Oxford Textbook of Global Health of Women, Newborns, Children, and Adolescents

Each year there are 10 million deaths among newborns (including stillbirths), children, and adolescents, as well as from maternal causes. These deaths are mostly preventable with existing interventions - a major injustice in todayâs world. The vast majority happen in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, yet the dangers facing women and children are relevant everywhere. While middle- and high-income countries have lower mortality rates overall, there are still major inequalities in outcomes within these countries. To improve health outcomes for women and children around the world, more data on the burden of disease and evidence of intervention effectiveness are crucial.

The Oxford Textbook of Global Health of Women, Newborns, Children, and Adolescents is the first comprehensive book on this topic. Written by experts in the field, this invaluable source takes a lifecourse approach to health. Following women from adolescence to motherhood, it covers sexual and reproductive health, HIV, pregnancy, mental health, and much more. Child development is traced from conception through to pregnancy, the newborn period, and into childhood and adolescence, with topics including newborn care, nutrition, infections, and injuries. This comprehensive resource asks uncomfortable but necessary questions about the determinants of health, such as maltreatment, injury, and malnutrition, and looks at how to influence policy and inspire change.

Divided into eight sections and following the lifecourse, the Oxford Textbook of Global Health of Women, Newborns, Children, and Adolescents has a clear structure, helpful illustrations, and study questions in each chapter. Easy to use, it is the ideal textbook for students and practitioners in health care or global health. Looking to the future, it is also an invaluable starting point for policymakers and anyone with a general interest in the subject area. With practical case studies and examples from high and low-resource settings, this book is a unique resource for those involved in women's and children's health everywhere.

Delan Devakumar, Clinical Training Fellow and NIHR Lecturer in Public Health, University College London, London, UK,Jennifer Hall, Principal Research Fellow, UCL Institute for Public Health, University College London, London, UK,Zeshan Qureshi, Academic Clinical Fellow in Global Child Health, King's College London, London, UK,Joy Lawn, Professor of Maternal, Reproductive and Child Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

Delan Devakumar is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in public health. With a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, he worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres as a paediatrician in Pakistan in 2006 (Kashmir earthquake), in South Sudan (cholera outbreak) in 2007 and Myanmar (post-cyclone Nargis) in 2008. He also has a master degree in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD from UCL. He is a commissioner and steering group member of the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health.


Jennifer Hall is a public health doctor with a PhD in Maternal Health and Epidemiology and a long-standing interest in reproductive and women's health. A mixed-methods researcher, she works with quantitative, qualitative and psychometric methodologies. She has worked with clinical public health nationally and internationally. She is particularly interested in the measurement of pregnancy intention, preconception care and the detection and management of unplanned pregnancies. Her work aims to improve health and social outcomes for women of reproductive age around the world.


Zeshan Qureshi is an academic and clinical paediatrician, with a special interest in global health and medical education. Since graduating from the University of Southampton in 2009, he has published and presented research in the fields of pharmacology, global health, and medical education. He is also the chief editor of the Unofficial Guide to Medicine series.

Joy Lawn has worked at the WHO Collaborating Center, CDC Atlanta, USA, and the Institute of Child Health, London. She has a Masters of Public Health from Emory University, Atlanta, and a PhD in perinatal epidemiology at University College London, UK. She has been Director Global Evidence and Policy for Gates Foundation funded Saving Newborn Lives (SNL) programme of Save the Children for ten years. She has also published over 200 peer reviewed papers, as well as a range of chapters, books and policy relevant reports. She co-led several Lancet series on newborn survival and stillbirths.

Section 1: Introduction
1. Women's and children's health in a changing world, Mike Rowson
2. Strategies through the lifecycle to improve maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health, Joy Lawn, Samantha Sadoo,
3. Agencies and actors in women's and children's health, Mike Rowson
Section 2: Research Methods
4. Research Methods and Evidence Based Medicine, Tim Colbourn
5. Economic evaluation in global health, Catherine Pitt, Josephine Borghi, Kara Hanson
Section 3: Important concepts across the life course
6. Social determinants of child health, Bernadette O'Hare, Sebastian Taylor
7. Developmental origins of health and disease, Caroline Fall, Kalyanaraman Kumaran
8. Health Workers and Health Systems, Kate Mandeville, Ingrid Wolfe
9. The environment and health, Nicholas Watts
10. Conflict, Natural Disaster and the Humanitarian Response, Miriam Orcutt, Clare Shortall, Aula Abarra
Section 4: Adolescent health
11. Introduction to Adolescent health, Susan Sawyer, Suraya Abdul-Razak, George Patton
12. Adolescent sexual and reproductive health, Saiqa Mullick
13. Adolescent Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), Jackie Pitchforth, Dougal Hargreaves
14. Adolescent mental health, Kelly Clarke, Silvia Yasuda, Atif Rahman
15. Adolescent HIV and infection, Rashida Ferrand
16. Adolescent Injuries, Qingfeng Li, Adnan Hyder
17. Strategies to improve adolescent health, Samantha Sadoo, David Ross
Section 5: Women's health
18. Introduction to Maternal Health, Address Malata
19. Sexual and reproductive health, Mags Beksinska, Jenni Smit, Chelsea Morroni Lavanya Pillay
20. Contraception and abortion, Jennifer Hall
21. Direct maternal Deaths, Abi Merriel, Raymond Kanthit, David Lissauer
22. Indirect maternal deaths, Heather Lytle, Beatrice Chikaphonya-Phiri, Abi Merriel
23. Maternal morbidity, Nynke van de Broek, Mary McCauley
24. Maternal nutrition, Delanjathan Devakumar, Patricia Rondo
25. Maternal mental health, Rob Stewart, Selena Gleadow-Ware
26. Strategies to improve maternal health, Address Malata
Section 6: Newborn health
27. Introduction to newborn health, Samantha Sadoo, Hannah Blencowe, Shefali Oza, Joy Lawn
28. Stillbirth, Hannah Blencowe, Samantha Sadoo, Joy Lawn
29. Preterm births, Sarah Moxon, Samantha Sadoo , Tom Lissauer
30. Intrapartum related events affecting the newborn, Anne CC Lee, Saima Aftab, Lian Folger, Lauren Schaeffer
31. Neonatal Infection, Anna Seale, Helen Brotherton
32. Congenital disorders, Sowmi Moorthie
33. Low Birth weight and poor fetal growth, Gabriela Cormick, Nicole Minckas, Jose Belizan
34. Strategies to improve newborn health and prevent stillbirths, Samantha Sadoo, Hannah Blencowe, Joy Lawn, Cally Tann
Section 7: Child health
35. Introduction to child health, Dan Magnus, Sebastian Taylor, Bhanu Williams
36. Child infection, Mark Lee, Bhanu Williams, Anupam Goenka
37. Child nutrition, Jonathan Wells
38. Child development and disability, Richard Rosch, Michelle Heyes, Hannah Kuper
39. Non-communicable diseases and childhood, Jessica Mvula, Takondwa Chimowa, Elizabeth Molyneux, Bernadette O'Hare
40. Children in difficult circumstances, Therese Hesketh
41. Child injury, maltreatment and safeguarding, Geoff Debelle, Qingfeng Li, Delan Devakumar
42. Strategies to improve child health, Fred Martineau
Section 8: Influencing policy
43. Converting research into policy, Elizabeth Mason, Blerta Maliqi
44. Ethics and rights, Maureen Kelly
45. Advocacy in maternal and child health, Tony Waterston
46. Current challenges and debates for women's and children's health, David Osrin