WUNRN
INNOVATIONS IN MATERNAL & INFANT
HEALTH
ADDRESS CHRONIC PROBLEMS CREATIVELY
By: Talea Miller - September 12, 2011
in
Women In
More than
350,000 women die each year around the globe from complications of childbirth,
and 3 million children die in the first month of life. In the face of such dire
numbers, development experts will focus on what is working around the world to
improve the situation next week during the Millennium Development Goals
assessment at the U.N. General Assembly.
A new report
from the U.N.'s Every Woman, Every Child Innovation Working Group, out in the
Lancet Monday, looks at some of the promising and innovative projects that
could help change those statistics. Learn about five interesting approaches
that could be models for other countries struggling with high maternal and
infant mortality:
Project:
Have you
ever traveled to a rural part of a developing country and been astounded to
find that bottles of Coke also managed to find their way there? ColaLife is
piggy-backing on Coca-Cola's extensive supply chain to provide isolated
communities with much-needed medical supplies.
Self-contained
"aid pods" filled with supplies can fit into any unused crate space
and are delivered to local contacts when beverage supplies are distributed.
The group is
currently working on an anti-diarrheal kit that would carry rehydration salts,
soap, water treatment tools and educational materials. Diarrheal disease is one
of the leading causes of death for children under five in the developing world,
but is preventable and treatable.
Project:
Reaching
women where they work is the strategy at HERproject (Health Enables Returns),
which now operates in more than 70 factories in seven countries. The group
trains female employees at factories manufacturing everything from
Project:
Pregnant
women who are HIV-positive can prevent their babies from contracting the
disease with medication, but only if they take it correctly. In
Project:
Low-income
women in
The
facilities cut costs by using a no-frills environment, and by breaking down
complex processes into different tasks, some of which can be done by
less-skilled professionals.
Project: SMS
for
When a
grocery store is sold out of milk, it's an inconvenience for customers. When a
clinic in Sub-saharan Africa runs out of malaria medication, it's a
life-and-death supply issue for patients. A public-private partnership in