• Professional Development Courses

    Preventing Maternal Mortality

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    Introduction

    Maternal morbidity and mortality remain major problems in many parts of the world, being identified as one of the most important threats to Public Health. This course aims to provide the people who may be able to help tackle the problem with the knowledge and skills to do so. It will focus on identifying the size of the problem, the causes, and the evidence base behind interventions to improve the situation and identifying ways to implement evidence-based solutions in one’s own setting.

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  • Maternal Mortality Homepage


    Maternal morbidity and mortality remain major problems in many parts of the world, being identified as one of the most important threats to Public Health. This course aims to provide the people who may be able to help tackle the problem with the knowledge and skills to do so. It will focus on identifying the size of the problem, the causes, and the evidence base behind interventions to improve the situation and identifying ways to implement evidence-based solutions in one’s own setting.

    The course is designed to help you: 

    1. Understand the magnitude and implications of maternal mortality for your local population, and problems in data collection and accuracy.
    2. Understand how the epidemiology of maternal mortality (including the role of cultural, social, and behavioural factors), as well as the structure, functions, and performance of your health services system (local and national levels) are relevant to the causation and potential policy and delivery solutions.
    3. Understand how the structure, functions, and performance of your health services system (local and national levels) might be relevant to the causation and potential policy and delivery solutions in relation to maternal mortality.
    4. Explore and analyze evidence-based policy and delivery solutions outside the health system that can be implemented to reduce the burden of maternal mortality.
    5. Reflect on how you might use the information from this course to develop a plan for the implementation of an intervention to reduce the burden of maternal mortality in your setting.

    This course is an Open Online Course (OOC) that was developed by Diederike Geelhoed and Katwesige Wycliff. It has been adopted from Peoples-uni and was further developed by NextGenU.org (NGU). 

    There are five (5) modules to complete, which include:

    Module 1: Introduction to Maternal Health
    Module 2: Epidemiology and Causation
    Module 3: Evidence-based Solutions in the Health Service
    Module 4: Evidence-based Solutions Outside the Health Service
    Module 5: Implementing an Intervention

    Approximate time for completion of this course is 8 hours at an average reading rate of 144 words/minute.

    Engaging with this course

    • To register for this course, complete the registration form. Begin the course with Module 1. For each lesson, read the description. 
    • Each lesson comprises introductory remarks. You can click on the collections of resources in each module. 
    • There is a forum on each module for reflection, and you will be able to add a new topic or respond to a previous one. You may want to share your learning from this and other readings, comment on the topics from your own experience, comment on others' posts, or provide feedback on how we can improve the content and/or presentation.
    • There is a final quiz to assess your understanding of some important concepts. Click on the hyperlinks to take you to these items in each topic.

    Requirements to obtain the certificate 

    You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment. There are no requirements.

    To obtain a certificate, a learner must successfully complete:

    • All reading requirements
    • All discussion forums
    • The final exam with a minimum of 80% and a maximum of 3 attempts and
    • The self and course evaluation forms

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  • Module 1: Introduction to Maternal Health

    Learning Outcomes:
    Understand the magnitude and implications of maternal mortality for your local population, and of problems in data collection and accuracy.
     
     

    • Required Learning Resources and Activities
    • page icon
      Resources for Lesson 1: Introduction to Maternal Health Page
      Students must
      View
    • forum icon
      Reflection Module 1: Introduction to Maternal Health Forum
      Students must
      View

      Reflect on what might be the most useful measures of Maternal Mortality of relevance to your population? Can you think of ways of improving data accuracy? What are the implications of maternal mortality for development in your population?

  • Module 2: Epidemiology and Causation

    Learning Outcomes:
    Understand how the epidemiology of maternal mortality (including the role of cultural, social, and behavioural factors), as well as the structure, functions, and performance of your health services system (local and national levels) are relevant to the causation and potential policy and delivery solutions.

  • Module 3: Evidence-based Solutions in the Health Service

    Learning Outcomes:
    Understand how the structure, functions, and performance of your health services system (local and national levels) might be relevant to the causation and potential policy and delivery solutions in relation to maternal mortality. 
    • Required Learning Resources and Activities
    • page icon
      Resources for Lesson 1: Evidence-based Solutions within the Health Service Page
      Students must
      View
    • forum icon
      Reflection Module 3: Evidence-based Solutions in the Health Service Forum
      Students must
      View

      Do you think that issues described in the papers provided in the Resources section of this Module are relevant to the health services of your local setting? Are there lessons for your health services in terms of solutions that might contribute to the ability to reduce maternal mortality?

  • Module 4: Evidence-based Solutions Outside the Health Service

    Learning Outcomes:
    Explore and analyze evidence-based policy and delivery solutions outside the health system that can be implemented to reduce the burden of maternal mortality.

  • Module 5: Implementing an Intervention

    Student Learning Outcomes:
    Reflect on how you might use the information from the course to develop a plan for the implementation of an intervention to reduce the burden of maternal mortality in your setting.
    • Required Learning Resources and Activities
    • page icon
      Resources for Lesson 1: Implementing an Intervention Page
      Students must
      View
    • forum icon
      Reflection Module 5: Implementing an Intervention (280 minutes) Forum
      Students must
      View
      Start discussions: 1

      In this activity, you will develop an action plan to implement a strategy to reduce maternal mortality in your region or country.

      Step 1. Research [30 minutes]

      Gather information about the incidence rate of maternal mortality in your region, including the following:

      • Risk factors associated with maternal mortality.
      • Correlation between maternal mortality and addiction-related disorders.
      • Current management and treatment measures implemented to reduce maternal mortality.

      Step 2. Analyze [30 minutes]

      Analyze what strategies to implement to reduce maternal mortality in your region or country.

      Use the following questions to guide your analysis:

      • How can you describe the severity of maternal mortality in your setting?
      • What are the risk factors associated with maternal mortality? 
      • How are addiction-related disorders such as substance use/abuse, smoking, and alcohol use related to maternal mortality?
      • What are the current knowledge and practices used to address the issue and reduce the risk factors associated with maternal mortality?

      Step 3. Respond [200 minutes]

      Develop a simple action plan (400-750 words) that articulates the action steps or changes to be brought about in your region or country in response to the questions presented in Step 2. To be more specific, the action plan must include the following components:

      • A well-defined description of the problem and goal to be achieved. 
      • Tasks/steps/changes that need to be carried out to reach the goal.
      • People who will be in charge of carrying out each task.
      • When these tasks are expected to be completed (key deadlines and milestones).
      • Resources needed to complete the tasks (financial, human and material resources).
      • Modes of communication to disseminate information about the action plan (mention the target audience for each mode of communication).

      Step 4. Share [10 minutes]

      To share your work, click on the “Add a new discussion topic” button under this post and paste your work into the “message” box. Make sure to reference others’ intellectual property when necessary. All references should follow 7th Edition APA formatting. For further instructions, see the resource on the Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library: APA citation resource (N.B. references are excluded from word counts).

      Step 5: Evaluate [10 minutes]

      Evaluate and categorize the work from one of your peers based on items A - E of the rubric below. Provide a rationale for the grade you have provided, as well as comments or suggestions for improvement. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click on “Post to the forum.” You can use the list below as an example: 

      Item A is  .…. because….  My suggestions for improvement are….
      Item B is  .…. because….  My suggestions for improvement are….
      Item C is  .…. because….  My suggestions for improvement are….
      Item D is  .…. because….  My suggestions for improvement are….
      Item E is  .…. because….  My suggestions for improvement are….

      OPTIONAL Step 6: Interact (10 minutes)

      If you would like to, you can reply to your peers' posts in a respectful and professional manner. Ensure that your post engages your peers' ideas by including a reflection on their comments, sharing ideas of other potential difficulties and parties involved, or asking thought-provoking questions. If a peer comments on your posting, please reply. To post a reply, click “Reply” on a particular discussion, write your feedback and then click on “Post to forum.”

  • Final Exam

    To take the final exam, you must complete all quizzes and complete all the required activities. 

    To access the exam, click on the name of the exam provided above. On the following screen, click the Attempt Quiz button to respond to the questions.

  • Course and Self Evaluation & Certificate

    In this section, you can provide feedback about this course to help us make NextGenU.org better. Once evaluations are completed, you will be able to download your certificate of completion.

    • questionnaire icon
      Self Evaluation Questionnaire
      Not available unless: The activity Final Exam is marked complete
    • questionnaire icon
      Course Evaluations Questionnaire
      Not available unless: The activity Final Exam is marked complete

  • Quiz and Certificate
    Not available

    You can earn a Certificate of Completion if you access each of the resource pages above, and pass the quiz below.