The iron bar
Fluoride in water and food blocks iron absorption, leads to anaemia among pregnant women
The role of bias in how women are treated during childbirth: a Kenyan case study
Around 810 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth
How important is birth environment for you now?
Environmental factors at birth, such as temperature and altitude, can affect the baby's fertility later, show recent studies
15 million newborns in India are not breastfed in the first hour
This is happening when 80 per cent of deliveries are taking place in health facilities, says a report
Burden of birth
Maternal deaths in Bihar go unreported, while state claims maternal mortality ratio has decreased
Maternal mortality on a decline, but challenges remain
An earlier report had said that India accounts for the maximum number of maternal deaths in the world — 17 per cent or nearly 50,000 …
Umbilical discord
As a result of air pollution in Delhi, strains of toxic metals like lead and cadmium are increasingly finding their way into the womb
Film review Birth In The Squatting Position
Films>> Birth in the Squatting Position by Polymorph Films 1979 (10 mins, Brazil) The business of being born by Abby Epstein (83 mins, USA) …
Delivering safety
All safe motherhood programmes of the government are focused on institutional deliveries, but health centres are in disarray. Experts suggest …
Paramedics show the way
How hundreds of villages in Bangladesh have overcome child and maternal mortality 10 years before the MDG deadline
Musings on the Independence of the Other India
Even after 71 years of independence, 1 in 11 children in India is a child labourer, 1 in every 3 is malnourished, only 3 in every 10 children …
Married women in India have highest out-of-pocket expenditure for non-communicable diseases
Married women in both rural and urban India spend more on treating non-communicable diseases than other diseases, shows a study
Public health and health care still poor in Assam
Despite a good beginning, 14 years of Tarun Gogoi’s rule have failed to deliver desired results in healthcare
Caesarian sections should be performed only on case-by-case basis, says WHO
Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh record very high rates of caesarian sections, a study reveals
Premature scheme
Gujarat's plan to increase institutional deliveries among expecting mothers has fallen flat
As told to Parliament (December 9, 2022): 25% Indians are multi-dimensionally poor, says minister
Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index captures multiple and simultaneous deprivations faced by households across the three macro dimensions of health, …
Anaemia: India needs social norms-based interventions at every phase of a woman’s life
While behaviour change communication for drug adherence and knowledge of anaemia as a serious disease is needed, challenging detrimental social …
New study could pave the way for novel contraceptive
Researchers found that in the absence of an enzyme critical for sperm formation in mouse, sperms failed to develop completely
One-fifth of pregnant women at risk due to Group B Sterptococcus bacteria
The first comprehensive research on the bacteria estimates that out of 410,000 cases every year, there will be at least 147,000 stillbirths and …
How schooling can save African girls from becoming child brides
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa have some of the world’s lowest levels of school enrolment and completion
Mobile technology to be used to improve maternal and child health in Africa
Smartphones will help health workers track the health of expecting mothers and their unborn children
Beyond a flailing state
Health ministry cannot provide basic services, the finance ministry cannot collect taxes and the chaos of governance worsens
Female genital mutilation leads to over 40,000 excess deaths in Africa annually: Research
The practice still remains legal in five of the 28 countries where it is most practiced namely Mali, Malawi, Chad, Sierra Leone, and Liberia
Postpartum haemorrhage remains leading cause of maternal deaths in Kerala: Report
According the National Health Portal of India, PPH accounts for 35 per cent of all maternal deaths
International Women's Day: Empower to protect the womb and newborn
Transmission of latent toxic risk from air pollution through womb forever is not acceptable