Resources: Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition

Author(s):

The first 1,000 days

 In the last few years, the issue of child malnutrition has garnered increased attention and has led to a growing body of evidence that investing in better nutrition during the 1,000 day window can save lives, improve health and drive long-term economic growth. New online tools on www.thousanddays.org include the Resources library and the interactive 1,000 Days map - “Mapping the Window of Opportunity.” The map focuses on 16 key nutrition interventions, including those identified by The Lancet and the World Bank.

 

A new injectable contraceptive

The Uniject device will provide women in the hardest-to-reach areas access to a popular and effective family planning method. The product prevents pregnancy for three months with a single sub-cutaneous injection using the pre-filled, auto-disable Uniject device. For more information see http://www.path.org/projects/uniject-dmpa.php. The device was announced at the July 2012 London Summit on Family Planning see http://www.londonfamilyplanningsummit.co.uk

 

Child Health e-learning resources

These materials from the Paediatric Department, College of Medicine, Malawi can be freely downloaded from http://www.medcol.mw/paediatrics/index.php?page=pages&pid=132 . Lectures are in powerpoint (PPT) or articulated (A) with voice over.

The topics covered are:

A Paediatric Handbook For Malawi and other handbooks are also available on this site.

[Thanks to Dr Bernadette O’Hara for sending this item]

 

Primary Mothercare and Population

Book review by Nancy MacKeith

"I really enjoyed this book as I felt Maurice King and I were sitting together as he took me through ideas, stories, information, pictures and even jokes!  I am not convinced it works as a basic ‘how-to’ book - for example, the illustrations are small compared to the text and as I am a midwife I noticed that the section on breech delivery was about what obstetricians do rather than the newer information on how to manage it avoiding hands on the baby as much as possible.  There are cultural issues, some minor like obscure stories and pictures but others may be more serious if the statements are considered inappropriate.  I recommend this book to those who want to consider the bigger picture both practically and in terms of health planning."

Ref: Primary Mothercare and Population. 2012. King M, Mola G etal. 2012 For details on how to buy email [email protected] (by surface post ~£11 in UK; ~£12 outside UK).

 

State of the World’s Mothers

This 2012 report from Save the Children this year highlights the plight of 171 million children globally who suffer from poor nutrition in early life.  It underscores the vital importance of breastfeeding and shows which countries are doing the best and the worst at providing nutrition during the critical window of the first 1,000 days of life. It recommends six key nutrition-related solutions: -iron folate supplements, breastfeeding, good complementary feeding, vitamin A supplements, zinc for diarrhoea and water/sanitation/hygiene - that have the greatest potential to save lives, and shows that these solutions are affordable, even in the world’s poorest countries. Find the report at www.savethechildren.org [from K4Health 29May2012]

 

Family planning in The Lancet

To coincide with the London Summit on Family Planning (see http://www.londonfamilyplanningsummit.co.uk), ‘family planning’ and ‘maternal mortality’ are the main topics of several articles in The Lancet, Volume 380, Issue 9837, 14 July 2012 doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61156-8. One article concludes that numbers of unwanted pregnancies and unmet contraceptive need are still high in many developing countries. It provides evidence that use of contraception is a substantial and effective primary prevention strategy to reduce maternal mortality in developing countries. For free access to many articles in The Lancet go to http://www.thelancet.com/mylancet