The number of maternal deaths around the world has decreased from more than 500,000 in 1980 to an estimated 342,900 in 2008, according to a Lancet study published online on Monday, the BBC reports. For the study, "a team led by the University of Washington in Seattle, looked at data from...
Until now there were only indirect evidence of the transfer of thyroid hormones from mother to fetus through the placenta during pregnancy. That event is very important because the maternal thyroid hormones appear to play a key role in the development of the nervous system and other organs of...
Following a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from G8 countries in Quebec on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "appeared at odds ... with [Canadian] Prime Minister Stephen Harper's G8 initiative on maternal and child health, saying family planning, contraception and access to...
"Canada's 'signature' initiative at June's G8 summit - a strategy to improve the health of mothers and young children in poor countries" will not include family planning programs, Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said on Tuesday, the Globe and Mail reports. Cannon said the initiative...
Rwanda Targets Communities In Effort To Curb Maternal Mortality To reduce maternal mortality in Rwanda and reach U.N. Millennium Development Goal targets, the government will conduct maternal death audits in villages to help identify ways to improve outcomes, Rwanda's Minister of Health...
Increases In Infant, Maternal Mortality Lead To Life Expectancy Decline In North Korea Higher rates of infant and maternal mortality have lead to a decline of life expectancy in North Korea over the past 15 years, census figures, which were obtained with help form the U.N. Population Fund...
"As president of the G-8 in 2010, Canada will champion a major initiative to improve the health of women and children in the world's poorest regions," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper writes in a Toronto Star editorial. Canada will lay out its plans as president of the G-8 and host of...
The Washington Post on Saturday examined marriage of young girls and maternal mortality in Yemen, a country that represents the "most vivid manifestations of how tribal doctrines prevail over modern attitudes." According to the Post, there is no minimum age for marriage in Yemen, and girls as...
Cell Phone Program Reduces Maternal Mortality In Ghana IRIN looks at local programs in Ghana that "have cut dramatically the number of women dying during childbirth" by facilitating medical care through cell phone use. The publication writes that three years ago as part of the...
Researchers conducting clinical trials in Rwanda have concluded that the risk of postnatal transmission is minimal in HIV-positive mothers undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) while breastfeeding. The results of the trials have been published in the current issue of AIDS, the...
Inter Press Service reports that the September 2010 U.N. Generally Assembly meeting will feature a three-day special session (UNGASS) on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). "The summit will specifically look at ways to remove existing obstacles to progress in the next five years when all or...
My brother sent me an email in February of 2007 telling me that I had been disowned and was no longer allowed to have contact with my maternal family. I was disowned b/c my Mother told a terrible lie during one of her manic episodes. It has since been made public that she lied on me. Even...