Projects | ICRH

Mother and child health Clinical care Perinatal Mental Health Screening and detection

Development and implementation of a clinical care pathway for perinatal mental health in Belgium (PMH-project)

Mental problems during the perinatal period are associated with a range of negative consequences such as preterm birth, mother-infant interactional deficits and negative infant developmental outcome. Research indicates that perinatal mental health problems are highly prevalent (20%). In Flanders however, a large majority is currently not being detected nor getting the appropriate treatment.

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Mother and child health

Maternity waiting homes

In Africa, one out of 210 mothers dies during pregnancy or delivery. One of the causes is the relatively low rate of institutional deliveries, due to transport problems and lack of infrastructure, but also due to cultural prejudices and resistance against giving birth outside the family circle. One of the ways to facilitate and encourage institutional deliveries is the establishment of ‘maternity shelters’ or ‘maternity waiting homes’ (‘casas de espera’ in Portuguese): facilities where future mothers can spend the last few days of their pregnancy close to a maternity hospital, so that they are assured of timely professional care during the delivery. This type of facilities exists in many African countries, but often the functioning is not optimal and the occupancy rate is much lower than it could be. ICRH launched a project in Kenya, aimed at promoting the use of maternity waiting homes and improving their functioning.

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HIV & AIDS Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) Adolescent and youth health Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Interpersonal violence Mother and child health Reproductive rights Family planning and contraception Gender Migrant health Policy analysis

Academic network for sexual and reproductive health and rights policy (ANSER)

Ghent University established an Academic Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Policy that aims to become a global resource for SRHR policy research, education and service delivery by establishing an international platform for research on SRHR policy related topics; by developing a portfolio of education and training programmes on SRHR policy; and by fostering interaction between SRHR researchers and policy makers.

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Mother and child health Family planning and contraception

Participatory Action Research at central hospital of Maputo: Stimulating male involvement in the respectful maternity care model

Evidence suggests that many women experience mistreatment during childbirth in health facilities by health care providers across the world, but the magnitude of the problem is unknown. The occurrence of disrespect and abuse in maternity care services affects the overall quality of care and may undermine women’s trust in the health system.

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HIV & AIDS Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) Mother and child health Reproductive rights

Institutional University Cooperation with University Eduardo Mondlane

In the context of the University Development Cooperation, the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (UEM), Mozambique, was selected as a partner institution of the VLIR-UDC-programme ‘Institutional University Cooperation’. The implementation of the Partner Programme with UEM (2008-2013) is coordinated by professor Marleen Temmerman. The programme is being implemented inter-university and has as central theme ‘Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS’. It comprises, in this first phase, 8 projects. Five projects address a sub-theme of the central theme and 3 projects will strengthen capacity in specific areas.

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Interpersonal violence Mother and child health

Partner violence and pregnancy, an intervention-study within perinatal care (MOM-study)

Large-scale prevalence study of physical, psychological and sexual violence one year before, during and one year after pregnancy

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Health system research Mother and child health

MOMI - Missed Opportunities in Maternal and Infant Health: reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity in the year after childbirth through combined facility- and community-based interventions

The main objective is to improve maternal and newborn health through a focus on the postpartum period, adopting context-specific strategies to strengthen health care delivery and services at both facility and community level in four sub-Saharan countries (Burkina Faso, Kenya, Malawi and Mozambique).

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Interpersonal violence Mother and child health Perinatal Mental Health

A European six country study on victimization, life events, fear of childbirth an mode of delivery (BIDENS)

The project aims to assess violence related factors that may influence pregnant women’s fear of childbirth and how this affects the mode of delivery, in order to improve antenatal care and maternity services in 6 European countries

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Health system research Mother and child health

QUALMAT - Quality of prenatal and maternal care: Bridging the know-do gap

General objective The main objective is to improve maternal and newborn health by raising the level of motivation of health care workers to provide high quality maternal and newborn care.

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Mother and child health

Support for Integrated Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Services in Tete Province, Mozambique

The project called ‘Support for Integrated Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Services in Tete Province, Mozambique’ is funded by UNICEF, and implemented by ICRH Mozambique in collaboration with the Provincial Health Department in Tete Province, Mozambique. The overall objective of the project is to improve the provision of quality integrated maternal and child health and nutrition services in the province.

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Mother and child health Clinical care

Determinants of increased Caesarean section rate in low risk pregnancies in Belgium (CS-study)

The increase of the prevalence rate of Caesarean Sections (CS) is a worldwide phenomenon, a trend that has also been observed in Belgium.

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Mother and child health

Violence, fear of childbirth and mode of delivery

The project aims to assess violence related factors that may influence pregnant women’s fear of childbirth and how this affects the mode of delivery, in order to improve antenatal care and maternity services.

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