Improvement and retention of emergency obstetrics and neonatal care knowledge and skills in a hospital mentorship program in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Objective: To evaluate whether a hospital-based mentoring program could significantly increase short- and longer-term emergency obstetrics and neonatal care (EmONC) knowledge and skills among health providers.

Methods: In a prospective before-and-after study, 20 mentors were trained using a specially-created EmONC mentoring and training program at Bwaila Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. The mentors then trained an additional 114 providers as mentees in the curriculum.

Ethical dilemmas in women's health in under-resourced settings.

Ethical decision making in women's health presents a series of unique challenges that are exacerbated considerably in under-resourced settings. Severe constraints on both autonomy and resources highlight limitations of principle-based ethics for addressing ethical dilemmas. Other useful ethical "tools" are considered in the context of 2 cases that emphasize the challenges to ethical decision making in under-resourced settings.