Saving mothers, giving life program beginning to draw attention, blogs report

Mar 14 2013

Noting that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in June 2012 "announced a new partnership to address the persistent burden of maternal mortality, called Saving Mothers, Giving Life," which aims "to reduce maternal mortality by 50 percent in eight districts in Zambia and Uganda in just one year," Karen Grepin, assistant professor of global health policy at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, writes in her "Global Health Blog," "[W]henever I have mentioned to colleagues that I have been working on this project, I have been struck by how few people have never heard about the project." However, she notes "the program is starting to generate some interest" (3/12). Last week, Janet Fleischman and Julia Nagel of the Center for Strategic & International Studies posted in the center's "Smart Global Health" blog about the program, writing, "SMGL has generated excitement, but its implementers know that there is no quick fix for reducing maternal mortality. Accordingly, the initiative faces significant challenges to national scale up and to sustainability, and many experts believe that the changes required will take years -- not months -- to achieve." They include a link to a video on the program (3/3).