The IMCHA research team entitled "Responding to the challenge of adolescent Perinatal Depression" in Nigeria conducted a randomized hybrid trial of psychosocial intervention in primary maternal care. The study explored the effectiveness as well as the utility in routine practice of an intervention package specifically designed for adolescent girls with perinatal depression.The findings suggest that improving parenting skills should be a component of effective interventions for perinatal depression among adolescent mothers

In recent decades, equity has continued to gain importance in public health policy and practice. Equity is a core principle of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its rallying cry is to leave no one behind.

The sub-Saharan African (SSA) region has over two thirds of the global burden of maternal deaths and records high infant mortality rates. The region recorded an average of 534 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2017 (WorldBank 2017). Further, one in 13 children died before their fifth birthday in 2019, a statistic that is 15 times higher than that of children born in high-income countries (UNICEF 2020). 

There is increasing evidence that women with the ability to exercise control over their sexual and reproductive lives have greater access to prompt prevention and treatment of maternal health disorders, resulting in a concomitant reduction in maternal morbidity and mortality. This study assessed the association between indices of women's empowerment and utilization of skilled antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal maternity care in two rural Local Government Areas in Edo State, Nigeria.

Engagement of men in defining relevant solutions is key to changing harmful social norms and to reaching successful maternal and child health outcomes. The IMCHA research team "Improving Access to Health Services and Quality of Care for Mothers and Children in Tanzania" studied how men can be involved in maternal and child health. 

Maternal death rates in sub-Saharan Africa have dropped almost 40% since 2000, yet the region still has the highest number of maternal deaths, at 533 deaths per 100,000 live births. This figure translated to 200,000 deaths in 2017, UNICEF reports. Poverty, low education levels, violence against women, early marriage, and adolescent pregnancy continue to mark the lives of many women, contributing to their poor health and high mortality. 

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.

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.

Longer spacing between births improves children's health. It can be promoted by encouraging breastfeeding, engaging men and addressing gender norms that give preference to male children. In Sub-Saharan Africa it is common for children to be born more closely together than recommended. This is well documented to have negative health outcomes for children

"She's like a sister to me," Sulaina Nassaka says about Ruth Nakuya, a community health promoter in Lwengo District, Uganda. Nakuya, who works with the non-governmental organization BRAC International, recently visited the young mother and treated her son for malaria. "I saw women dying because the hospitals are far away and I knew that my village really needed my help," Nakuya says. 

Maternal mortality has been an issue of global importance, with continued efforts by the international development community towards its reduction. The provision of high quality maternal healthcare has been identified as a key strategy in preventing maternal mortality.  

Nicholas Castel / IDRC Information campaigns in Jimma, Ethiopia, highlight the importance of medically supervised deliveries.Many pregnant women in rural Ethiopia have a long way to go to reach a health facility where basic emergency obstetric care is available. However, research carried out by Jimma University in Ethiopia and the University of Ottawa, Canada, shows that cultural factors and service infrastructure may be as much to blame as poor road quality and long distances.

​While Primary Health Care has been designed to provide universal access to skilled pregnancy care for the prevention of maternal deaths in Nigeria, available evidence suggests that pregnant women in rural communities often do not use Primary Health Care Centres for skilled care. The objective of this study was to investigate the reasons why women do not use PHC for skilled pregnancy care in rural Nigeria.

Greater paternal engagement is positively associated with improved access to and utilization of maternal services. Despite evidence that male involvement increased uptake of maternal and child services, studies show that few men are participating in MNCH programs.

Luc Serme A member of the research team surveys a mother in Boulsa, Burkina Faso, about her district's seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign.Last year on World Malaria Day, Burkina Faso's president, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, pledged to eradicate malaria in the country by 2030. While the disease remains one of the country's most serious public health problems, recent research gives hope that the ambitious goal can be achieved.

 When the women of Iringa speak about maternal healthcare, the community listens. Their messages to boost women's access to and use of antenatal care services are particularly effective because the women themselves identified the pressing challenges they face. With community support, they also designed strategies to overcome them.

Introduction:

Conflict in South Sudan has displaced 2.3 million people, of whom 789,098 (35%) have taken refuge in Uganda – a country that allows refugees to work, own property, start their own businesses and access public health services. In this context, refugees have identified livelihoods and primary health care as key priorities for their wellbeing.

Women's Health and Action Research Centre Nigeria has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. The country's estimated 40,000 maternal deaths annually account for approximately 14% of the global total, according to an African Population and Health Research Center fact sheet. A major reason for these deaths is that many women, particularly in rural areas, don't go to primary health centres for antenatal care, post-natal care, or for giving birth. 

Federation of Muslim Women Association in Nigeria

In northern Nigeria, soap-opera-style videos are helping to educate couples about maternal and child health. These videos are just one part of an innovative five-year pilot project aimed at preventing pregnancy complications in a country with one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world. 

At first glance, maternal health only seems to focus on women and children. After all, it is maternal health. But women's health during pregnancy and childbirth is also linked to a wide variety of non-biological and non-medical factors. These factors include the value that people and communities place on women's health, access to education and information, and the capacity to make autonomous decisions about, for example, attending prenatal care classes and giving birth in a health facility. 

The delivery of new surgical equipment to the General Hospital of Marrere, Mozambique earlier this year was an important step for improving maternal and child health. It was also a milestone in the implementation of a research project led by Universidade Lúrio in Mozambique and the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, funded through the Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa (IMCHA) initiative. Securing the equipment needed for emergency obstetrical care is just one of the many project interventions underway to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. 

Access to information and services for contraception and birth spacing are critical to maternal and child health programming. It is no surprise then, that IDRC is supporting research in sub-Saharan Africa to investigate emerging questions and to propose ways to improve the reproductive health of women and adolescents.

Research shows that creative solutions can overcome barriers to access to health services in fragile contexts. Innovation is also key to identify sustainable ways of improving maternal and child care, even in difficult contexts such as South Sudan, Uganda, and northern Nigeria.

 "We all thought her pregnancy was safe," says the husband of 23-year-old Yeshimbet. "She looked fine." But after Yeshimbet gave birth to their son in their home, the bleeding wouldn't stop. She died the next day on the way to the health centre, many hours away on foot.

Louise Guenette/IDRC

As the seven-year Innovating for Maternal and Child Health in Africa (IMCHA) program reached its halfway mark, 80 African and Canadian experts gathered in Dakar, Senegal, from April 24-27, 2017 to discuss the program's emerging findings and to hone their research and policy engagement skills.

This study carried out by Lúrio University (UniLúrio) Health Sciences Faculty (HSF) in partnership with Nampula Provincial Health Directorate (NPHD), Marrere Hospital (MH) and the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada constitutes part of the baseline evaluation for an implementation research on maternal and newborn health

It is women and children across developing countries who suffer most from the shocks and stresses to health systems. In South Sudan — a country ravaged by conflicts — limited infrastructure, lack of health information, and severe shortages of health personnel contribute to high levels of maternal and child mortality. Outbreaks of infectious disease and epidemics have similar consequences — the impact of Ebola on maternal and child health in West Africa is one example.

By Professor Ellen Chirwa

In 2017 a team from Kamuzu College of Nursing, University of Alberta, and AMREF Health Africa implemented research to assess the quality of maternity care services that mothers received at Nkhotakota District Hospital, Ntchisi District Hospital, and Matawale Health Centre in Malawi. We collected information by observing and interviewing health care personnel.

Innovative interventions to improve maternal and child health in Nigeria were the focus of a workshop in Abuja on September 21, 2016. Nigeria has the second highest absolute number of maternal deaths and perinatal deaths in the world, contributing to approximately 15% of all maternal deaths worldwide. 

The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada's Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, announced major funding for an IDRC grantee during her August visit to West Africa. In Senegal, Minister Bibeau met with officials from the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences – Next Einstein Initiative (AIMS-NEI), a pan-African network of training centres enabling African students to become innovators driving scientific, educational, and economic self-sufficiency on the continent. 

Having successfully delivered her baby at a public health facility in Mityana, a city just west of Uganda's capital, Kampala, in 2009, Sylvia Nalubowa was surprised to learn that her labour wasn't over — she was having twins. But there was a problem. Try as Nalubowa might, her second child was stubbornly resisting entry into the world