A descriptive analysis of a medical humanitarian aid initiative for quality perinatal management in war-torn Ukraine.

Background: Russian's invasion of Ukraine has seriously disrupted perinatal care. In a humanitarian initiative, emergency obstetric and neonatal equipment and drugs were provided by Maternal and Childhealth Advocacy International and distributed by Ukrainian partners to a selected 61 maternity hospitals throughout Ukraine. The programme included engaging mothers in labour to undertake fetal heart rate monitoring using a battery operated, portable, doppler ultrasound probe.

Renal denervation for resistant hypertension using an irrigated radiofrequency balloon: 12-month results from the Renal Hypertension Ablation System (RHAS) trial.

Aims: Renal denervation using the point-by-point application of radiofrequency energy delivered by the first-generation Symplicity system is effective in lowering office blood pressure but may be time-consuming. The OneShot Renal Denervation System with a balloon-mounted spiral electrode potentially shortens and simplifies the procedure. This study is a hypothesis-generating first-in-human study to assess feasibility, and to provide preliminary efficacy and safety data.

A proposed new international convention supporting the rights of pregnant women and girls and their newborn infants.

For a multitude of eminently modifiable reasons, death rates for pregnant women and girls and their newborn infants in poorly resourced countries remain unacceptably high. The concomitant high morbidity rates compound the situation. The rights of these vulnerable individuals are incompletely protected by existing United Nations human rights conventions, which many countries have failed to implement.

Strengthening the emergency healthcare system for mothers and children in The Gambia.

A system to improve the management of emergencies during pregnancy, childbirth, infancy and childhood in a region of The Gambia (Brikama) with a population of approximately 250,000 has been developed.This was accomplished through formal partnership between the Gambian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organisation, Maternal Childhealth Advocacy International and the Advanced Life Support Group.Since October 2006, the hospital in Brikama has been renovated and equipped and more efficiently provided with emergency medicines.

Nuclear weapons 60 years on: still a global public health threat.

This year marks the 60-year anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Has the world learned anything about the threat of nuclear weapons? What role can the health community play in reducing it?

Prioritising neglected diseases related to poverty.

Bernard Pécoul, director of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, tells Rhona MacDonald how his organisation is hoping to help millions of people living in poverty worldwide