In this edition of the Global Health Impact Newsletter, hear from women, families, communities, and the local leaders and countries we work with to build stronger health systems and save lives.

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Healthy Women, Healthy Families,
Healthy Communities

Aug/Sept 2014
(Issue 7)

Highlights

Acting on the Call: A Turning Point for Maternal Health

"In years to come we will look back on the summer of 2014 and recall USAID’s Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths campaign as a turning point in our global struggle to reduce maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity," blogs MSH Vice President Catharine Taylor.

Read more >>

Linking Tradition and Training for Safer Deliveries in Rural Uganda

The Strengthening TB and AIDS Response – Eastern Region (STAR-E) project, led by MSH, coached health workers to reach out to traditional birth attendants on the benefits of giving birth at a health facility. Through STAR-E’s work with traditional birth attendants, the number of pregnant women giving birth at the health facility has dramatically increased.

Read more >>

Improving Maternal Health: Strengthening Procurement Systems at the Subnational Level: Bangladesh

The USAID-funded Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS), led by MSH, developed a methodology and a set of tools to assess local procurement practices of maternal health medicines. SIAPS tested the assessment methodology and tools in Bangladesh, where it is working with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to strengthen procurement management systems to improve maternal health.

Read more >>

Moving Evidence to Action: Strengthening Postabortion Care Family Planning in West Africa

The USAID-funded Evidence to Action for Strengthened Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services for Women and Girls (E2A) Project--of which MSH is a partner--has taken a leadership role in strengthening and scaling up postabortion family planning services in West Africa, a region with some of the highest maternal mortality and abortion rates in the world.

Read more >>

Profile

Choice: A Conversation with Dr. Fabio Castaño (Part One)

MSH's family planning programs have evolved significantly since our first program in Korea over forty years ago, says Fabio Castaño, MD, MPH, global technical lead of family planning and reproductive health. "Now the basic, fundamental principle for family planning is choice. People have the right to choose when to have a family—when is the best time and how many children they want to have."

Read interview with Dr. Fabio Castaño >>

Video

Kenya: Using Leadership and Management Practices to Increase Skilled Deliveries

By mastering leadership and management practices learned through the MSH Leadership Development Program (LDP), the Gotani Health Center in Kenya’s coast region identified and overcame obstacles to skilled facility-based deliveries and improved maternal and newborn health outcomes.

Watch video >>

Related

Integrated Maternal and Child Health Program Enables Mothers to Deliver HIV-Negative Babies

Using Leadership Skills to Increase Facility Deliveries: The Case of Gotani Health Center (PDF)

New Impact Report: Lives Saved

A world where everyone has the opportunity for a healthy life—this is MSH’s vision, guiding our efforts to achieve lifesaving results by strengthening health systems.

Experience our interactive impact report >>

More MSH News

MSH Appoints Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health Expert, Dr. Luis Tam

MSH to Lead 5-Year Program to Increase the Availability, Accessibility and Appropriate Use of Essential Medicines and Health Supplies in Uganda

Why the NCD Response Needs Universal Health Coverage

MSH Welcomes Lawrence K. Fish to its Board of Directors

Gates Foundation Delegation Visits Tanzania Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets Program

Partnering with Guyana’s Ministry of Health to Strengthen Supply Chain Management

Join Us

Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research

Join MSH at the Third Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Cape Town, South Africa, September 30–October 3, 2014. We will highlight our work in health systems innovations; financing and costing; improved access to care; leadership, management & governance; and universal health coverage.

Visit our conference blog >>

A Note from
Dr. Jonathan Quick

I'm happy to share that I will be pitching the Accredited Drug Shops to attendees at the 2014 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Located in hard-to-reach rural areas, these shops not only provide economic security for the owners, who are mostly women, they provide access to essential medicines and health commodities closer to home.

Watch this video from Tanzania:

Then learn more about the Accredited Drug Shops and our CGI Commitment >>

Featured Project

STRIDES for Family Health

Funded by USAID and led by MSH with partners, STRIDES for Family Health works with Uganda's Ministry of Health, districts, communities, private organizations, and individual providers in up to 15 districts to increase contraceptive use and healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy and decrease maternal and child mortality.