Although two of the Millennium Development Goals specifically address the need to reduce infant and child mortality and, improve the health of mothers progress in these areas has been poor and the interim goals set for 2015 will not be reached. While mother and infant deaths are decreasing in some parts of the world, the figures in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are still unacceptable. Greater political commitment and more resources are needed to improve the situation.
Improving the health of women and children in developing countries is a priority for ISGlobal. For that reason—building on the work of the past 20 years—we have launched the Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health Initiative to integrate the work of the different sections of ISGlobal in this area.Research on new and better treatments, diagnostic tools and prevention methods is essential. But it is also crucial to translate the knowledge generated by research into action, through training,analysis and technical cooperation.
The focus of a multidisciplinary institution like ISGlobal can help to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. In this way, we can support the global effort to ensure that all women and children, regardless of where they live or were born, have access to quality health care services.
Some 287,000 women die every year as a result of complications related to pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum, and almost all (98%) of these preventable deaths are concentrated in developing countries. The difference in maternal mortality rates between developed and developing countries is the biggest global health inequity today. Moreover, every year more than eight million children under five years of age die from preventable causes, many (40%) within the first 28 days of life.
The Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health Initiative draws on all of ISGlobal's areas of action - research, training, technical assistance, and analysis - to further the Millennium Development Goals on reducing child mortality (MDG 4) and improving maternal health (MDG 5). Our aim is to make this problem more visible and to increase the resources allocated to improving the health of women and children in the world's most disadvantaged regions.
Through CRESIB, its research centre, ISGlobal is involved in a variety of projects related to maternal, infant and reproductive health in different areas of the world.
- Causes of Maternal Mortality: carrying out studies to identify the true cause of maternal deaths through full autopsy. Identifying the causes of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa is crucial to the task of prioritising public health strategies and reducing the unacceptable number of maternal deaths in the region.
- Malaria in Pregnancy and the Newborn: Work is in progress on projects that evaluate strategies for the control of malaria in pregnancy, including intermittent preventive treatment and impregnated mosquito nets. We are also researching alternative antimalarial drugs, the cost-effectiveness of different interventions, the impact of malaria on infant mortality during pregnancy, and the risks associated with malaria-induced morbidity.
- HIV and Women's and Children's Health: Our researchers are investigating the impact of HIV infection on maternal health and newborn survival and researching possible ways to prevent mother to child transmission.
- Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Women's Health: CRESIB is working on a research agenda relating to the feasibility of implementing HPV vaccination to prevent infection in Morocco and Mozambique.
- Causes of Neonatal Mortality: Another CRESIB project is working on identifying the true cause of death in stillbirths and neonatal deaths through full or minimally invasive autopsy.
- Epidemiology and Aetiology of Neonatal Sepsis: Our researchers are studying the epidemiology of maternal bacterial transmission and maternal risk factors associated with pathogens in the vertical transmission of bacterial infections to the foetus and newborn during pregnancy.
- Respiratory diseases
- Diarrheal diseases
- Vaccines and Immunization: CRESIB is involved in the clinical development of the RTS, S malaria vaccine which after several clinical trials developed in the last decade has shown to be safe, well tolerated and effective in preventing infection and clinical disease caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most deadly species of malaria parasite. Initial results of the phase III multicenter clinical trial in 16,000 African children showed that the vaccine reduces by half the risk of contracting the disease in African children 5 to 17 months.
Together with other academic and research institutions, ISGlobal is collaborating with the World Health Organisation to develop a prioritised and coordinated global research agenda for women's and children's health issues with the aim of enhancing the dialogue between policy makers, academics and the research community. In September 2010, the UN Secretary General launched the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health to address the inadequate progress on the Millennium Development Goals related to maternal and infant health. Since then, a global network of academic and research institutions has been set up to coordinate the much needed contribution of the scientific community to the achievement of these goals.
