

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB)
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) is a collaborative research program aimed at providing life-saving health care for women and children in Papua New Guinea (PNG). It's one of Burnet's flagship initiatives.
HMHB aims to define the major causes of poor maternal, newborn, and child health, and to identify feasible, acceptable and effective interventions and service delivery strategies to improve reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health (RMNCH) outcomes in PNG.
There are 5 program objectives:
- identify and quantify major causes of illness in mothers, newborns and infants attending health care facilities, and the impact of illnesses in pregnancy on poor pregnancy outcomes for mother and infant
- identify key determinants of current maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) care utilisation, patterns (such as timeliness and completeness) of utilisation through pregnancy and the first year of life, and the predictors of optimal utilisation of health services for MNCH
- evaluate RMNCH services and identify strategies to improve services aimed at reducing sickness and death
- examine sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitudes, practices and outcomes among young people, and use this knowledge to develop strategies and inform policy development to improve sexual and reproductive health
- identify strategies to improve RMNCH care, and strengthen disease control and develop new interventions to improve maternal and child health, targeted to populations in PNG with varying levels of access to health services.
The emphasis is on the generation of evidence that has immediate use in East New Britain to improve services, and that can inform future health policy in PNG and similar settings.
The program addresses 3 major needs:
- developing and testing better ways to provide interventions of proven effectiveness to communities that currently lack access
- defining the major disease burdens that contribute to maternal and infant mortality, such as anaemia, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), sexually transmissible infections (STIs), malnutrition, and maternal complications of childbirth
- developing new and more effective interventions to improve maternal and child health.
Understanding the causes of poor health among pregnant women and infants
In resource-constrained regions globally, pregnant women experience high rates of malaria, anemia, under-nutrition, reproductive tract infections, and other viral and bacterial infections.
These issues can lead to morbidity and mortality in women. In infants, these factors can cause low birth weight (LBW) and premature delivery resulting in a significant number of infant deaths each year.
Being born too small is the biggest risk factor for neonatal death, and also puts infants at risk of poor growth and development.

A mother and baby at the Paparatava Health Centre, East New Britain, PNG.
Poor growth and development in young children, often referred to as stunting, is a major problem in many regions and is associated with 40% of deaths in young children as well and many chronic health problems.
However, the roles of nutrition, anemia, malaria, and other infections on birth outcomes and child growth and development are not well understood which limits the development and implementation of effective strategies and interventions.
Through the HMHB initiative, we have undertaken a longitudinal study of 700 pregnant women attending antenatal care and followed them through to delivery and followed the mothers and their infants for 12 months after delivery.
Among these women, we are evaluating nutrition, including evaluating specific micronutrient deficiencies, metabolic status, anemia, and a range of infections including malaria.
Partners
Principal supporter
- BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP)
Partners
- Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR)
- East New Britain Provincial Government
- Papua New Guinea National Department of Health
- University of Papua New Guinea
- Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)
Contacts
Main contacts

Professor James Beeson
Deputy Director, Research Strategy; Head, Malaria Immunity and Vaccines Group; Adjunct Professor, Monash University
Student supervisor contacts

Professor James Beeson
Deputy Director, Research Strategy; Head, Malaria Immunity and Vaccines Group; Adjunct Professor, Monash University

Dr Michelle Scoullar
Senior Research Fellow - Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health. Paediatrician.
Project team

Professor James Beeson
Deputy Director, Research Strategy; Head, Malaria Immunity and Vaccines Group; Adjunct Professor, Monash University

Professor Brendan Crabb AC
Director and CEO; Chair Australian Global Health Alliance and Chair Pacific Friends of Global Health

Professor Caroline Homer AO
Deputy Director – Gender Equity, Diversity & Inclusion; Co-Head, Global Women's and Newborn Health; Co-Head, Immunisation and Health Systems Strengthening

Clarissa Moreira
PhD Student and Research Assistant

Dr Elissa Kennedy
Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head Global Adolescent Health

Professor Freya J.I. Fowkes
Deputy Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Head, Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Professor Gilda Tachedjian
Head, Life Sciences Discipline; Head, Retroviral Biology and Antivirals Laboratory

Dr Herbert Opi
Senior Research Fellow

Dr Joshua Hayward
Senior Research Officer

Professor Joshua Vogel
Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head, Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health Group; Senior Principal Research Fellow

Professor Leanne Robinson
Program Director, Health Security and Pandemic Preparedness; Senior Principal Research Fellow, Group Leader, Vector-Borne Diseases and Tropical Public Health

Lisa Davidson
Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist

Dr Michelle Scoullar
Senior Research Fellow - Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health. Paediatrician.

Onawuta Kesuwao
Project Officer, Grow Healthy Grow Strong Project

Priscah Hezeri
Research Officer

Ruth Fidelis
Laboratory Supervisor

Shan Huang
Global Health Specialist

Chrissie Collins
EA to Deputy Director

Dr Naomi Spotswood
PhD Candidate

Dr Linda Reiling
Senior Research Officer, Malaria Research: Immunity, Vaccines and New Therapies

Dr Chris Morgan
Honorary Senior Principal Research Fellow

Associate Professor Alyce Wilson
Honorary Principal Research Fellow
