The focus of this report is on the critical shortage of health workers in the developing world and the urgent need for more female health workers to save the lives of mothers, newborn babies, and young children. This report identifies countries that have invested in training and deploying more female health workers, shows how these women are delivering lifesaving health care to … [Read more...] about Women on the Front Lines of Health Care: State of the World’s Mothers 2010
Reproductive Health/Family Planning
Malawi: Distribution of DMPA at the Community Level- Lessons Learned
In 2008, Malawi piloted the distribution of the injectable contraceptive DMPA by Health Surveillance Assistants. This report presents lessons learned, during the initial training and implementation roll-out, which will be valuable for other countries planning similar community-based distribution systems. The report pays particular attention to the supply chain implications of … [Read more...] about Malawi: Distribution of DMPA at the Community Level- Lessons Learned
Taking Critical Services to the Home: Scaling-up Home-based Maternal and Postnatal Care, including Family Planning, through Community Midwifery in Kenya
In Kenya, with USAID support, the Population Council's FRONTIERS in Reproductive Health project supported the scale up of a model that enabled women to give birth at home or to be referred to a hospital when attended by a self-employed skilled midwife living in the community. This report describes the project and provides recommendations on skills development for the community … [Read more...] about Taking Critical Services to the Home: Scaling-up Home-based Maternal and Postnatal Care, including Family Planning, through Community Midwifery in Kenya
Accelerating reproductive and child health programme impact with community-based services: the Navrongo experiment in Ghana
This article compares the demographic and health impact of deploying health service nurses and volunteers in village locations. The authors found that assigning nurses to community locations to provide basic curative and preventive care substantially reduced childhood mortality and accelerates progress towards attainment of the child survival MDG. Approaches using community … [Read more...] about Accelerating reproductive and child health programme impact with community-based services: the Navrongo experiment in Ghana
Lessons from Community-based Distribution of Family Planning in Africa
This paper reviews several initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa to implement community-based distribution (CBD) of family planning services. Although research suggests that community-based service delivery can contribute to contraceptive use, the magnitude of impact is often in doubt. This report reviews reasons for the limited impact of CBD in Africa, compared with similar … [Read more...] about Lessons from Community-based Distribution of Family Planning in Africa

