UM receives funding from The Gates Foundation for transformative family planning research in Africa and Pakistan
Funding will target improved availability and access to reproductive, maternal and newborn health services
UM researchers have received USD$12.5 million in funding to expand the work of the globally recognized Institute for Global Public Health (IGPH) to identify barriers and improve access to life-saving family planning and maternal and newborn health goods and services in priority regions.
The IGPH, led by Dr. James Blanchard, Canada Research Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health, has been making a difference in the lives of women and children in Uttar Pradesh, India for decades with research that aligns closely with the Gates maternal, newborn and child health strategy to reduce infant and maternal death in the region.
“The IGPH team is pleased to build on our work with healthcare providers to improve health outcomes for women, newborns and their families in expanded regions,” said James Blanchard. “Thanks to this significant funding provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, our team will build new partnerships with local governments and health agencies with the goal of improved family planning practices.”
The University of Manitoba and the IGPH are leaders in maternal and child health research, with UM funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation totaling over $450 million in the past 22 years – the most of any post-secondary institution in Canada.
Nigerian mother and her baby
Understanding family planning supply limitations in over 8000 facilities
The newest grant will help local governments understand the strengths and limitations of core health systems constraints in availability, utilization and quality of family planning, maternal, newborn and child health services and supplies in priority regions of the countries of Senegal and Cote D’Ivoire, the Kano, Kaduna and Lagos states of Nigeria, and Sindh province of Pakistan. This one-year rapid assessment project is the first step in providing focused guidance to address the constraints on family planning services in the regions.
“The highlighted regions are characterized by low levels of, and slow increase in, the uptake of modern methods for family planning,” according to Blanchard. “Most of the regions have very little information about the supply and availability of family planning and maternal and newborn health services and commodities.”
Dr. James Blanchard
Blanchard and co-investigators Ties Boerma, Canada Research Chair, Population and Global Health, provide specific technical advice and general oversight on the project. This project also includes UM researchers from the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, including B.M. Ramesh, Faran Emanuel and and Tahira Reza, along with key specialists Preeti Anand and Pranav Bhushan.
The large local research teams will visit 8,000 public and private health facilities including hospitals, clinics and pharmacies, and will consult with local doctors, nurses and community health workers. Researchers will assess the core health systems including physical infrastructure, and the specialized equipment and medications needed to provide family planning and maternal, newborn and child health services. Additionally, key components of health systems such as human resources, supply chain management and data management will also be comprehensively and systematically assessed. Once the data has been collected and analyzed, it will be presented to local governments in the regions to help guide further improvements to health care systems.
UM is making an impact on maternal, newborn and child health outcomes
“We are proud of the impact our work has had and we continue to engage and train talented researchers around the world and in Canada to participate in important work that has proven to positively affect the lives of many women, children and their families and communities,” says Blanchard.
The current grant helps builds on the research outcomes achieved by the UM Institute for Global Public Health around the world. Recent reports published by the Government of India have shown dramatic increases in the coverage and quality of antenatal and delivery services and substantial declines neonatal and maternal mortality in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is a focus area for the IGPH’s work in India.
“UM is grateful to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for this important support that allows UM to continue to make positive impacts around the world,” said Dr. Mario Pinto, Vice-President (Research and International). “This grant allows Dr. Blanchard’s team to continue its valuable work helping to improve access to family planning and maternal, newborn and child healthcare in more regions. Collecting data from these unique geographies is an important step to furthering efforts that remove constraints and close gaps in the health care systems and improve the lives of women and their children.”
The Institute for Global Public Health (IGPH) was established in February 2020. It was based on the foundation built by the Centre for Global Public Health, which was created in 2008 to enhance the University of Manitoba’s leadership in global public health. IGPH is rooted in the Department of Community Health Sciences in the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences but has a university-wide mandate.
Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.