#maternal-health

#maternal-health

A blue, burgundy and white patterned wrapper hides the swell of Joanna Banda's belly. Eight months pregnant, she has had just three of the five antenatal appointments she should have had. She is unlikely to attend her final three either, as she still has to save 3,000 kwacha (1.28) for a bicycle to take her six miles on rutted dirt tracks to the nearest health centre when she goes into labour.

Her story is part of a disturbing rise in pregnant people suddenly being approached by border patrol officers or plain-clothed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. As ICE raids have devastated more families in recent months, immigrant and reproductive rights advocates have raised concerns about the impact of the raids on the reproductive health of those arrested, detained, and forcibly separated from their families.

Results of this study indicate that the association between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders is a noncausal association. Birthing parents with higher acetaminophen use differed in many aspects from those with lower use or no use. Results suggested that there was not one single "smoking gun" confounder, but rather that multiple birthing parents' health and sociodemographic characteristics each explained at least part of the apparent association.

She died days later at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital, after her body went into septic shock from a Group A Streptococcus infection. Her family believes medical staff at Credit Valley Hospital didn't act quickly enough when Sidhu first presented signs of sepsis even ignoring pleas from the family and that her death may have been preventable if life-saving efforts were made sooner.

Birch, a then 28-year-old emergency dispatcher in Colorado, hadn't gone into labor expecting surgery. She was healthy. Her first pregnancy had been going well, and her full-term baby was positioned face down - an ideal candidate for a vaginal birth. As her contractions grew stronger, a delivery room nurse urged Birch to get an epidural before the hospital anesthesiologist finished his shift. Birch agreed.

Several panel members cited studies that lacked appropriate controls, making it uncertain whether the observed health problems were caused by SSRIs, underlying mood disorders, or other factors.

Sarah Gleeson, from Cork, was shocked when she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes during her first pregnancy seven years ago. 'I've always been health conscious, and we'd been trying to get pregnant for about 10 months, so I was very conscious of my diet,' she says.

A third of women who died during or after pregnancy were known to children's social care services, with a fifth of these deaths being from suicide.

A recent French study found that a specific species of bacteria can improve maternal behavior in stressed rat mothers. The researchers stressed the rats by putting them in the rat equivalent of a crowded subway car. The stressed rat moms neglected their newborns. But when the scientists put Lactobacillus reuteri into their water, normal maternal behavior was restored.

Trump administration's proposals to boost birth rates focus on incentives like a $5,000 baby bonus, ignoring essential support measures like subsidized childcare and paid leave.

Preliminary data from the CDC indicated that the U.S. maternal mortality rate rose in 2024, reversing previous decreases, with 688 pregnancy-related deaths recorded.

But the overall health system in Chad is fragile and many Chadian women don't have access to a safe and sterile place to deliver.

"We don't want to have any reason for hesitation," said Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola), the measure's primary sponsor who wrote the Texas 'heartbeat' bill banning abortions after six weeks.

"Our women-majority Council has taken the charge to fight maternal mortality and champion maternal health - this requires addressing the longstanding economic and racial disparities that..."