Innovative Approaches to Improve Maternal and Child Health

The National Institutes of Health will host a virtual learning session entitled ‘Innovative Approaches to Improve Maternal and Child Health‘ on 7 October 2020 as part of the DS-I Africa Virtual Forum series.

Maternal and child health outcomes in Africa still lag behind the rest of the world despite prioritization as a topic of focus within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Partners from  country-level governments, research institutions, private sector program funding agencies and non-governmental organizations are involved in various capacities and across disciplines, implementing activities to reduce the enormous burden of high mortality and morbidity of women and children on the African continent.  Nonetheless, millions of women and children experience death and severe morbidity each year despite these efforts. In this session we will 1) address the gap in availability of existing databases and collective data focused on pregnancy and the peripartum period; 2) explore emerging use of linked data such as electronic medical records as a tool for conducting research, analyzing data and creating tools for interventions; and 3) develop concrete recommendations for a strategy to utilize data science to improve maternal and child health outcomes from pre-pregnancy to pregnancy and delivery and throughout the mother and child’s life course.

Introductions:
Vesna Kutlesic, US Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Diana Bianchi, Director of NICHD, NIH

Naveen Rao, MD, Senior Vice President & Senior Advisor to the President, Health Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation

Moderator:
Denise Russo, NICHD, NIH

Panelists:
Andre van der Kouwe, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Physics, Massachusetts General Hospital

Lilla Zöllei, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiology, Harvard Medical School

Moses Alobo, M.D., Program Manager, Grand Challenges Africa Programme at African Academy of Sciences

Alash’le Abimiku, Ph.D., Professor in Epidemiology & Public Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine; Executive Director, International Research Center of Excellence at the Institute of Human Virology-Nigeria

Amel Ghouila, Ph.D., Bioinformatician, Capacity Builder, Pan African Bioinformatics

To participate in the discussion and session, you must register for this DS-I Africa Virtual Forum in advance. All content will also be recorded and posted on this website after each event.