily for health actors working in emergency and disaster risk management (hereafter 'emergency risk management') at the local, national or international level, ...edbox">and in governmental or nongovernmental agencies. People with disabilities, those working in the disability sector and those working in other sectors that contribute to improved health outcomes related to emergency risk management, may also find this guidance note useful.
more
A project of the FIGO Committee for Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Rights (WSRR)
This working draft develops guidance on conducting effective evaluations of conflict prevention and peacebuilding work. The current working draft will be used for a one year application phase through 2008. It is the result of an ongoing collaborativ...e project by the OECD DAC Networks on Development Evaluation and on Conflict, Peace and Development Co-operation (CPDC). The two Networks began this collaboration in 2005, responding to the need expressed by CPDC members for greater clarity regarding techniques and issues of evaluation in their field. An assessment of past conflict and peace evaluations and a study of current practices were undertaken in 2006 and identified a need for further guidance.
more
PLoS One. 2012; 7(4): e29656.
Published online 2012 Apr 20. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029656
A 2013 Plan study across 30 countries found that children with disabilities were on average 10 times less likely to go to school than children without disabilities. This report presents the findings of a follow-up second phase to the research with a qualitative study on barriers ...te-to-highlight medbox">and enablers to education for children with disabilities in Nepal.
The Full Report and Executive Summary Reports in English, French and Spanish are now available for download at:
http://disabilitycentre.lshtm.ac.uk/include-us-education-study-available-now/
more
The scope includes the assessment of activities to improve the response to affected populations, stakeholders, partners and donors, building on lessons learnt so far in this outbreak.
Disaster Recovery Toolkit
Disease Control Priorities –3rdEdition, Volume 2.
This book focuses on maternal conditions, childhood illness, and malnutrition. Specifically, the chapters address acute illness and undernutritio...n in children, principally under age 5. It also covers maternal mortality, morbidity, stillbirth, and influences to pregnancy and pre-pregnancy. It also includes the transition to older childhood, in particular, the overlap and commonality with the child development volume
more