Maternal and Child Health: Global Challenges, Programs, and Policies

Our current era of globalization, war, and socioeconomic unrest has revealed public health as a worldwide concern and a major frontier for social justice with maternal and child health at its epicenter. Yet, there has been a relative scarcity of training resources specifically dedicated to this crucial area. "Maternal and Child Health: Global Challenges, Programs, and Policies" addresses this gap in current knowledge by analyzing the range of socioeconomic and environmental factors, health care disparities, politics, policies, and cultural practices that impact the health and safety of mothers, as well as the well-being and optimum development of their children.

Individual sections focus on unequal distribution of the world’s resources, politics and power, specific disease concerns, programs, policies and emerging concerns with a focus on what is currently being done, and what needs to be done to improve the health status of women, children, and adolescents. The book’s contributors are some of the world’s most respected experts, carefully selected to represent different global geographic regions and diverse professional disciplines related to maternal and child health from both academic and field practice perspectives.

Among the topics in this authoritative volume: The impact of war, globalization, gender inequity, and harmful traditional practices (e.g., female genital mutilation). Specific health concerns, including tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, and malnutrition. Child and adolescent health issues, from abuse and neglect to children in difficult circumstances. Pregnancy-related issues: safety, abortion and post-abortion care, teen pregnancy, and more. Strategies for planning, developing, and maintaining maternal and child health systems in developing countries. The status of global initiatives, such as Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses and the Millennium Development Goals. The status of evidence-based maternal and child health in the developing world.

With such a wealth of information on both practical and conceptual levels, "Maternal and Child Health: Global Challenges, Programs, and Policies" is as relevant to students and researchers in the field as it is to policy makers and those working for global health and development organizations. It also makes an excellent stand-alone text for courses in global health in general and global maternal and child health in particular.

John Ehiri, MSc (Econ.), MPH, PhD, is Professor and Director, Division of Health Promotion Sciences at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH), University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. The Division of Health Promotion Sciences has a vibrant program of study in domestic and global maternal and child health, in addition to a unique new undergraduate program in public health. Dr. Ehiri’s research and teaching focus on social and behavioral aspects of disease prevention, and on global maternal, child and adolescent health - all linked by program intervention design, evaluation methodology and evidence-based policy/practice. He has over 20 years of research, teaching and service experience in global health.

Prior to joining the University of Arizona College of Public Health, Dr. Ehiri was Associate Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He was Principal Investigator and Chair, Executive Committee, UAB Framework Program for Global Health, an initiative funded by the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health that builds global health education and research capacity in the United States and in low- and middle-income countries by supporting the development of innovative, multidisciplinary global health programs. At UAB, Dr. Ehiri taught core courses in the University’s Global Health Studies Program and was the recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching (School of Public Health) in 2006. Prior to joining UAB, he was a Lecturer in International Health and Director of the Master of Community Health (MCommH) Program at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, England, United Kingdom. Dr. Ehiri has provided technical assistance on various aspects of maternal and child health to United Nations and bilateral agencies, and has supervised students’ field projects in over 20 countries.

Dr. Ehiri obtained his PhD and MPH degrees from the University of Glasgow, Scotland and also holds an MSc (Econ) in health policy and planning from the University of Wales, Swansea, UK. He has authored/co-authored over 60 peer-reviewed articles on critical issues in global maternal, child and adolescent health.