Integrating maternal and neonatal care in resource-poor settings

Improving facility-based outcomes for mothers and newborns is achievable

Of the patients Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and other organisations treat in settings affected by conflict, neglect or disaster, most are women and children. In MSF’s facilities, they present against a backdrop of unacceptably high maternal and under-5 child mortality rates worldwide. Neonatal death in particular is seemingly intractable, growing to comprise 44% of all deaths of children aged under 5 years, or about three million deaths annually.1 Additionally, there are an estimated 2.7 million stillbirths each year, a large proportion occurring in the intrapartum period.2