In humanitarian contexts, where abortion complications are a leading cause of maternal mortality, providing quality post-abortion care (PAC) is an important part of needed services. This paper describes the quality of PAC in two hospitals supported by an international organization in Jigawa State (Nigeria) and Bangui (Central African Republic). Quality indicators were measured in four components: 1) an assessment of the equipment and human resources available in hospitals, 2) a survey of the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and behavior of clinicians providing PAC, 3) an assessment of the medical care provided by clinicians to women presenting with abortion complications and, 4) a survey of a subgroup of these women who were hospitalized. The results showed that these hospitals were providing lifesaving PAC. However, hospitals need to strengthen several aspects of care including patient-centered approach, engaging patients in their own care and ensuring privacy, short waiting times and quality provider-patient communication.
A new online course introducing how WHO functions in health emergencies has just launched. This course is designed to provide an overview of WHO’s approach to emergency management, the Emergency Response Framework, and the Incident Management System, with a fictional outbreak to guide learners through an emergency response from detection to response.
MOMENTUM recently conducted a qualitative assessment to better understand the way countries manage lifesaving commodities at the primary healthcare facility and community levels. It explored how those commodities are dispensed and tracked and some of the major bottlenecks to their availability at various levels. This session will be an opportunity to hear experiences from Mali, Niger, and Sudan about their challenges, interventions, and lessons learned to strengthen the resiliency of supply chains at the last mile in fragile and humanitarian settings.
About 15,000 suspected cases have been identified in DRC so far this year, surpassing the total number from 2023. The virus is spreading to other countries in Africa. Authorities, health workers, and aid groups are racing against time to curb the spread of the deadly disease in a country already embroiled in a humanitarian crisis and with one of the most fragile healthcare systems in the world. Both cases and deaths are more prevalent in children than adults, Save the Children said.
This evaluation examines the progress made by the global community to advance the objectives and commitments made in the Newborn Roadmap from 2020 – 2024 and seeks to identify future MNH priorities within the unfinished agendas.
This review summarizes the knowledge on the forensic medical examination (FME) of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in peer-reviewed studies. Scientific literature focusing on this topic is scarce and limited attention is given to CRSV-specific sequelae compared to physical and psychological ones. High-quality research focusing on forensic medical examination of torture, including CRSV, could serve to document operational methodologies and as a guideline to professionals conducting FME.
This webpage contains the latest information you need to know on Mpox and HIV.
On a recent episode of the rePROs Fight Back podcast, Gayatri Patel, Chief of External Affairs at the Malala Fund and Senior Fellow with rePROs Fight Back, discussed why the international community needs to speak out about sexual and reproductive health care in emergency settings, the current gaps, and what needs to be done to fill those gaps.
Uganda's Humanitarian Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (HVACS) is the first-ever VACS conducted exclusively in refugee contexts. This landmark study covers all refugee settlements in Uganda and establishes the magnitude, nature, and consequences of violence against children in these settings. The survey findings provide a rigorous baseline against which progress to end violence against children can be measured, and will be used to support planning for evidence-informed programming and resource allocation and mobilization to address this issue in the country’s refugee settlements.
The alarming surge in human-to-human transmission of monkeypox virus (MPXV) infections, particularly in high-risk, sexually active, and reproductive-age populations, along with the known association between MPXV infection and adverse obstetrical outcomes, highlights the urgent need for data to enhance our understanding and mitigate the risks of MPXV infection during pregnancy.
A desk review examined documented achievements from the previous four years, including resources, tools, and advocacy work, and then mapped them across the nine objectives of the Newborn Roadmap. A short survey capturing stakeholder perspectives on global progress and the unfinished agenda was distributed through global MNH listservs across both humanitarian and development initiatives and received 85 responses. Finally, in-depth interviews were held with 19 key informants from 13 organizations inclusive of UN, donors, INGOs, and one local organization.
Mpox
EmergencyMpox is an infectious disease that can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, fever, headache, muscle ache, back pain and low energy. A global outbreak of clade IIb began in 2022 and continues to this day, including in some African countries. There are also growing outbreaks of clades Ia and Ib affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in Africa. As of August 2024, clade Ib has also been detected beyond Africa.