Encouraging facility-based delivery as a strategy to increase skilled attendance at birth in order to reduce maternal and neonatal deaths has been a priority in the global maternal health agenda for decades. However, it has been widely recognized that expanding facility-based births without addressing issues of equity, quality and dignity is not sufficient for improving maternal health. In a recent paper published in Health Policy and Planning, Dominic Montagu and colleagues examined trends in delivery location in Africa and Asia using data from Demographic and Health Surveys and offered policy recommendations for future efforts..READ MORE>>
The United Nations sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 seeks “to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all and at all ages”.1 To build healthcare systems that were able to progress towards the millennium development goals, many countries had to extend delivery systems to increase coverage. They also greatly improved measurement of people’s contacts with the health system. However, with the reduction in disease burden due to specific infectious diseases and childhood illnesses, people tend to live longer, have multiple noncommunicable diseases and require more complex services. The focus on measuring access is not sufficient to capture whether people receive effective care; hence this month’s papers on measurement of quality of care in low- and middle-income countries.READ MORE>>
We know that the inability of women to fully participate in the workplace has substantial economic impact in both developed and developing countries. McKinsey Global Institute estimated that 28 trillion US dollars could be added to global annual GDP by 2025 if women were enabled to participate in the labor market on equal terms to men. This is approximately equal to the size of the U.S. and Chinese economies combined. That is why, under the auspices of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2014, Merck and the governments of the United States and Philippines started Healthy Women, Healthy Economies. Here is a Policy Toolkit that contains policies, strategies, and best practices to promote women’s health, well-being and economic growth.READ MORE>>
This document is a literature review of the evidence base to support the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Toolkit. It focuses on areas of workplace health and safety, health awareness and access, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence and work/life balance. Overall, the goal of this public-private partnership between Merck and the United States and Philippines government is to link the evidence of the impact of women's health and well-being to their ability to enter, thrive, and rise in the workplace. READ MORE>>
The Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program is a joint initiative of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education in collaboration with Big Win Philanthropy, and with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the GE Foundation, and Merck KGaA.
