In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), national governments procure and distribute the majority of lifesaving MNCH commodities and typically, domestic wholesalers’ source, import and supply these critical products. Unlike products such as antiretrovirals and antimalarials, MNCH commodities have not received the same level of quality assurance scrutiny and several post marketing surveillance studies have…
Nathalie formerly served as project director on the Bangladesh Advancing Universal Health Coverage project and the Senegal Building Resilient Health Systems activity.
Introduction from Emma Clark, maternal, newborn, and child health technical director at Chemonics The upcoming World Blood Donor Day on June 14 presents an important opportunity to highlight how critical, yet persistently overlooked, blood products are in the global quest to end preventable maternal mortality. Globally, postpartum hemorrhage — or excessive bleeding after birth —…
At 1 a.m., Winnie, the midwife at a small health clinic in a rural town in Uganda, was startled awake when the security guard from the clinic pounded on her door—a woman had arrived in labor. When Winnie arrived at the facility, she was surprised to see Clara, a young woman expecting her first baby…
Millions of children in Pakistan are at risk of neonatal, infant, and under five mortality due to untreated diarrhea and pneumonia. In response, the Government of Pakistan and other stakeholders have deployed various progressive interventions to improve maternal and child health care in Pakistan with the goal of ending preventable childhood deaths due to pneumonia…
This post was adapted from one that originally appeared on the USAID HRH2030 program’s website. The numbers are staggering. One billion children under age 18 experience some form of physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse. With more than 2 billion children in the world, that means one child in every two is exposed to harmful situations…
On a recent visit to a rural village in Dioila district, part of the Koulikoro region in Mali, I met with the local women’s group to discuss how to promote family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH) and how to increase access to these services in their community. There, surrounded by more than 100 volunteers who…
Between the 1930s and 1970s, breastfeeding rates in developed countries declined 56 percent, caused in large part to aggressive advertising and promotion of breast milk substitutes. Companies selling formula used aggressive marketing tactics to make new mothers and health-care workers switch from exclusive breastfeeding, which is recommended by the WHO and UNICEF for the first…
Several years ago, a colleague was telling me about his efforts to introduce a new family planning method in one of the countries he worked in. “The women just weren’t interested in this method,” he said, frustrated. Initially, he and his team of experts couldn’t figure out why. They’d done a lot of legwork to…
Malaria is a silent killer and a health risk for many around the world. It causes about half a million deaths each year, with over 90 percent of those occurring in sub-Saharan Africa alone. As the third most common cause of death in women of reproductive age in Africa, malaria poses increased risk for pregnant…
This information sheet provides a brief summary of the health systems approach used by Chemonics to improve efficiencies and increase resources for maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services. Chemonics’ programs strengthen health supply chains to ensure that commodities for mothers, newborns, and children are available when and where they are needed. The company also…
Late one night about a year ago, I got the call no health care worker ever wants to receive. The man left a heart-stopping message with my midwifery practice’s answering service saying that our patient — his previously healthy wife — and their unborn child had just abruptly passed away at another Washington, D.C.-area hospital.…