Gente Saludable

By Marcella Distrutti. Evidence shows that institutional delivery is positively associated with reductions in maternal mortality rates, still considered a multi-factorial health challenge in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nevertheless, having all births attended by professionals in hospitals does not guarantee a high quality of care and, as a consequence, low figures of maternal deaths.

by Ferdinando Regalia There is an old joke that if you ask five economists the same question, you will get six answers in return. Like most jokes (even bad ones), this quip’s value lies in its discovery of a basic truth—getting economists to agree on anything can be quite difficult. That’s what makes the Economists’ Declaration on Universal Health Coverage so remarkable.

by Trevor Gunn. Would you believe if I told you that investing in health is profitable for governments? We know that country expenditures on health are widely considered to be an economic drag, as well as a “debit” for the broader economy and for economic growth. Despite these popular notions, an increasing amount of trends and evidence points in the reverse direction- particularly for emerging economies and for some key developed economies. Investments in healthcare directly benefit the economic growth of countries.

by Mark van der Laan. My father told me the most important thing about solving a problem is to formulate it accurately, and one would think that, as statisticians, most of us would agree with that advice. Suppose we were to build a spaceship that can fly to Mars and return safely to Earth. It would be folly indeed to make simplifying assumptions in its construction that science tells us are false. Such assumptions could spell death for the astronauts and failure for their mission.

By James M. Roberts. The number of pregnant women who die yearly due to high blood pressure is very high and 99% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. Latin America remains one of the biggest contributors to this figure. Their killer is known as preeclampsia. Do you know what it is?

by Suneeta Mittal.       Pre-conception care is the provision of medical, behavioral and social health interventions to women and couples before pregnancy occurs. It aims at improving their health status, and reducing factors that contribute to poor maternal and child health outcome. Even though it is proven to increase the well-being of women and couples and subsequently improves pregnancy and child health outcomes, there is still very little awareness of its big benefits. Here is how it works.

by Pablo Ibarraran, Marcos Robles, Nadin Medellin, Mayra Saenz and Marco Stampini.  Evidence has shown that Latin America and the Caribbean have been successful in reducing poverty and in achieving important reductions in terms of inequality. Although poverty reduction and the growth of the middle class are clearly related, there is an important link that we need to keep in mind: the vulnerable.

by Lesley O’Connell.  

by Nadin Medellin, Pablo Ibarrarán, Patricia Jara and Marco Stampini Para leer este artículo en español, haz click aquí