The age-old adage – As Mother as Child – is now being vindicated in scientific researches throughout the world. There are various researches to suggest that the positive thinking and positive ambience are boons for the mother's health and holistic development of the fetus while negative thinking and tension cause adverse effects. Besides, the communities throughout the globe have inherited various cultural practices to promote positive thinking and pleasant ambience for 'To Be Mothers' since the day of the 'good news'.
However, the gradual deterioration in the ambience of positive thinking caused by urbanization, nuclear families and modern lifestyle adversely affect the health and well-being of pregnant women. These along with profiteering among healthcare professionals are leading to an alarming rise in cesarean deliveries which are destroying the health of 'To Be Mothers' and future generations. The mistreatment of pregnant women starts from the day they are registered as 'patient' as thereafter they are treated as patient till delivery including verbal and physical abuse in the labour room. Besides posing direct hurdles in achieving SDG 3.7 and SDG 5.6 adopted by the United Nations for 2030, these inhuman practices also, create obstacles for other SDGs closely linked with the holistic well-being of women.
Devdiscourse firmly believes that the sufferings of the 'To Be Mothers' could be minimized and happiness increased in their lives through positive discourse and sensitization of various stakeholders associated with maternal healthcare. In pursuance to its responsibility as a global media platform, Devdiscourse in association with Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidlaya, premiere women university in India, launched a global communication campaign – Mother, Not Patient! - at 2 pm on Tuesday, 15th October 2019 with a vision to minimise sufferings of 'To Be Mothers' and increase happiness in their lives.
The Live Discourse – SDG 3.7: Mother, Not Patient! is part of the campaign for catalyzing objective discourse. Here you can participate by posting comments, pictures, cartoons, sketches and videos etc. Besides, you can also send us news and contributions in the form of articles, blogs, researches and memoirs. After required editorial review, they will be published on Devdiscourse and also on Live Discourse.
To provide quality maternal care in Assam which has the highest Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) has launched an initiative 'Manyata' to train health care staff by leveraging digital platforms.
The initiative is aimed to train healthcare staff on 16 clinical standards of quality maternal care, addressing the access gap to ensure that safe and respectful care is available to mothers and newborns in the remotest corners of the state, Manyata's National convenor Dr Hema Divakar said.
''At the heart of the Manyata initiative is the commitment to ensure every mother, no matter where she seeks care, is able to access the highest standards of quality care but given the challenges of access and capacity in India's hard-to-reach areas, particularly in Assam, this won't be possible without leveraging digital platforms as a core enabling factor'', she said.
It would take years to build the infrastructure that Assam needs to provide quality care to all women, but ''with just a good internet connection, we can build capacity for healthcare staff to provide high-quality care to mothers and newborns now so they don't have to wait.'' Assam has made great strides in bringing down maternal mortality in the state but it still has the highest Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country which is also much higher at 215 than the country's average of 113.
Given the state's unique difficulties in terms of terrain, roads, infrastructure, and inaccessibility to quality healthcare, Manyata's innovative digital training and certification model is working to ensure that these constraints do not hamper access to and delivery of quality maternal care for women in the state, she added.
''The Manyata trainings have been invaluable in helping my staff to adhere to intrapartum and postpartum protocols that are essential for a positive birthing experience for mothers and they are now able to deal with complications and emergencies by themselves'', owner of one of the state's first Manyata certified facilities Dr Arun Baruah said.
Manyata has been a boon in the face of challenges posed by COVID-19 and is a huge value-addition for maternal care facilities, he added.
Manyata has already been initiated in Goalpara, which is one of the districts covered under Niti Aayog's Aspirational Districts program.
From three states in 2017, Manyata is now present in 14 states but ''our aim is to make sure that all 28 states are covered and we are working relentlessly to ensure that we meet this goal in the coming year'', FOGSI's Chief Administrator of its National Programme Management Dr Hrishikesh Pai said.
The National Programme Management Unit at FOGSI has been relentlessly committed in its quest to make sure that even women in the remotest corners of Assam and the country have access to quality maternal care, he added.
At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has further necessitated the urgent need to improve maternal health outcomes in the country, particularly for underserved communities in hard-to-reach areas, Manyata is wielding the power of digital interventions to complement the Indian government's Universal Health Coverage ambitions and its goal to meet the SDG 3.1 goal of reducing maternal mortality to 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030, Pai said.
To provide quality maternal care in Assam which has the highest Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) has launched an initiative 'Manyata' to train health care staff by leveraging digital platforms.
The initiative is aimed to train healthcare staff on 16 clinical standards of quality maternal care, addressing the access gap to ensure that safe and respectful care is available to mothers and newborns in the remotest corners of the state, Manyata's National convenor Dr Hema Divakar said.
''At the heart of the Manyata initiative is the commitment to ensure every mother, no matter where she seeks care, is able to access the highest standards of quality care but given the challenges of access and capacity in India's hard-to-reach areas, particularly in Assam, this won't be possible without leveraging digital platforms as a core enabling factor'', she said.
It would take years to build the infrastructure that Assam needs to provide quality care to all women, but ''with just a good internet connection, we can build capacity for healthcare staff to provide high-quality care to mothers and newborns now so they don't have to wait.'' Assam has made great strides in bringing down maternal mortality in the state but it still has the highest Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country which is also much higher at 215 than the country's average of 113.
Given the state's unique difficulties in terms of terrain, roads, infrastructure, and inaccessibility to quality healthcare, Manyata's innovative digital training and certification model is working to ensure that these constraints do not hamper access to and delivery of quality maternal care for women in the state, she added.
''The Manyata trainings have been invaluable in helping my staff to adhere to intrapartum and postpartum protocols that are essential for a positive birthing experience for mothers and they are now able to deal with complications and emergencies by themselves'', owner of one of the state's first Manyata certified facilities Dr Arun Baruah said.
Manyata has been a boon in the face of challenges posed by COVID-19 and is a huge value-addition for maternal care facilities, he added.
Manyata has already been initiated in Goalpara, which is one of the districts covered under Niti Aayog's Aspirational Districts program.
From three states in 2017, Manyata is now present in 14 states but ''our aim is to make sure that all 28 states are covered and we are working relentlessly to ensure that we meet this goal in the coming year'', FOGSI's Chief Administrator of its National Programme Management Dr Hrishikesh Pai said.
The National Programme Management Unit at FOGSI has been relentlessly committed in its quest to make sure that even women in the remotest corners of Assam and the country have access to quality maternal care, he added.
At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has further necessitated the urgent need to improve maternal health outcomes in the country, particularly for underserved communities in hard-to-reach areas, Manyata is wielding the power of digital interventions to complement the Indian government's Universal Health Coverage ambitions and its goal to meet the SDG 3.1 goal of reducing maternal mortality to 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030, Pai said.
Israel's Health Ministry is reportedly recommending that pregnant women who wish to be vaccinated against COVID-19, especially those with a higher chance of exposure to the coronavirus or who have existing health conditions, receive a vaccine. A report by the Times of Israel said the ministry, citing experts, says there is no indication that vaccination causes harm to either the mother or fetus.
Researchers from a Minnesota health institute HealthPartners will be studying how the COVID-19 vaccine impacts pregnant women, CBS Minnesota recently reported citing a senior official of the company.
The report said that HealthPartners Institute received USD 2 million from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to help determine if the COVID-19 vaccine has any negative impact on pregnant women or their babies.
Obesity in expectant mothers may be a contributing factor in hindering the development of the babies' brains, according to a new study. Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the investigation linked high body mass index (BMI), an indicator of obesity, to changes in two brain areas, the prefrontal cortex, and anterior insula. These regions play a key role in decision-making and behaviour, with disruptions having previously been linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism and overeating.
In their new study, publishing online today (August 11) in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the investigators examined 197 groups of metabolically active nerve cells in the fetal brain. Using millions of computations, the study authors divided the groups into 16 meaningful subgroups based on over 19,000 possible connections between the groups of neurons. They found only two areas of the brain where their connections to each other were statistically strongly linked to the mother's BMI. "Our findings affirm that a mother's obesity may play a role in fetal brain development, which might explain some of the cognitive and metabolic health concerns seen in children born to mothers with higher BMI," said Moriah Thomason, PhD, the Barakett Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health.
As obesity rates continue to soar in the United States, it is more important than ever to understand how the condition may impact early brain development, says Thomason, who is also an associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone. Previous studies showing an association between obesity and brain development had mostly looked at cognitive function in children after birth. The new investigation is believed to be the first to measure changes in fetal brain activity in the womb and as early as six months into pregnancy.
Thomason says this approach was designed to eliminate the potential influence of breastfeeding and other environmental factors occurring after birth and to examine the earliest origins of negative effects of maternal BMI on the developing child's brain. For the investigation, the research team recruited 109 women with BMIs ranging from 25 to 47. (According to the National Institutes of Health, women are considered "overweight" if they have a BMI of 25 or higher and are "obese" if their BMI is 30 and higher.) The women were all between six and nine months' pregnant.
The research team used MRI imaging to measure fetal brain activity and map patterns of communication between large numbers of brain cells clustered together in different regions of the brain. Then, they compared the study participants to identify differences in how groups of neurons communicate with each other based on BMI. The investigators caution that their study was not designed to draw a direct line between the differences they found and the ultimate cognitive or behavioural problems in children. The study only looked at fetal brain activity. But, Thomason says, they now plan to follow the participants' children over time to determine whether the brain activity changes lead to ADHD, behavioural issues and other health risks. (ANI)
Actor Vanessa Morgan and her husband, professional baseball player, Michael Kopech, are expecting their first child together. The 28-year-old “Riverdale” star shared the news in an Instagram post on Friday.
“I am overjoyed to be welcoming my baby boy into the world this January. It’s almost like everything I thought mattered in this life has completely changed… "We’re here for such a greater purpose and life is so precious,” Morgan wrote alongside photographs and videos from a party of close friends and family where the gender of the baby was revealed. The actor said she learned about her pregnancy in May.
Morgan married Kopech, 24, in an intimate ceremony in Florida earlier this year.
The World Health Organization reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases on Friday, with the total rising by 237,743 in 24 hours.
The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India, and South Africa, according to a daily report. The previous WHO record for new cases was 230,370 on July 12. Deaths have held steady and averaged less than 5,000 a day in July.
Total global coronavirus cases were approaching 14 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking another milestone in the spread of the disease that has killed more than 590,000 people in seven months.
The U.S. Department of Justice is examining whether German payment company Wirecard AG played a critical role in an alleged $100 million bank-fraud conspiracy connected to an online marijuana marketplace, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office and the New York field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation are examining whether Wirecard played a role in the alleged conspiracy by serving as both a payment processor and an offshore merchant bank, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The authorities are also considering the possible role of several former or current top Wirecard executives, according to the WSJ. (https://on.wsj.com/38FTl6V) A law enforcement official familiar with the department's Wirecard investigation confirmed the WSJ report, but declined to elaborate.
Wirecard filed for insolvency last month, owing creditors 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) after disclosing a 1.9 billion euro hole in its accounts that its auditor EY said was the result of a sophisticated global fraud. Two businessmen have already been charged in the alleged bank fraud, accused of conspiring with third-party payment processors and others to trick U.S. banks into approving credit-card payments for marijuana products, according to the WSJ and documents filed with the Southern District of New York dated April 27.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment "at this time." Representatives for the FBI and Wirecard also declined to comment. The implosion of Wirecard, a financial technology company once seen as one of the hottest prospects in Europe, has led to political finger-pointing in Germany and new investigations into potential financial skullduggery from the Philippines to Mauritius.
German prosecutors this month widened their investigation into the company to include suspected fraud, in addition to market manipulation and falsifying of accounts.
American supermodel Gigi Hadid recently called out a publication for posting an article that suggested she's been "disguising" her growing baby bump with her fashion choices. According to E!News, earlier this week, British Vogue published a story about Hadid's pregnancy. The outlet explained that during an Instagram Live, the 25-year-old model answered a fan's question about not having "a tummy."
Hadid answered, "This angle and the really baggy jumpsuit make for an optical illusion. From the side, it's a different story!" However, Hadid cleared the air and clapped back at the publication for its misleading headline.
"Disguise....," she began her caption on Twitter, which was directly in response to British Vogue's post on the social media platform. "I said in a baggy jumpsuit the front and side views are visually different stories - not that that was intentional or I was trying to hide anything. Will be proud and happy to share 'insight' when I feel like it, thanks." "For now I am proudly experiencing and sharing this time with my family and loved ones," she added.
While rumors are doing the rounds that Hadid would be having a girl and expecting her first child with boyfriend Zayn Malik, she has kept details of her little one to herself. She did confirm the news of the baby in April during a virtual appearance on late-night TV show host Jimmy Fallon's 'The Tonight Show'.
"Obviously, we wished we could have announced it on our own terms but we're very excited and happy and grateful for everyone's well wishes and support," she told the late-night host at the time. "Especially during this time... it's a nice silver lining to be able to be home and be together and really experience it day by day," added the supermodel. (ANI)
Several thousand people rallied in Black Lives Matter protests across Australia over the weekend to call for racial equality and highlight deaths of Indigenous people while in police custody. About 500 people protested Sunday in Newcastle, north of Sydney, after the New South Wales state Supreme Court approved the rally following an attempt by police to have it banned.
A rally in Sydney on Sunday began with a ceremony at which people mourned the Indigenous Australians who have died in police custody. There have been more than 400 Indigenous deaths in custody since a royal commission into the issue ended in 1991. No convictions have been recorded in any of the deaths.
“We went through the lawful process, we sat through that process of the coronial inquiry, we listened to that process and we received no justice from that process," Sydney rally organiser Paul Silva told SBS Television. “This is our process to demand justice." On Saturday, Australians took part in Black Lives Matter rallies in the cities of Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Adelaide. Many of the protesters work masks and attempted to maintain social distancing due to coronavirus concerns. Australia's Indigenous people are the most disadvantaged ethnic minority in the country. They have higher-than-average rates of infant mortality and poor health, as well as shorter life expectancy and lower levels of education and employment than other Australians.
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