Childbirth News and Research

Latest Childbirth News and Research

AHRQ analysis finds hospital charges for patient stay averaged $18,000 per day

Hospital charges for the most expensive patient stays at U.S. hospitals in 2008 averaged about $18,000 per day, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These patients were most likely to be in the hospital for treatment of septicemia, or blood infection, hardening of the arteries, and heart attacks.

19 Oct 2010

IASP sponsors campaign for acute pain management

The Global Year Against Acute Pain launches today, focusing attention on a widely under-assessed and undertreated pain that affects most people throughout their lives. Sponsored by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), the 12-month campaign focuses on education for health care professional and government leaders as well as public awareness to help lessen the gap between existing knowledge and technology for acute pain control and current pain management practice.

18 Oct 2010

WHO Western Pacific meeting addresses immunization, TB control, women's health

The WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific meeting continued with leaders discussing regional immunization goals, public health emergencies, TB control, and the health effects of urbanization, multiple news outlets report.

15 Oct 2010

Biodar Plus to provide INVO Bioscience's infertility treatments and distribute INVOcell device across Ukraine

INVO Bioscience, Inc., a medical device company focused on treatment options for patients diagnosed with infertility, today announced the signing of an exclusive sales and distribution agreement with the Biodar Plus Company, based in Donetsk, Ukraine to distribute the INVOcell product throughout Ukraine and to provide the INVO Bioscience infertility treatments in its in-house infertility center.

14 Oct 2010

FREE educational program to explore discoveries and treatments on women's health issues

A variety of women's health issues occur as the result of stress or from natural functions like aging, childbirth and pregnancy. Urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse, alterations to female aesthetic appearance and changes to the face, body and breast may result from these normal occurrences.

14 Oct 2010

WHO Western Pacific meeting to address maternal health, rise in dengue

Maternal health and dengue fever are among the issues that will be discussed at the 61st session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, Bernama reports.

12 Oct 2010

Working mothers lose favor in a population study

According to a study by Janeen Baxter, professor of sociology at the University of Queensland, Australians are less inclined to believe a working mother can be as good a mother as one who stays at home full-time and they believe if the husband is the main breadwinner and the wife cares for home and children, it works for the best.

12 Oct 2010

$750 million needed to treat obstetric fistula until 2015

A report released by the United Nations today calls for intensified investment in cost-effective interventions to address the problem of obstetric fistula. The document estimates that at least $750 million is needed to treat existing and new cases between now and 2015. Caused by prolonged, obstructed labour without timely medical intervention, the condition affects as many as 3.5 million women in the world.

11 Oct 2010

Bathing better than pethidine as pain relief during labor: Survey

According to a large survey of new mothers, a bath or a shower relieves pain in childbirth more effectively than anaesthetic gas or pethidine. The survey also found that breathing techniques, massage, hot packs and hypnotherapy were more effective than pethidine, a strong analgesic given by injection, and nitrous oxide, that is an anaesthetic gas. The survey has renewed the debate of drug overuse during child birth that could potentially harm babies.

10 Oct 2010

Women's mental health issues to be discussed at 2010 Marc- Society International Conference

Nearly 500 researchers, clinicians and mental health advocates are expected to attend the 2010 Marc- Society International Conference, Perinatal Mental Health Research: Harvesting the Potential, Oct. 26 to 30, at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel in Pittsburgh. The event, which focuses on women's mental health issues related to childbearing, will feature keynote speaker former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who has been an active advocate for mental health reform.

28 Sep 2010

U.N. MDGs summit concludes with 'outcome document'

The three-day U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ended Wednesday with world leaders "adopting a declaration agreed [to] earlier this month, which promised intensified efforts by the 192 U.N. member states to achieve the world body's so-called Millennium Development Goals by 2015," Reuters reports (Worsnip/Wroughton, 9/22).

24 Sep 2010

Pregnancy clinics in schools

According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), pregnant women under 20 often felt excluded from antenatal care in hospitals. Teachers have thus welcomed the proposal to set up antenatal clinics in schools to care for pregnant teenagers. The services would provide advice on nutrition, staying healthy while pregnant, carry out routine tests and monitor the pregnancy while in the latter stages classes may be provided to prepare the woman for the birth.

23 Sep 2010

Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health draws more than $40 billion in resources

Culminating a global summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Heads of State and Government, along with the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research organizations, kicked off a concerted world-wide effort to save the lives of more than 16 million women and children.

23 Sep 2010

World leaders address country ownership, accountability, women at MDG summit

At the U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on Tuesday African leaders said "they could do more to meet U.N. goals to slash extreme poverty and urged stronger leadership among developing countries to tackle hunger and disease and attract investment," Reuters reports in an article that examines the leaders' call for African nations to take greater ownership over their development.

23 Sep 2010

Protein zyxin necessary for maintenance and repair of cell's cytoskeleton

Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah have discovered that a protein, zyxin, is necessary for the maintenance and repair of the cell's cytoskeleton, or internal framework, which serves as the muscle and bone of the cell. The research has implications for cancer, as well as other diseases, since alterations in the cytoskeleton are often associated with disease. The research was published in the Sep. 14, 2010, issue of the journal Developmental Cell.

22 Sep 2010

Zyxin protein is critical to maintain and repair internal framework

22 Sep 2010

Secretary-General opens U.N. summit on MDGS with appeal for world leaders to maintain target commitments

On the first of the three-day U.N. Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday appealed "to the assembled presidents, prime ministers and kings to use their power to meet U.N. goals to help the world's poorest by 2015," the Associated Press reports.

22 Sep 2010

Cook Medical invites experts to discuss postpartum hemorrhage

Cook Medical has invited experts in women's health and postpartum hemorrhage from North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa to participate in a roundtable discussion with the world press to explore the causes, risk factors and prevalence of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) a fatal complication of childbirth that affects approximately 14 million women annually.

21 Sep 2010

Oxygen Biotherapeutics announces CRADA Agreement amendment

Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. today announced it has amended an existing Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) to include preclinical trials using swine models to assess the safety and efficacy of Oxygen Biotherapeutics' proprietary Oxycyte perfluorocarbon emulsion (PFCE) for spinal cord injury (SCI) due to decompression sickness (DCS), and for hemorrhagic shock.

20 Sep 2010

CARE invests $1.8 billion to reduce maternal mortality by 2015

Today the humanitarian organization CARE announced that it will invest $1.8 billion to expand its maternal, newborn and child health programs to more than 30 countries in five years. This investment will deepen CARE's commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at reducing child and maternal mortality by 2015 and will support the United Nations Secretary General's Global Strategy on Women's and Children's Health, which will be unveiled at next week's MDG Summit.

17 Sep 2010