Course: Preventing Maternal Mortality

General

Maternal Mortality

Welcome to the course on Maternal Mortality. Maternal morbidity and mortality remain major problems in many parts of the world - one of the most important threats to Public Health. The purpose of the course is to provide the people who may be able to help tackle the problem with the knowledge and skills to do so. We will focus on identifying the size of the problem, the causes, and the evidence base behind interventions to improve the situation. We will end by identifying ways to implement evidence based solutions in your own setting.

This course - an Open Online Course (OOC) - has been prepared by, and contains material from, Peoples-uni, an educational initiative providing online Public Health capacity building for health professionals. The course provides basic introduction to key aspects of the discipline of public health. You may want to explore other courses on this site or go to http://peoples-uni.org if you wish to acquire more in-depth knowledge of any particular aspect.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to navigate the course
Each section comprises a set of resources that we think you will find interesting - click on the collections of resources in each section. There is a forum in each topic for reflection, and there is a quiz at the end to check your understanding of the concepts.

We encourage you to reflect on what you have learned or comment on the course. When you click on the blue hyperlink in each topic labelled reflection, 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 presentation.

In the final section you will see that you can gain a Certificate of Completion - the requirements for this are to pass the quiz and access the resources in each section. This is a self-directed course, to be taken at your own pace. We encourage you to reflect on the issues, maybe make notes as you go along as this is a good way to be sure that you can internalise the information presented and the lessons to learn from it. This can then become part of your personal development plan.

The course was developed by Diederike Geelhoed and Katwesige Wycliff.

If you are stimulated to learn more, there are a number of other Open Online Courses on this site, and Peoples-uni has a number of modules for individual study for CPD or towards an MPH.

General
How to create an account and enroll in the course?
Maternal Mortality Homepage
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.

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 70% 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.

1 Page, 1 Forum
- Resources for Lesson 1: Introduction to Maternal Health Page
- Reflection Module 1: Introduction to Maternal Health Forum
  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.

1 Page, 1 Forum
- Resources Lesson 1: Maternal Mortality - Epidemiology and Causes Page
- Reflection Module 2: Maternal Mortality - Epidemiology and Causes Forum
  Reflect on how the distribution of maternal mortality varies according to time, place and person, and how this knowledge can help us to understand the causes.
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.

1 Page, 1 Forum
- Resources for Lesson 1: Evidence-based Solutions within the Health Service Page
- Reflection Module 3: Evidence-based Solutions in the Health Service Forum
  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.

1 Page, 1 URL, 1 Forum
- Resources for Lesson 1: Module 4: Evidence-based Solutions Outside the Health Service Page
- The Management of Care for Pregnant Women with Opioid and Other Substance Use Disorders URL
  Watch the entire video. (81 minutes)
- Reflection Module 4: Evidence-based Solutions Outside the Health Service Forum
  Reflect on the solutions from the evidence base (the course resources) that you think could work in your country. Remember to consider how reliable you think the findings are, and whether the findings are applicable to the country you work in.
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.

1 Page, 1 Forum
- Resources for Lesson 1: Implementing an Intervention Page
- Reflection Module 5: Implementing an Intervention (280 minutes) Forum
  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….
Final Exam

Click here to start Final Examination
- Final Exam Quiz
  Restricted Not available unless any of:
  All of:
  The activity Course Registration is marked complete
  The activity Pre-Test is marked complete
  The activity Reflection Module 1: Introduction to Maternal Health is marked complete
  The activity Reflection Module 2: Maternal Mortality - Epidemiology and Causes is marked complete
  The activity Reflection Module 3: Evidence-based Solutions in the Health Service is marked complete
  The activity Reflection Module 4: Evidence-based Solutions Outside the Health Service is marked complete
  The activity Reflection Module 5: Implementing an Intervention (280 minutes) is marked complete
  You belong to Public Health U
  You belong to Miami Med
  
  Take this quiz to test your knowledge of the resources. There are 15 questions with a pass mark of 11 correct answers.
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.

Click here give your feedback
- Self Evaluation Questionnaire
  Restricted Not available unless: The activity Final Exam is marked complete
- Course Evaluations Questionnaire
  Restricted 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.

Learning Outcomes:

Learning Outcomes:

Learning Outcomes:

Learning Outcomes:

Student Learning Outcomes: