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Health Care - Improving Maternal Health Care in Developing Countries

Improving Maternal Health Care in Developing Countries

Issue

“Postpartum hemorrhage...accounts for about 30 percent of the more than 500,000 maternal deaths worldwide each year due to childbirth.”
— Jonathan Fanton, President, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Funding

16% of international giving for health in 2007 supported programs to improve women’s health in developing countries

Challenge

How can we save women’s lives and improve their health status in developing nations?

Strategy

Develop innovative community-based solutions and support them through training, advocacy, and public education

Case Study

Pathfinder International’s Continuum of Care Project
  • Launched in 2007 to reduce deaths due to postpartum hemorrhage in India and Nigeria
  • Innovative anti-shock garment stabilizes women who bleed during childbirth
  • MacArthur Foundation funded pilot test of garment and gave an additional $11 million in 2007

Results

  • Brought low-tech interventions to several hundred health facilities
  • Trained over 900 health care personnel
  • Anti-shock garment estimated to reduce hemorrhage deaths by up to 60 percent

Research Sources


The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
       

MacArthur Invests $11 Million to Reduce Maternal Deaths in India and Nigeria
MacArthur Foundation Press Release
10/22/2007

Using the Anti-Shock Garment to Save Lives MacArthur Newsletter
Winter 2007

Pathfinder International

New Technology Saves Nigerian Women's Lives
Pathfinder International
7/22/2008

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