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By providing compassionate and culturally appropriate care to women throughout their reproductive life, trained and supported midwives are critical to closing the gaps in human resources for health and helping to reduce maternal and newborn deaths. Gloria Flores, a licensed nurse and perinatal specialist from Morelos state, Mexico, is working to improve the quality of care moms and babies receive and to help mainstream professional midwifery practice at the primary health care level.

Gloria Flores, licensed nurse and perinatal specialist in Morelos state, MexicoWith the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the FCI Program of MSH is helping to build the policy and advocacy skills of midwives like Gloria Flores, further equipping them to become advocates and leaders in the health system. The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) interviewed Flores to about some of the challenges she faces in her work and how she’s working to change the status quo around midwifery practice in Mexico.

This story was originally published on Devex

The World Health Organization recently issued a statement calling on all countries to make three specific commitments to universal health coverage and be prepared to announce them at the World Health Assembly, which begins May 21.

UHC — the assertion that every person must have access to the health services they need, when and where they need them, without facing financial hardship — improves health. But that’s not all: It reduces poverty, creates jobs, drives economic growth, promotes gender equality, and prevents epidemics. It’s a momentous occasion and a great opportunity to start making real progress toward UHC.

But unless country commitments include efforts to strengthen pharmaceutical systems, communities will continue to struggle with inadequate health services and rising health costs that put their health and economic well-being in peril.

This story was originally published by Women Deliver.

In recent decades, a great deal of resources have been invested in the delivery of essential health services, especially through support to the six building blocks of strong health systems – health financing, health workforce, health information, health governance, medical products, and service delivery. These investments have been hugely important and effective in forming a foundation, supporting frontline health workers to save lives, and in securing unprecedented commitment to the common goal of achieving universal health coverage (UHC).

But the fact remains that over half the world’s population – women, children, and adolescents in particular - is still unable to access the high quality health services they need.

Women, children and adolescents remain underserved by health systems and suffer a disproportionate burden of morbidity and mortality, which endangers the broader well-being of the whole of society.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when a microorganism becomes resistant to a drug that was originally effective for treating the infections it caused. It is one of the world’s most pressing global health threats and could erode progress made thus far in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and many other infectious diseases.

Management Sciences for Health’s (MSH) role in combatting AMR was recently featured in the peer-reviewed journal, Global Public Health.

The article describes an approach used by the USAID-funded Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) Program and its predecessors to build and strengthen coalitions to defeat AMR. SIAPS was implemented by MSH.