Maternal and Child Health

In the developing world, mothers and children continue to die and suffer significant illness from preventable causes.

Much of this poor health could be alleviated by improved access to quality reproductive and child health information and services including family planning, pregnancy and delivery care, postnatal and newborn care, vaccinations, management of childhood illnesses and nutritional support.

Burnet Institute has a strong record of working towards better access to health care for mothers and their children by conducting innovative medical and public health research, strengthening service delivery systems and empowering communities.

Research and Public Health Focus

  • As a partner in the Women’s and Children’s Health Knowledge Hub, we undertook research to strengthen evidence for effective health interventions for adolescent girls, pregnant women and children
  • Prevention of unintended pregnancies, with a particular emphasis on adolescents, will focus on PNG, Melanesia (Vanuatu and Solomon Islands), Timor-Leste and Indonesia
  • Care of pregnant women and babies, focusing on community-based approaches in PNG Burma, Lao PDR and Southern/Eastern Africa.

Projects

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Current Projects

  • A GIFT (Genital Inflammation Test) for HIV Prevention

  • Accelerating access to postnatal care and chlorhexidine in PNG

  • Accelerating Immunisation and Health System Strengthening (AIHSS)

  • Access Point Of Care Initiative

  • ANCP: Improving maternal and child health outcomes in Myanmar

  • Antenatal and postnatal care remote contacts guidance

  • Broadly neutralising anti-HIV antibodies and Fc Receptor function

  • Burnet Microbiome Initiative

  • Cost-effectiveness evidence for maternal and perinatal health interventions

  • Cost-effectiveness of antenatal corticosteroids for women at risk of imminent preterm birth in the early preterm period in low resource countries

  • COVID-19 Journey Project

  • Decision science using Optima

  • Development of a point-of-care test for neonatal sepsis

  • Discovering the mechanisms and targets of immunity against malaria

  • Engaging men to improve family health and prevent gender-based violence

  • Evaluating a highly sensitive rapid malaria diagnostic in PNG

  • Evaluating the WHO Labour Care Guide in clinical settings

  • EVE-M

  • Experiences of receiving or providing maternity care during CoVID-19 pandemic: The CovMat Study

  • Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies

  • HMHB - Health Services for Postnatal and Infancy Care

  • HMHB: Quality of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Newborn Health Services Study

  • HMHB: The impact of nutrition, malaria and STIs on pregnant women and infants

  • Immunity to malaria and infectious diseases during pregnancy

  • Immunity, drug efficacy and spread of antimalarial drug resistance

  • Improved point-of-care test to eliminate congenital syphilis

  • Inequalities in sexual and reproductive health in Asia and the Pacific

  • Iron deficiency anaemia and adverse birth outcomes in a malaria-endemic region of Papua New Guinea

  • Living guidelines in maternal and perinatal health

  • Mapping of COVID-19-related pregnancy and perinatal research in Australia

  • Midwifery Faculty Development Program

  • National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce

  • New approaches to the treatment of lupus

  • New Target Product Profiles for pre-eclampsia prevention and treatment

  • Novel PoC Testing for Diagnosis of Active Syphilis in Pregnant Women and Infants in Fiji

  • Predicting quality and potency of monoclonal and natural antibodies

  • Rapid review of maternal health recommendations related to the COVID-19 pandemic

  • Review of Midwifery Curricula Timor-Leste

  • SCOOP: Strengthening COVID-19 Communication in Pregnancy

  • Sexual and reproductive health in Asia and the Pacific

  • Stakeholder experiences of father engagement interventions in low- and middle-income countries

  • Strengthen Emergency Obstetric Newborn Care (EmONC) training through a Master Train-the-Trainer Program

  • The Mbereko + Men Model: Rural Zimbabwe

  • Tools for the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (Kenya, Myanmar and Senegal)

  • Transformative Agenda for Women, Adolescents and Youth in the Pacific: Strengthening Health Management Information Systems

  • Transformative Agenda for Women, Adolescents and Youth in the Pacific: Strengthening Midwifery Education

Past Projects

  • Collaborative Community Checklists for Immunisation (CCCI)

  • Strategies to reduce malnutrition with allocative efficiency analyses