Latest news with #JHPIEGO
Indian Express
14-07-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
‘Project Janam Shakti': Drop in maternal deaths, home deliveries in Ferozepur
'Project Janam Shakti' — a comprehensive initiative in Punjab's border district Ferozepur to check maternal mortality and provide natal care to pregnant women — is bearing fruits. With the maternal mortality rate (MMR) at an all-time high at 440 (deaths per 1 lakh live births) in 2024-25, following 238 in 2023-24, Ferozepur faced a challenge even as Punjab's average MMR stood at 105, district Deputy Commissioner Deepshikha Sharma said. This medical intervention was rolled out to reduce preventable maternal deaths by strengthening healthcare delivery systems. According to data, maternal deaths reduced to 0-1 in the past five months from 2-5 per month earlier, while home deliveries (women giving birth at home instead of hospital, without any natal care) dropped to 4 in 2024-25 from 308 (2023-24), and just 1 until June 2025. Speaking to The Indian Express, Sharma said: 'In 2024, the MMR in Ferozepur district was at an all-time high at 440. We were losing 3-5 mothers almost every month. With almost 75-80% vacancies in the medical side and demotivated accredited social health activists (ASHAs), the picture was very dismal. Since I took over in September 2024, we religiously sat with ASHA workers every week to sort out the issue. Now, we have maintained nearly zero maternal deaths for the past five months, and the MMR has reduced to 55.5 in 2025. The NITI Aayog's award money has helped us to rope in JHPIEGO for Phase-2 interventions.' The US-based organisation — JHPIEGO (Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics) — collaborates with national governments, local communities, and health experts 'to build systems that guarantee healthier futures for women and their families'. Founded in 1973, according to its official website, Dr Theodore M King — an early innovator and champion for women's health — 'was the moving force behind the founding of JHPIEGO, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins University'. Explaining how the situation was improved, Sharma said: 'Maternal death review (MDR) meetings had not been held for two years in the district. Each maternal death was analysed with frontline workers and doctors to understand the cause, and identify preventable lapses. Further, a dedicated WhatsApp group was created to track high-risk pregnancies and monitor them closely by linking staff nurses, medical officers, doctors, and enabling real-time coordination in time of need to refer them to bigger facilities. To improve early detection of complications, special camps under the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) were also organised across blocks.' The road ahead Ferozepur — among one of the two selected districts under the Centre government's Aspirational District Programme (ADP) — received an award money of Rs 5 crore, of which Rs 1 crore will be utilised for Project Janam Shakti, in coordination with JHPIEGO, Sharma said. Over the next 18 months, JHPIEGO will work with authorities to develop a sustainable model for maternal mortality reduction in the district. 'The quality of Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) is a concern. At 59%, the 'unspecified reasons' is the major cause of maternal deaths, followed by obstetric haemorrhage (15.3%), and hypertensive disorders (8.5%). It indicates poor case documentation. Then there is limited or minimal community awareness — over 60% of deaths were linked to delays in seeking care. To address these challenges, JHPIEGO will work with the district administration to strengthen service delivery, build capacity around evidence-based practices, and support in improving data quality with special focus on MDSR strengthening and digitisation, to enable the availability of quality data for timely decision-making,' Sharma said. Divya Goyal is a Principal Correspondent with The Indian Express, based in Punjab. Her interest lies in exploring both news and feature stories, with an effort to reflect human interest at the heart of each piece. She writes on gender issues, education, politics, Sikh diaspora, heritage, the Partition among other subjects. She has also extensively covered issues of minority communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She also explores the legacy of India's partition and distinct stories from both West and East Punjab. She is a gold medalist from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, the most revered government institute for media studies in India, from where she pursued English Journalism (Print). Her research work on 'Role of micro-blogging platform Twitter in content generation in newspapers' had won accolades at IIMC. She had started her career in print journalism with Hindustan Times before switching to The Indian Express in 2012. Her investigative report in 2019 on gender disparity while treating women drug addicts in Punjab won her the Laadli Media Award for Gender Sensitivity in 2020. She won another Laadli for her ground report on the struggle of two girls who ride a boat to reach their school in the border village of Punjab. ... Read More
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Johns Hopkins to slash nearly 2,000 jobs after losing $800 million in federal grants
BALTIMORE — More than 2,000 positions related to global health are being cut from the Johns Hopkins University after the Baltimore institution saw $800 million in federal grants disappear, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday. Hopkins' medical school; the Bloomberg School of Public Health, including its Center for Communication Programs; and JHPIEGO, the university's health initiative that focuses on global public health, will be affected by the cuts. USAID was the main funder for both JHPIEGO and CCP. 'This is a difficult day for our entire community. The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally,' Hopkins' spokesperson said in a statement. The Trump administration, through advisor Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, is slashing federal spending across agencies in an effort to end wasteful spending. Such cuts have an outsized effect on Hopkins, which comes in first of all universities in federally funded research. By extension, those cuts affect Baltimore and Maryland, where Hopkins is the city and state's largest largest private employer. Hopkins says it accounts for more than $15 billion in economic output in the state. 'It is difficult to overstate the significance of Johns Hopkins University as a cornerstone of Maryland's economy,' Carter Elliott IV, spokesman for Gov. Wes Moore, said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun earlier this week. 'Its influence extends far beyond Baltimore, shaping industries across the state and driving Maryland's reputation as a global leader in research, healthcare, and education.' In the statement, the Hopkins spokesperson said 'the elimination of foreign aid funding has led to the loss of 1,975 positions in 44 countries internationally and 247 in the United States in the affected programs. An additional 29 international and 78 domestic employees will be furloughed with a reduced schedule.' Employees in the United states will have at least two months advance notice before their positions are cut or furloughed, and the university said it is 'providing comprehensive support with additional benefits, assistance, and resources to help employees navigate this transition and explore new opportunities.' For international employees, the university said it 'will be complying with local employment laws.' With almost half its funding coming from the federal government, the university's president warned earlier this month that Hopkins faced drastic cuts in its research and medical work at home and abroad as a result of the Trump administration's slashing of spending. Referencing a 'cascade of executive orders and agency actions,' Johns Hopkins President Ron Daniels wrote in a letter that the Baltimore-based institution, the nation's first research university, was bracing for 'systemwide shocks.' 'Cuts to federal research will affect research faculty, students, and staff and will ripple through our university,' Daniels wrote. 'Budgets, personnel, and programs' could all be impacted, he said. In its statement Thursday, the Hopkins spokesperson said the university 'is immensely proud of the work done by our colleagues in Jhpiego, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the School of Medicine to care for mothers and infants, fight disease, provide clean drinking water, and advance countless other critical, life-saving efforts around the world.' _____
