maternal health
September 30, 2016
Breakfast with WACh welcomes Drs. Ghayda Mirzaa and Kristina Adams Waldorf
Categories: Research, Talks and Events
Tags: Breakfast with WACh, maternal health, Zika
Join us for breakfast and a lecture on Tuesday, October 11th with Drs. Ghayda Mirzaa, MD, FAAP, FACMG and Kristina Adams Waldorf, MD.
The Zika Epidemic: An Unprecedented Health Threat for Pregnant Women
October 11th, 9-10 AM
University of Washington, Harris Hydraulics Laboratory, Large Conference Room
Dr. Ghayda Mirzaa is an expert in adolescent sexual and reproductive health. He has worked for the World Health Organization in Geneva since 1993. His experience in generating knowledge and taking knowledge to action is global in scope and spans over 25 years. A key area of his work is research on effective ways of providing sexuality education in different social, cultural and economic contexts, and then using these research findings to strengthen sexuality education programs in low and middle income countries.
Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf is an expert in adolescent sexual and reproductive health. He has worked for the World Health Organization in Geneva since 1993. His experience in generating knowledge and taking knowledge to action is global in scope and spans over 25 years. A key area of his work is research on effective ways of providing sexuality education in different social, cultural and economic contexts, and then using these research findings to strengthen sexuality education programs in low and middle income countries.
For more information, please email Kate Pfizenmaier, Global WACh Program Manager, at kpfiz1@uw.edu.
December 9, 2015
Breakfast with WACh with Dr. Assaye Nigussie
Categories: Talks and Events
Tags: Breakfast with WACh, maternal health, neonatal health
For this Breakfast with WACh lecture we welcomed Dr. Assaye Kassie Nigussie, Deputy Director, Country Implementation, Newborn & Child Health at Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Nigussie, an Ethiopian national, is a Medical Doctor and a qualified Pediatrician from Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India. Dr. Nigussie has over 20 years of experience in Pediatric Medicine and Neonatology, initially as a clinical instructor, practicing physician and Newborn and Child health researcher, and later as program manager for health programs focusing on Maternal, Neonatal, Child health and health systems. He brings both specific newborn expertise and a wealth of program implementation experiences across the MNCH continuum. He is currently working at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as the Deputy Director of Country Implementation on the MNCH team.
Below, you can view Dr. Nigussie’s entire presentation on Evidence-Based Strategy Planning for MNCH: Country Experience.
October 14, 2015
Spotlight on Global WACh Seed Grant Recipient Deepa Rao
Tags: maternal health, preterm birth, South India
We took a few moments to catch up with Dr. Deepa Rao, an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and recipient of a Global WACh integrated health seed grant. Dr. Rao’s grant funding was awarded to explore the impact of domestic violence and depressive symptoms on preterm birth in South India. India has a very high domestic violence rate in addition to having the highest number of maternal deaths, preterm birth, and under 5 mortality in the world. Global WACh viewed this proposal as an opportunity to understand more about the relationship between the two.
“We need to look at the person holistically and realize a mother’s mental health is connected to their baby’s health and it’s not a solely biological process. In my training I’ve always seen the social, interpersonal connected to the biological.”
Dr. Rao was awarded $25,000 to estimate the prevalence of depressive and PTSD symptoms in pregnant women in South India and examine the effects of these symptoms on birth outcomes. Dr. Rao’s team also conducted interviews with key informants to gather information on how therapeutic techniques could be adapted to be culturally relevant.
The study was conducted at two different hospitals, and involved 150 Indian women over the age of 18 who were in their second or third trimester of pregnancy. All of the women were married, had some education, and about nine percent were employed outside of the home. Twenty-one percent of them reported clinically significant depressive symptoms and PTSD.
Her findings, to be published in an upcoming paper entitled The Impact of Domestic Violence and Depressive Symptoms on Preterm Birth in South India, showed that both psychological abuse and clinically significant depressive symptoms were associated with preterm birth. In addition, her team found that maternal depressive symptoms and experience of psychological abuse were strongly associated with each other. During the study, female research assistants asked questions about home situations that could shed light on whether or not the women had suffered abuse. Several women had.
Dr. Rao points out that current policy initiatives focus predominantly on physical abuse, and psychological abuse may be overlooked through these initiatives. She emphasized the need for future research to focus on understanding the psychosocial causes of preterm birth to better target interventions and improve maternal child health in limited resource settings.
October 8, 2014
Birth Defects in Iraq: The Consequences of War
Categories: Talks and Events
Tags: Discovery Series, Iraq, maternal health
Global WACh is proud to co-sponsor the next Washington Global Health Alliance Discovery Series highlighting the effects of war on Iraqi mothers and infants. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist from the University of Michigan will be giving a talk Friday, October 24th at 12:30pm entitled “Environmental Poisoning of Iraq: Why Academics Must Speak Out.” Dr. Muhsin Al-Sabbak who is an obstetrician at Basrah Maternity Hospital will speak on Monday, October 27th on “The Epidemic of Birth Defects in Iraq: Conversations with an Iraqi Doctor.”
Monday’s event is open to the public with a reception starting at 5:30pm. Dr. Al-Sabbak will speak at 6:00 at University Temple United Methodist Church (1415 NE 43rd St. Seattle). Please join us for this very important and enlightening event. For more information, you can email ghrc@uw.edu.