The main objective of the Reproductive and Maternal Health Unit is to function as the experts in the field of reproductive, maternal and newborn and child health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine and in the Flemish/Belgian/global eco-system. Our key focus is on low- and middle-income countries and cross-country comparative work (including with high-income countries).
We are known for a breadth of advanced scientific methods and we work within a vast range of medical and public health areas spanning from gender and gender-based violence, family planning, abortion, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and newborn/child health.
We teach, mentor, supervise, guide and learn from students and researchers globally, including in ITM courses, MPH and PhD students, early-career researchers, and in partner institutions.
Our strategic research priorities include:
- Measurement and evaluation - we use this expertise to conduct high-impact research on implementation of interventions to improve access to and quality of reproductive, maternal, newborn & child healthcare.
- Urban maternal health dynamics - we aim to inform context-specific action to improve urban healthcare systems and lived environments to enhance maternal and perinatal survival and wellbeing. More information: UrbanBirth Collective
- Continue developing cutting-edge geospatial and health systems modelling (including mathematical and mixed-methods) methods.
- Expand our portfolio in perinatal mental health and in newborn and child health. More information: CoPE consortium
- Readiness capacity to innovate and lead in new developments in global health in relation to reproduction/child health (e.g., as done during COVID-19). More information: MATCO study
Profiles
