Maternal and child health continue to be largely overlooked aspects of healthcare system leading to major risks associated with pregnancy and child birth. This could be associated to lack of awareness and inadequate health-care facilities such as skilled personnel, infrastructure and access to medicines and emergency care when needed. As per the maternal mortality fact sheet published by World Health Organization (WHO) in 2015, it is estimated that a little over eight hundred women die every day from treatable complications pertaining to pregnancy and most of these deaths occur in regions with low socioeconomic conditions. Severe loss of blood, infections, high blood pressure, transmission of sexually transmitted diseases to newborns, post delivery complications and unsafe abortion are some of the most commonly occurring preventable or treatable complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Lack of adequate antenatal and postnatal care would lead to neonatal deaths which reflect inequities in availability of emergency obstetric care, care after delivery, newborn care, training to improve overall health, diet intake, newborn feeding and care and hygiene behaviors.

These issues can be addressed to a major extent by creating awareness through education programs that impart evidence based practical outlook among healthcare professionals.

James Lind Institute is one of the leading global education institutes that provide online training and education programs in global maternal and child health. The course can be taken up online and the participants can study at any time of their convenience. The institute offers an advanced post graduate diploma in global maternal and child health in distance e-learning mode and provides evidence based practical approaches to the challenges maternal and child health face globally. It is a self paced course that should be completed within a maximum of 24 months, with 6-8 months being an ideal tenure.

The minimum eligibility criteria for taking up these courses are either of the following: MBBS/ BHMS/ BAMS/ MPT/ BDS/ bachelor in naturopathy and veterinary sciences/ MD/ MS or graduate post graduate degree in pharmacy/ pharmaceutical sciences or graduate or post graduate degree in life sciences such as botany, zoology, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, biotechnology or graduate/ equivalent degree in nursing/ allied health.