Source: http://maternalhealthtaskforce.org/
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced a $12 million grant awarded to Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) aimed at improving the maternal health in developing countries. The project will be led by Dr. Ana Langer, professor of the practice of public health and coordinator of the Dean’s Special Initiative on Women and Health at HSPH.
Through this grant, HSPH will host the Maternal Health Task Force (MHTF) – an initiative that will bring together major global and country-level maternal health organizations working towards improving the maternal health in developing countries by leading, coordinating, and promoting innovative and effective knowledge management, technical exchanges and consensus building activities; strengthening countries’ health care capacity through mentoring and training; and supporting strategic research on critical issues.
EngenderHealth established MHTF in the year 2008. EngenderHealth is a one of the top global reproductive health organizations that works for improving the quality of family planning, maternal health, and HIV programs in more than 20 countries. During the past three years, the MHTF at EngenderHealth has developed connections among existing maternal health initiatives and engaged global and national organizations to pinpoint problems facing the maternal health community and identify solutions. It has also disseminated scientific information to maternal health professionals all over the world; created opportunities for colleagues and groups in developing countries to lead and participate as equal partners in technical exchanges and agenda-setting processes; mentored young leaders in the maternal health field; and identified and supported innovation in maternal health worldwide.
Now HSPH will build upon the strong foundation laid by EngenderHealth leading the next phase of the Task Force, continuing key program activities as well as undertaking new initiatives, including major research on maternal health and related fields. HSPH will assume hosting responsibilities for the next phase of the Task Force beginning on November 1st, 2011.
HSPH has been chosen to lead the Task Force owing to its distinguished history in research on maternal and child health as well as well-established partnerships with governments, academic, and non-governmental organizations in developing countries. In July 2010, the School made a firm commitment to advancing the global women’s health agenda by establishing the Women and Health Initiative.
It’s estimated that more than 340,000 women each year die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, although most maternal deaths are preventable. “We are talking about sheer survival,” HSPH Dean Julio Frenk wrote last year in a Harvard Public Health Review article about the school’s women and health agenda. “The fact that 99 percent of maternal deaths take place in poor countries makes this the most inequitably distributed health indicator in the world.”
In next phase of the MHTF, HSPH will aim to include expanding research and educational activities that are critical to the eradication of preventable maternal morbidity and mortality, said Langer. “This new grant will help us meet the perceived needs of the global maternal health community and help HSPH continue serving as a trailblazer and putting these issues at center stage” she said.
