Publications by Theme

Private Midwives Serve the Hard-to-Reach: A Promising Practice Model, 2010 

This paper show how ESD has supported the Basic Health Services Project in Yemen to assist midwives with setting up private practices in rural communities where fixed facilities and services do not exist, or are far away.

Accelerating the Spread of Best Practices in Postpartum Care: Scaling-Up Best Practices in Yemen, 2010 

This paper shows how Yemen’s Al Saba’een Hospital became a model for postpartum care and family planning services with limited resources from the government and ESD. As a result of the success at Al Saba’een Hospital, the Yemeni government supports continued scale-up of the intervention to all of the country’s public hospitals and rural health facilities.

Improving Health through Postpartum Home Visits, Family Planning Counseling: Scaling-Up Best Practices in Egypt, 2010 

This paper shows how ESD helped Save the Children/Egypt improve maternal and newborn health in Egypt’s Kaliobia Governorate by scaling-up the government’s postpartum care package in 13 villages and training community health workers and nurses to put the package into practice.

Creating a Model for Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care: Scaling-Up Best Practices in Indonesia, 2010 

This paper shows how Indonesia’s Tangerang Hospital became a model for improved emergency care for pregnant mothers and newborns with limited resources the government, and ESD. Because of the success at Tangerang Hospital and surrounding public health facilities, the Indonesian government supports continued scale-up of the intervention throughout the country’s public hospitals and health facilities.

Scaling-Up Best Practices to Meet Millennium Development Goals 4 & 5: A Tailored Approach to Spreading Best Practices, 2010 

A technical meeting held in Bangkok motivated public health stakeholders from across Asia and the Middle East to introduce life-saving best practices focused on family planning, and maternal, neonatal and child health. This paper describes how.

Clinical and Community Action to Address Postpartum Hemorrhage: The Pathfinder International Model, May 2010

This paper provides an overview of the Pathfinder model that incorporates community and advocacy interventions with clinical prevention and management to address postpartum hemorrhage. The article includes a brief description of the application and use of the nonpneumatic anti-shock garment that can stabilize a woman until she receives emergency obstetric care.

A Reproductive Health Communication Model That Helps Improve Young Women's Reproductive Life and Reduce Population Growth: The Case of PRACHAR from Bihar, India, 2010

Using data from a project in Bihar, India, this paper shows that culturally acceptable and community-focused interventions geared to adolescents and youth can help increase age of marriage and first birth, increase contraceptive use among young couples, provide vulnerable populations better access to RH services, and reduce population growth.

Demographic, Programmatic, and Socioeconomic Correlates of Maternal Mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh, July 2009

This study uses longitudinal data from the Matlab Demographic Surveillance System to investigate factors commonly believed to increase maternal mortality risk: “too young,” “too short” a birth interval, “too many” children, and “too old.” Only “too old” is found to be a significant risk factor, but evidence suggests one additional “too”—“too long”—as interpregnancy intervals of five years or longer have 63% higher maternal mortality risk than intervals of 2-5 years.  By Pathfinder's Mizanur Rahman with Julie DaVanzo, Abdur Razzaque, Kapil Ahmed, and Lauren Hale.

Prevention and Treatment of Fistula: Pathfinder International's Experience in Ethiopia and Ghana, January 2009

The UNFPA believes that current estimates that there are more than 2 million women a year living with fistula are gross underestimates. This report summarizes Pathfinder's experience in Ethiopia and Ghana working to reduce the prevalence of fistula and provide care and support to women suffering from the condition.

The effects of pregnancy spacing on infant and child mortality in Matlab, Bangladesh: How they vary by the type of pregnancy outcome that began the interval, Population Studies: A Journal of Demography, July 1, 2008  

In this paper, four authors, including Pathfinder’s Mizanur Rahman, examined longitudinal data on over 125,000 live births in Matlab, Bangladesh to assess the effects of duration of intervals between pregnancy outcomes on infant and child mortality. The study found that shorter intervals between pregnancies are associated with higher mortality. These adverse effects may be explained by “maternal depletion” and “sibling competition” associated with short pregnancy intervals.

Effects of interpregnancy interval and outcome of the preceding pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes in Matlab, Bangladesh, BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, July 6, 2007  

A total of 66,759 pregnancy outcomes that occurred between 1982 and 2002 were examined by the four authors including Pathfinder's Mizanur Rahman. The study found that women whose pregnancies are between 15 and 75 months after a preceding pregnancy outcome (regardless of its type) have a lower likelihood of fetal loss than those with shorter or longer IPIs. Those with a preceding NLB outcome deserve special attention in counseling and monitoring.

CATALYST Consortium: From 2000 to 2005, Pathfinder International served as the managing partner of the CATALYST Consortium, a global reproductive health initiative funded by the Office of Population and Reproductive Health, Bureau for Global Health, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Pathfinder supported seven CATALYST field offices in the following countries: Bolivia, Egypt, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Yemen.

• Birth Spacing Grants Compilation Document
• Fact Sheet - Birth Spacing
• Best Practices in Egypt - Birth Spacing
• Fact Sheet - Community-based Integrated Postpartum Care
• Key Elements of Postpartum Care at the Community Level Based on WHO Guidelines
• Integrated Community-based Postpartum Care Program Egypt