Extract below and a comment from me. Read online: https://www.who.int/news/item/21-02-2025-world-health-day-2025-to-spotli...
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially announced the theme of World Health Day 2025, Healthy beginnings, hopeful futures, which will focus on improving maternal and newborn health and survival.
World Health Day is marked around the world on 7th April, the anniversary of WHO’s founding in 1948. Each year, it draws attention to a specific health topic of concern to people all over the world.
“The focus of this campaign comes at a crucial moment, aiming to help countries regain lost progress while showcasing new research and evidence that will enhance the health of women and babies globally,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Ageing at WHO. “As rollbacks to humanitarian assistance jeopardize a critical lifeline for millions, it will also be an opportunity to step up support and collaboration for global health - and deliver hope to those in urgent need of lifesaving care.” [...]
Get involved
Here’s what you can do to support the campaign
Spread awareness: share information about the campaign using #HopefulFutures and #HealthForAll;
Participate: attend our global events to learn more about what it will take to end maternal and newborn mortality; organize your own local activities;
Donate: contribute to the WHO Foundation, which supports WHO’s work to protect mothers and babies in countries around the world;
Share personal experiences: Across its platforms, WHO will be launching new content to help women share birth stories and lived experiences from around the world, and to thank those who provide quality care.
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The news release notes that 'New recommendations will be published later this year to help clinicians manage postpartum haemorrhage, one of the world’s leading causes of maternal deaths'.
Several years ago HIFA noted [https://www.hifa.org/about-hifa/why-hifa-needed] that '7 in 10 women giving birth in health facilities in Africa and South Asia were mismanaged during the 3rd stage of labour, predisposing them to postpartum haemorrhage. PPH kills more than 300 young women every day in the developing world'. Stanton C et al. Use of active management of the third stage of labour in seven developing countries. WHO Bulletin 2009;87:207-215 https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/270398
I would like to invite a HIFA volunteer to find out for us whether this situation has improved in the past 15 years. One suspects that the reason so many people die is because basic lifesaving measures are not being taken, rather than because people are basing treatment on guidelines published a few years ago. An updated guideline is necessary but can only have a marginal impact if the basic principles of guidelines over past years and decades are not being applied.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org