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A remarkable study published earlier this month offered up something we don't see enough of in global health: really good news, with relatively few caveats.

Spanning 7 countries, a major piece of led by the University of Alabama found that a low-cost, widely available generic antibiotic can prevent life-threatening sepsis during childbirth in women delivering babies in low- and middle-income countries.

extreme response to infection that triggers a chain reaction throughout the body of maternal death. But this study's authors found that a dose of azithromycin reduced the occurrence of maternal sepsis by ~35% and could help prevent the condition in as many as 2 million pregnant women each year. The medication also lowered the risk of maternal endometritis, infection, hospital readmission, and unscheduled medical visits.

It's a cheap medicine. It's generic. It's available. It doesn't require refrigeration. It's also a single dose-rather than an injection. It's also a general antibiotic that's already used for other things, like preventing the eye disease trachoma .

The bleeding disorder is partially addressed by using medicines that stop bleeding, which are now available in a heat-stable format, so you don't have to put them in the cold chain and they are easier to use in developing countries. A similar study was done with a heat-stable version of a blood-clotting drug-carbetocin-that is now on WHO's essential medicines list . If that drug becomes available for broad use, it would help minimize a major cause of maternal mortality.

In the release for this study you specifically thanked the women who participated in this study amid the COVID-19 pandemic-what was that process like?

The diversity of the populations included-spanning 7 countries (Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Zambia)-was a remarkable strength of this study. It meant that the results are more generalizable, and that's really helpful for making decisions about how to approach this as a standard of care.

Join the 50,000+ subscribers in over 170 countries who rely on Global Health NOW summaries and exclusive articles for the latest public health news. , and please share the link with friends and colleagues.

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This Widely Available Antibiotic Could Save Millions of Moms

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Spanning 7 countries, a major piece of global maternal health research found that a low-cost, widely available generic antibiotic can prevent life-threatening sepsis during childbirth in women delivering babies in low- and middle-income countries.

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Maternal Mortality and Maternal Health Care in Nigeria: Implications for Socio-Economic Development

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Even though maternal mortality, which is a pregnancy-related death is preventable, it has continued to increase in many nations of the world, especially in the African countries of the sub-Saharan regions caused by factors which include a low level of…

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Chile Maternal Health Organization. "Healthy Moms, Strong Babies"

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Chile Maternal Health Organization. "Healthy Moms, Strong Babies"

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Join the ICBD Conference by March of Dimes. Collaborate with experts on improving maternal and child health. Register for insights now!

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Welcome to National Committee for Maternal & Neonatal Health (NCMNH)

National Committee for Maternal Health was established in 1994, as the Technical Arm of the Ministry of Health by the then Prime Minister with the Secretary Health as its ex-officio Chairman.The objective was to improve maternal health and to reduce maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in the country. In 2005, neonatal health was included in NCMH's mandate and it is now known as NCMNH.

We are happy to announce that NCMNH is now part of Dun & Bradstreet Global Database. Our Certificate D & B D-U-N-S Number is 64-583-9437.

We are happy to announce that NCMNH has completed NGOsource's Equivalency Determination process that certifies that our organization is equivalent to a U.S. public charity.Equivalency determination (ED) is a process by which a U.S. grant maker evaluates whether an intended foreign grantee is the equivalent of a U.S. public charity.

An off-shoot of NCMNH, Association for Mothers and Newborns (AMAN), is a non-political, non-sectarian, non-profit voluntary welfare organization. It has been established to improve maternal and newborn health, and contribute to reducing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in Pakistan. It embraces members from different walks of life and disciplines i.e. health professionals, lawyers, media persons, midwives, public health specialists and social scientists.

For more details about AMAN, please visit the website: http://aman.org.pk/

NCMNH provides
technical assistance to the
government at national &
provincial levels.

Office No. 303, Third Floor,
Plot No. 13 - C, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Lane -1,
Phase VI, D.H.A, Karachi
+92-21-35341597-8

Mon-Fri : 9:00 AM To 5:00 PM

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National Committee For Maternal In Pakistan

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NCMNH is an organization that advises on policy and technical matters for safe motherhood and prevention of maternal and neonatal deaths and disabilities.

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Nepal's Maternal Mortality Crisis | 101 East Documentary

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C-Sections become a cheaper alternative for Doctors. 

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C-Sections become a cheaper alternative for Doctors. 

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Profit over Patients: C-Sections in Chile Reach Alarming High

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SANTIAGO—It was early in the morning when Carmen Gloria Palma’s water broke in Santiago, but she was prepared. She’d done hours of research and even printed out a birthing plan to give her doctors on how she wanted her natural birth to go.

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Midwives performing high risk pregnancies, after COVID

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Midwives performing high risk pregnancies, after COVID

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The Untold Global Health Story of 2021: The Midwives of Tijuana

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Most midwives in Tijuana, Mexico weren’t used to delivering high-risk pregnancies—but that changed when hospitals began rejecting pregnant mothers, citing COVID-19 restrictions. One midwife, as a result, saw her first newborn death after 35 years of practice.

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Chile pushing C-Sections for mothers. Doing what's best for them and not for the mothers. 

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Chile pushing C-Sections for mothers. Doing what's best for them and not for the mothers. 

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Doctors Push C-Sections in Chile, but Women Are Pushing Back

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SANTIAGO—Romina Rojas loved to travel, spoke many languages, was well read, and was a loving daughter, wife and sister—but never got the chance to be a mother. That’s because at age 34, after a healthy pregnancy, she died of a blood clot a few days after her cesarean section in 2017.

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A observational Cohort Study conducted on pregnant woman in Chile, while having COVID. 

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A observational Cohort Study conducted on pregnant woman in Chile, while having COVID. 

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The problems of Maternal Health around the World. 

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The problems of Maternal Health around the World. 

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The Maternal Health Problem: An Inside Job | Alex Speak | TEDxEmory

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ANANTNAG, KASHMIRZahoor Ahmed Bhat climbed a broken staircase to the dark attic of his house in NowporaSalia, a lonesome hamlet in south Kashmir. Rummaging through pieces of wood and hay, he pulled down an aluminum stretcher and a blue blanket where his wife, Shakeela Akhter, spent her last moments.

Additionally, many doctors didn't want to risk caring for pregnant women who might be COVID-19 positive. Pregnant mothers were afraid to take COVID tests, fearing that if they tested positive no doctor would see them. And doctors were not seeing patients from red zones (areas deemed high risk for the spread of the virus) at all.

By the time the pandemic hit Kashmir, the health sector had already been worn down by decades of political instability. The Indian parliament's revocation of Article 370 in the Indian constitution in August 2019, which ended the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, and heralded months of curfew, further deepened the crisis. Mass arrests and the longest internet shut down by a democratic state followed.

Bhat had kept the photo of Akhtar and Zeyad as wallpaper on his phone even before his wife's death. He says he doesn't have courage to remove it, even though seeing it all the time pains him more. Image by Aliya Bashir

Coronavirus restrictions have added to Kashmir's miseries and deeply affected the health care system. Health care workers trying to get to work endured harassment and violence at the hands of Indian police, who accused them of violating COVID-19 restrictions despite their passes. The Indian government reports more than 454,314 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of June 10, 2022, plus 4,752 deaths among Jammu and Kashmir's population of more than 12.5 million, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare .

Ed. Note: This article and Part 2, In Kashmir, Pregnant Women Were Denied Care over COVID-19 Fears, are part of Global Health NOW's Local Reporting Initiative , made possible through the generous support of loyal GHN readers. Lo ok for Part 2 later this week.

Join the 50,000+ subscribers in over 170 countries who rely on Global Health NOW summaries and exclusive articles for the latest public health news. Sign up for our free weekday newsletter , and please share the link with friends and colleagues.

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In Kashmir, Coronavirus Pushed Already-Broken Maternal Health over the Brink

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ANANTNAG, KASHMIRZahoor Ahmed Bhat climbed a broken staircase to the dark attic of his house in NowporaSalia, a lonesome hamlet in south Kashmir. Rummaging through pieces of wood and hay, he pulled down an aluminum stretcher and a blue blanket where his wife, Shakeela Akhter, spent her last moments.