Malawi's progress in reducing deaths in children under five years (between 1992 and 2016) is spectacular: a drop of 73% (from 234 deaths per 1,000 live births to 63 deaths). Over the same period, however, deaths during the first month of life held firm at 27 per 1,000 live births ― one of the highest rates in the world. Malawi also has the world's highest rate of premature births (babies born before the 37th week of pregnancy). More than half of these babies will develop respiratory distress syndrome, which increases the risk of serious infections such as neonatal pneumonia and sepsis.
IDRC-supported research has been underway in South Sudan and northern Uganda since 2015 to improve maternal and child health. In these post-conflict settings, researchers are strengthening local health systems, reducing barriers to access, empowering women, and mobilizing communities to take action on their health needs.
IMCHA research team "Quality improvement for maternal and newborn health at district-level scale in Mtwara Region Tanzania" studied how to improve the quality improvement methodology whereby stakeholders identify problems in their own contexts and create strategies to improve them.
Southern Hemisphere was commissioned in April 2020 to conduct an evaluation of the work of the EA–HPRO. The overall purpose of this evaluation was to document the EA-HPRO model, and assess the value of this model of engagement and knowledge translation and policy engagement in evidenceinformed decision-making and scale up.
Mozambique has high maternal (451.6 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2017) and new-born mortality rates.1 The Alert Community for a Prepared Hospital care continuum, is a project promoted by the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) of UniLúrio (Lúrio University) in Nampula, Northern Mozambique and the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), in partnership with Nampula Provincial Health Directorate, the Marrere Health Centre (MHC) and the Marrere General Hospital (MGH), the Natikiri Administrative Post (NAP) and other non-governmental organizations with health sector activities in Nampula.