The report of the conference on community-driven accountability is out! Can communities make a change? Conference on community-driven accountability in SRHR and HIV/AIDS

The Global Health Workforce Alliance has published a Synthesis Paper on Community Health Workers and other Frontline Health Workers, based on 4 meetings that were held about this subject in 2012. One of these meetings was our own Technical Consultation on the role of Community Based Providers in improving Maternal and Newborn Health. Please find the Synthesis Paper attached.

The World Health Organization’s recommendations on optimizing the roles of health workers aim to help address critical health workforce shortages that slow down progress towards the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A more rational distribution of tasks and responsibilities among cadres of health workers can significantly improve both access and cost-effectiveness – for example by training and enabling ‘mid-level’ and ‘lay’ health workers to perform specific interventions otherwise provided only by cadres with longer (and sometimes more specialized) training.

Recently, a report on the assessment of the KNOV-SLMA twin2twin Program in Sierra Leone has been published. The report contains perceptions and experiences of twinned midwives and lessons learned. The recommendations focus on the need for strong coordination, the importance of the programmatic link to maternal and newborn health in order to focus the twin relationships, the importance of face to face meetings, collaborative projects and debriefing at the end of the programme. Please find the full report attached.

Midwifery is currently seeking papers for a forthcoming Special Issue related to the Millennium Development Goals to complement The Lancet’s forthcoming special, May 2013.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are due to be achieved in 2015, although there will be considerable challenges for many countries to meet the goals. Countdown to 2015 is a global movement to track, stimulate and support country progress towards achieving the MDGs related to improving maternal and child health.

This report, published by Simavi, reviews published literature describing the impact of water, sanitation and hygiene on maternal health and mortality.

The report can be obtained following this link: http://www.simavi.nl/assets/Uploads/Simavi-Publicatie_Getting-It-Right.pdf

Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is a major cause of mortality, morbidity and long term disability related to pregnancy and childbirth. Effective interventions to prevent and treat PPH exist and can largely reduce the burden of this life-threatening condition.

Given the availability of new scientific evidence related to the prevention and treatment of PPH, the WHO recommendations are updated and you can find them via the following link:(http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/maternal_perinatal_he...)

Although not directly related to maternal health, we like to point Meshwork partners to the Cordaid HIV/AIDS award 2012 with the theme "locally resourced sustainable care and support initiatives for children livign with or affected by HIV".

We can imagine that some of you are involved in activities that would qualify for the award. We therefore would like to invite you to check the award information on http://www.cordaid.nl/2012-cordaid-hiv-and-aids-award or check out the attached announcement for more information.

There are currently many country initiatives that address the need for better quality and coverage of maternal and newborn health services involving community based providers. These involve existing cadres (Community Health Workers (CHWs), Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs)) and new cadres that vary greatly in nomenclature, training, competencies, scope of work and positioning in relationship to the formal health system.