Technical Resources

Do you wish to learn more about safe motherhood? Or perhaps you know the basics but have some questions or want more information or details? Sharing and promoting safe motherhood information and resources is the goal of this section. Publications or links featuring general information, programmatic examples, and other relevant resources such as fact sheets, technical documents and research evidence are provided for the various topics listed below. There is also a wealth of free courses, films and other online resources that will help to enlighten, inform or update you. Here are a few, but check back soon: new information is becoming available all the time. Please send any inquires about this section to: info@whiteribbonalliance.org

GLOBAL E-LEARNING

The USAID Global Health eLearning Center offers a variety of courses to offer up-to-date information. Each course is authored by a subject matter expert or a team of experts, is highly focused, and can be completed in about one to two hours. Although courses are designed to be taken online, a printer-friendly format allows you to download course materials for further study. The eLearning Center is available at no cost and just requires a quick registration. Some of the available courses include:

• Antenatal Care
• Essential Newborn Care
• Family planning 101
• Malaria in Pregnancy
• HIV Basics
• Mother-to-child transmission of HIV
• Youth reproductive health

Global Woman’s Health Library (GLOWM) is a not-for-profit initiative that provides health professionals worldwide with free access to a vast and constantly updated, peer-reviewed resource of clinical information and guidance. The site features surgical videos, diagnostic atlases, laboratory tests and a special section on Safer Motherhood.

GENERAL SAFE MOTHERHOOD

• World Health Organization Maternal Mortality Fact Sheet
• World Health Organization Recommendations on Improving Maternal Health
• UNFPA Safe Motherhood Resource Kit
• 2008 Maternal Mortality Estimates (WHO, UNFPA, UNICEF, World Bank)
• Amnesty International Report on Maternal Mortality in the US

COMPLICATIONS OF PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH

• Fact Sheet on Emergency Obstetric Care (RAISE Initiative)
• Life Saving Skills for Midwives (LSS): The LSS manual and training program encourages an expanded role for the midwife in recognizing and responding to life-threatening emergencies in pregnancy and childbirth. The program was developed by the American College of Nurse-Midwives.
• Postpartum Hemorrhage Prevention and Treatment Resources: Bleeding after childbirth is the leading cause of maternal mortality. This website contains resources posted under the Prevention of Postpartum Hemorrhage Initiative (POPPHI) and includes information and links to a range of organizations working on PPH issues.

PREGNANCY ADVICE 

WhatToExpect.com is the interactive companion to the What to Expect When You’re Expecting books, and home to a vibrant, vast, yet close-knit community of over two million parents. 

NEWBORN HEALTH

• Healthy Newborn Network
• New Estimates of Newborn Mortality
• Saving Newborn Lives e-Newsletter: Available in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Sign up for their free monthly update.
• The Lancet Neonatal Survival Series
• Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirths: The Mission of GAPPS is to lead a collaborative, global effort to increase awareness and accelerate innovative research and interventions that will improve maternal, newborn and child health outcomes.
• Lancet Stillbirth Series: This Series highlights the rates and causes of stillbirth globally, explores cost-effective interventions to prevent stillbirths (as well as maternal and newborn deaths), and sets key actions to halve stillbirth rates. Also included are Comments from professional organizations and parent groups.

FAMILY PLANNING AND CONTRACEPTION

• Family Planning Saves Lives (Population Reference Bureau): Provides valuable information on the health benefits of family planning with a special focus on maternal-child health.
• USAID/ESD Fact sheet on healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy (HTSP)
• Extending Service Delivery Project Resources on Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancy

HIV/AIDS AND PREVENTION OF MOTHER-TO-CHILD TRANSMISSION OF HIV (PMTCT)

• UNAIDS
• UNICEF Resources on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV
• AIDSTAR-One: This is USAID's global HIV/AIDS project that provides support and technical assistance to teams working across the world. Focus areas include: Prevention, Treatment, Counseling and Testing, Care and Support, Gender, Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children, and PMTCT.

World Health Organization Resources on Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV:

• Guidelines on HIV and Infant Feeding: A programming guide for infant feeding in the context of HIV.
• Antiretroviral Drugs for Treating Pregnant Women and Preventing HIV Infection in Infants: A programming guide providing international standards, primarily for low- and middle income settings, in support of the global scale-up of more effective interventions aimed at preventing mother to child transmission of HIV in resource-limited settings.
• HIV Prevention in Maternal Health Services: Key HIV/STI Prevention Messages for Pregnant and Postpartum Women (UNFPA and EngenderHealth) HIV and infant feeding.

EMERGENCY AND CONFLICT SITUATIONS

• Woman and Infant Services Package: A publication developed by a National Working Group for Woman and Infant Needs in Emergencies in the United States
• World Alliance for Breastfeeding factsheet on feeding infants in emergencies
• Infant and Young Child Nutrition Project resources for feeding infants in emergencies
• Inter-agency Reproductive Health Kits for Crisis Situations: The Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for Reproductive Health is a priority set of life?saving activities to be implemented at the onset of every humanitarian crisis. It forms the starting point for reproductive health programming and should be sustained and built upon with comprehensive reproductive health services throughout protracted crises and recovery. This manual is an important part of the MISP package.