Maternal and Child Health

60 per cent of all maternal deaths and 40 per cent of infant deaths take place in the Commonwealth. There are insufficient skilled health personnel to care for pregnant mothers and newborns and in some regions neonatal deaths have made no improvement over the last decade. Infant mortality rates in the Commonwealth average 42 deaths per 1000 births and range from 2 - 165 deaths per 1000. The Maternal Mortality Ratio averages 750 deaths per 100,000 births (compared to a world average of 400) and ranges from 5 - 2000 deaths per 100,000.

Our role in addressing maternal and child health is to help member countries attain the fourth and fifth Millennium Development Goals: reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. Our work in this area focuses on the 12 Commonwealth countries with the highest burden of maternal and child health related mortality and morbidity. They are Kenya, Mozambique, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Lesotho, Sierra Leone and India.

Our main focuses are:

• Examining the challenges facing maternal and child health programmes in countries with a high burden of related mortality and morbidity. Evidence will help countries develop more effective policies thereby improving the care they give to women and children to reduce morbidity and mortality.
• Examine the main legal challenges affecting access to care for women and adolescents and assess barriers faced by adolescents in accessing the sexual and reproductive health services in the Commonwealth.
• We have worked with partners to develop a curriculum (click here for curriculum) for an advanced Midwifery degree. This is now in its first year in University in Malawi, with 15 students currently enrolled.
• Address unsafe abortion in the Commonwealth through discussion papers and outline recommendations for Commonwealth countries based on the findings of the Notes and additional research on abortion.
• Place the improvement of adolescent reproductive and sexual health as an essential part of the continuum of care required to reduce maternal mortality by developing a discussion note on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health in the Commonwealth.
• Look at the status of adolescent friendly reproductive and sexual health in the Commonwealth by developing a policy brief.

Video: My Sister, My Self