Guest Editors: Fred Paccaud, Ted Tulchinsky, Christina Zarowsky
Public Health Reviews continues to welcome new submissions to our article collection focussing on maternal and child health in the sustainable development goal era.
The World Health Organization has reported a decline in deaths of children under 5 years of age from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013 and maternal deaths have been reduced from an estimated 523,000 in 1990 to 289,000 in 2013. Despite these achievements, the decline in maternal deaths greatly missed the mark of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and if present trends continue, 4.4 million children younger than 5 years will still die in 2030. To reduce maternal deaths, women need good-quality reproductive health care, effective interventions and skilled birth attendants – and the autonomy and resources to demand and secure access to these. The three leading causes of newborn deaths: preterm birth complications, pneumonia, and intrapartum-related complications must be addressed, while recognizing that progress has been slow on congenital, preterm, neonatal sepsis, injury, and other causes. What is also clear is that progress has been highly uneven across different contexts. Under-resourced settings are the most challenging, but wide variations across countries at similar levels of socio-economic development indicate that there is much to learn about what has and has not worked, and why.
We are interested in review articles addressing the issues of maternal and neonatal mortality and interventions that can help reduce this severe burden on many societies. We invite manuscripts which will help to shed light on major persisting challenges such as those mentioned above, the under examined areas of maternal and child health, and cross-cutting or underlying issues related to gender, inequality and health systems which must be addressed in order for progress to continue and, ideally, accelerate. The MDGs focused attention and funding on specific problems; the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) invite an analysis that is both more granular and more integrated. This collection aims to inform further action in the SDG era. Articles should give attention to the translation of the results into public health policy, actions and possible interventions.
The series is open for submissions of review articles, case studies and commentaries, which would undergo the journal’s normal peer review process and article processing charge. Manuscripts should be formatted according to our submission guidelines and submitted via the online submission system. In the submission system please make sure the correct collection title is chosen from the additional information tab. Please also indicate clearly in the covering letter that the manuscript is to be considered for the collection.