Women's Health Rights
Mamas on Bedrest: Divide and Conquer? Let’s Hope Not!
February 1st, 2012Bedrest Coach Darline Turner-Lee weighs in on the decision by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood for it’s breast cancer screening programs. Turner-Lee sees this latest “attack on women’s reproductive rights” as more than just about Planned Parenthood. She sees it as a way to “put women in their place”, back at home, subservient to men. Many may disagree but after listening to the most recent oppositions to legislation and regulation in women’s health care, one must start to wonder. In the end, we all must consider what is at stake. It is Turner-Lee’s hope that women not polarize because polarization ultimately leads to “divide and conquer”. If that happens, all women lose.
Mamas, if you are so lead, show your support for Planned Parenthood and ALL the women’s health services they provide. If you want to support Planned Parenthood, you can make a donation towards its breast cancer screening program here.
Mamas on Bedrest: The CDC’s Report on Certified Professional Midwives
January 27th, 2012Bedrest Coach Darline Turner-Lee reviews and comments on a recent press release issued by The Big Push for Midwives Campaign.
In the Press Release, the CDC notes an increase in home births in non-hispanic white women, yet decreasing or stagnat numbers amongst women of color. The press release also noted that
“The CDC report as well as other reports show that babies born to women cared for by Certified Professional Midwives (CPM’s) are far less likely to be preterm or born low birth weight, two of theprimary contributing factors not only to infant mortality, but to racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes.”
The Big Push for Midwives is hoping that this report from the CDC will spur action in legislation and amongst medical organizations to allow CPM’s to care for and be reimbursed for care given to women of color and low income women-women who might most benefit from CPM care.
Mamas on Bedrest: Priorities for Maternal and Child Health Identified
December 21st, 2011
Click to take the postpartum depression survey conducted by Case Western Reserve University http://filer.case.edu/~axp335/postpartdep.htm Thank you very much for your consideration.
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On the heels of the 20/20 special segment, “Giving Life: A Risky Proposition” World Health Organization (WHO) has released Essential Interventions, Commodities and Guidelines for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health. This comprehensive document outlines the necessary steps and guidelines nations (developing low and mid income nations in particular) must adopt in order to further reduce maternal, infant and child mortality and to have a chance of reaching Millennium Development Goals .
Maternal, Infant and Child mortality is a global issue. According to the report,
Annually, 358,000 women die worldwide during pregnancy and childbirth. Approximately 7.6 million children die before the age of 5 years, and those in low-income countries are about 18 times more likely to die during that time than children in high-income countries. Under-5 mortality rates are highest in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
Maternal, newborn, and under-5 mortality rates have declined in accordance with Millennium Development Goals 4 (reduce the under-5 mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015) and 5 (reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 1990 and 2015). However, the improvements are not occurring quickly enough to reach the 2015 targets.
WHO and its partners The AGA Khan University (in Pakistan) and The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health performed a survey of more than 50,000 review papers to determine what steps are necessary to critically impact maternal, newborn and child health. Their goal was to identify key interventions that low and middle income countries can implement that are cost effective, will maximize resources and maximize the health and mortality of women, infants and children and thus help these countries reach worldwide millennium health and development goals. Their research has revealed some 56 key evidence-based interventions that when implemented, will have a significant impact on maternal, newborn and child health.
Rather than try and list all the interventions here, I refer you to their report, Essential Interventions, Commodities and Guidelines for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.
For each intervention, the authors indicated whether they recommend the intervention be delivered,
- Through the community or in the home-These health care workers are often community volunteers and/or influential outreach workers who have knowledge of the local community and are trusted by the community.
- Via healthcare professionals, outreach workers, or community health workers-Health care providers at this level are skilled professionals as well as outreach workers.
- In hospitals-Either local hospitals or regional referral hospitals that can provide higher levels of intervention and care.
The interventions were classified broadly as adolescents/prepregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth, postnatal (mother), postnatal (newborn), infancy and childhood, and cross-cutting community strategies.
Researchers believe that the recommendations in this report will help low and middle income countries’ health care workers best utilize their resources in an effort to reduce Maternal, Newborn and Child deaths. These guidelines will also help countries develop policies and regulations that will not only benefit women and children’s health, but also take into consideration the health care and policy environments of the countries so that all citizens will benefit.
