International Conference to Promote Maternal Health

Interventions aimed at guaranteeing maternal health are key to the development of all countries. The second edition of the Global Maternal Health Conference (GMHC2013), to be held in Arusha, Tanzania on 15-17 January, will build on this premise and promote efforts towards eradicating preventable maternal mortality. The event is co-sponsored by the Tanzanian non-profit organisation Management and Development for Health and the Maternal Health Task Force of the U.S. Harvard School of Public Health.

GMHC2013 is a technical conference that will provide a forum for researchers, health professionals, policy makers and activitists to exchange knowledge, create alliances and promote initiatives aimed at improving maternal health. ISGlobal will be represented at the conference by Clara Menéndez, Director of the the institute's Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health Initiative. Also present will be Khatia Munguambe and Helena Boene, researchers at the Manhiça Health Research Center in Mozambique, who will present their work on the acceptability of malaria control tools in pregnant women in this country.

The conference will provide a perfect opportunity to continue to emphasise the importance of keeping malaria in pregnancy on the international scientific and cooperation agenda. In Africa, close to 25 million pregnant women are at risk of malaria infection every year. Intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women in areas with moderate or high rates of Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission was recommended as a control measure in late 1998, but uptake of this recommendation has varied greatly from country to country, and the truth is that the majority of pregnant women at risk of malaria in Africa remain untreated. Furthermore, the prioritisation of resources for malaria control in pregnancy and the channelling of these resources through reproductive health programmes are far from a reality in many African countries.  The strengthening of health care systems and the design of evidence-based programmes and policies are key to improving quality of care for pregnant women with malaria.

You can follow the conference on  LiveStream