Stories From the Field
Our faculty, students, and field staff meet unforgettable woman and babies as they investigate low-cost community-based approaches to improving maternal and newborn health.
Predicting the future: Why point of care diagnostics can save neonatal lives — Azadeh Farzin
I have had the privilege of working with the Sylhet Osmani Medical College, a tertiary care center located in Northeast of Bangladesh over the past two years. During my initial visit, I was approached by a young grandmother, tightly clutching a pale newborn in her arms. Her daughter, she explained was still sick and in the hands of the doctors who were trying to save her life.
Scaling up kangaroo mother care in Bangladesh — Erin Hunter
While a MSPH student in the Department of International Health, I had the opportunity to coordinate the field implementation of a qualitative formative research study under Dr. Jennifer Callaghan-Koru in rural Bangladesh. We explored existing neonate and infant care practices with a focus on thermal protection, with the aim to identify potential barriers and facilitators to community level implementation of kangaroo mother care (KMC).
Confronting tradition to save newborns: A community health worker in Bangladesh tells her story — Rahman Mahmood
After Shafia pushed the baby out, she fainted and the baby fell onto the floor. The Dai started pulling the umbilical chord to deliver the placenta. Suddenly Ayesha, watching the event minutely, observed that the baby had not moved or cried. Seconds seemed like days to Ayesha, who knew how swiftly babies should be resuscitated. She yelled at the Dai to let her in. But the Dai told the father to fill a Kalsi—traditional pitcher—with water and bring a bamboo pipe.