Gates Foundation Report Calls for Targeted Global Health Spending to Save Millions of Children from Malnutrition and Disease

In its eighth annual Goalkeepers report released today, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation urged world leaders to increase global health spending where it is needed most in order to boost children’s health and nutrition, especially in the face of the global climate crisis. The Goalkeepers report, “A Race to Nourish a Warming World,” projects that without immediate global action, climate change will condemn an additional 40 million […]

September 17, 2024 10

Africa

South Africa is failing its youngest children – report flags critical gaps in early learning, social protection and health care

By Wiedaad Slemming, University of Cape Town; Linda Biersteker, University of Cape Town, and Lori Lake, University of Cape Town Nearly 10 years ago South Africa outlined its commitment to invest in the health and development of young children. The National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy of 2015 detailed government’s intention to provide a comprehensive set of services to pregnant women, young children and their families by […]

September 12, 2024 11

Africa

Kenya’s new social health insurance fund wants to improve care for mothers and babies: but it faces challenges

By Boniface Oyugi, University of Kent Kenya has made strides in maternal and child health over the past decade. Preventable complications related to pregnancy still result in about 5,000 maternal deaths annually, however. I am a health economist and health policy specialist and co-author of a study of the Kenyan health system to evaluate the state of maternal care in the country. This is important because the […]

September 9, 2024 21

Africa

Pregnant Nigerian women need faster access to hospitals – technology helped us calculate travel times

By Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Nigeria contributes 28% of the 280,000 maternal deaths and about 10% of almost two million stillbirths that occur annually across the globe. Evidence shows significantly higher odds of maternal deaths in urban Nigeria than in rural areas, especially in the south, due to poor road infrastructure, haphazardly built environments, traffic congestion and expanding informal settlements. According […]

July 16, 2024 13

Health / Medical

Namibia targets climate impact on maternal health for International Midwives Day

Namibia will mark International Midwives Day on Saturday, 11 May 2024. This year's theme aligns with the core objectives of COP28 and focuses on strategies to improve the health and status of women. Annaloice Penduka, a Board member and Treasurer of the Independent Midwives Association of Namibia, as well as an Advanced Midwife and Lecturer at IUM, says that Namibia's emphasis will be on the effects of climate change on […]

May 7, 2024 57

Africa

Kenya’s healthcare workers abuse a third of teen mums from informal settlements – study

By Anthony Idowu Ajayi, African Population and Health Research Center and Caroline W. Kabiru, African Population and Health Research Center Adolescent pregnancy is a global public health concern: in 2022, about 13% of girls and young women gave birth before the age of 18. Compared with women in their early 20s, adolescents are more susceptible to maternal deaths. Pregnancy-related complications are among the leading causes of death […]

January 30, 2024 38

Business / Economics

New Global alliance for women’s health could help boost global economy by $1 trillion annually by 2040

A new World Economic Forum report released today shows that closing the women’s health gap would allow more women to live healthier, higher-quality lives, and provide an unprecedented boost to the global economy. Closing the Women’s Health Gap: A $1 Trillion Opportunity to Improve Lives and Economies, developed in collaboration with the McKinsey Health Institute, analyses the health conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women and quantifies the health gap […]

January 19, 2024 12

Business / Economics

Amidst Ongoing Global Crises, Gates Foundation announces largest annual budget ever: $8.6 Billion in 2024 to save and improve lives

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced its largest annual budget to date as it works toward the goal of a healthier, more prosperous world for all. With global health budgets in decline overall, a portion of the additional funding will go toward advancing global health innovations that will save and improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people, including newborn babies and pregnant mothers […]

January 15, 2024 11

Environment

Is prenatal ultrasound causing fetal damage? researcher documents the link

In her compelling book, The Dark Side of Prenatal Ultrasound, researcher and birth advocate Jeanice Barcelo offers “a ground-breaking analysis of the documented facts concerning the dangers of prenatal ultrasound.” She states, “Despite the medical establishment repeating the mantra that ultrasound is ‘just sound waves’ and therefore ‘perfectly safe’ during pregnancy, in truth, ultrasound is based on non-ionizing radiation, and many thousands of studies have confirmed that this type of radiation […]

December 12, 2023 8

maternal health