Innovations in maternal and perinatal health in humanitarian settings

In 2015, a record high of over 65 million people were living in forced displacement and 89 million people were affected by natural hazards with those living in extreme poverty most at risk (GHA 2016 report). Health outcomes for pregnant women and their babies are worse in humanitarian crises and providing health services for them presents unique challenges.

The Global MDSR Action Network, hosted by our E4A-MamaYe programme is holding a series of seminars on the subject of Innovations in maternal and perinatal health in humanitarian settings at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in collaboration with LSHTM’s Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre and The Centre for Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive, and Child Health.

The series aims to explore what evidence is available from maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response systems and other methods of assessing maternal and perinatal outcomes in crises settings. Specifically, the series will explore innovations with the potential to increase our understanding of the impact of humanitarian crises on the health of mothers and babies, and inform interventions to improve health outcomes in humanitarian responses and health systems. Presenters will share ideas and experiences on pragmatic solutions to improve health outcomes and strengthen health systems.

The first seminar, ‘Innovations to improve maternal and newborn death surveillance to respond to future Ebola outbreaks’, takes place on Tuesday 17 January, 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm and will be chaired by our Technical Specialist, Dr Sara Nam.

This seminar will explore:

• limited data availability affecting operations in maternal and newborn health through a donor lens;
• an innovative method to quantify the indirect mortality effects of the crisis; and the
• changing landscape of maternal health response, including implications for maternal death surveillance and response and how will we react in the future.

For more information, and to register for the event which takes place at the John Snow Lecture Theatre, LSHTM, Keppel Street, London, WC1E 7HT,  please click here.