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Collaborating Center in Reproductive Health
The
Collaborating Center in Reproductive Health (formerly the
Collaborating Center in Perinatal Care and Health Services
Research in Maternal and Child Health) was created in 1981
as a joint effort of three Atlanta institutions. The Woodruff
Health Science Center of Emory University, the National
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Georgia
Department of Human Resources. Specialized clinical, epidemiological,
educational program policy and program management talents
of the participating institutions focus on improving the outcomes
of pregnancy in the State of Georgia.
The World Health Organization
in the early fifties began to designate institutions around
the world to serve as global resource centers to assist countries
in dealing with a variety of global health issues. In 1982,
WHO designated Atlanta as one of its resource centers in perinatal
care and infant health. Other collaborating centers of this
kind are located in Uruguay, Italy, and China.
In 2001, WHO asked the Collaborating
Center to expand its activities in perinatal care and infant
health to include the health of reproductive age women and
contraceptive technologies important in child spacing. In
keeping with this broad mandate, this collaborating center
became one of WHO's global resource centers, and its name
was changed to the WHO Collaborating Center in Reproductive
Health (WHO/CC/RH).
Dedicated to improving the health of women and children around
the world, WHO/CC can assist an individual country in the
following:
Identifying
its problems and properties in reproductive health, perinatal
care and infant health through development of a data surveillance
system.
Assessing
the performance and the potential for financial and political
sustainability of the country's health care delivery system
for Women and children
Designing and
assisting in implementing
effective, safe, and sustainable technologies to enhance health
and reduce or eliminate identified problems.
Monitoring
the effectiveness of such improvement programs.
Providing
training for clinical practice. epidemiology. program policy
development, public program management, and financial sustainability.
By enabling health professionals to assess,
develop, implement, and evaluate women's reproductive, perinatal,
and infant care services, the Collaborating Center has assisted
in improving the health care delivery system for women and
children. Consultation has been provided in numerous countries
including China, Greece, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza, Romania,
Poland, Jamaica, Grenada, and Uganda. Over the course of the
past five years, WHO/CC/RH has been focused on projects in
the State of Georgia (U.S ), the Middle East, Tanzania, the
Republic of Georgia, Columbia, and Cuba. Domestic consultations
are being provided to the Departments of Health in Texas and
Mississippi.
The vision of the WHO/CC
is to improve every couple's chance of having a wanted pregnancy
and, following childbirth, that the mother is alive and healthy
and their child is wanted, loved, healthy, and safe. The mission
of WHO/CC is to serve the people who serve the people.
This is done through creating a foundation of knowledge
and skills that enables care‑providers and decision
makers to sustain efforts long after WHO/CC/RH has left.
Three goals have guided
the recent activities of WHO/CC/RH.
First,
it focuses an building human capacity in ministries of health,
departments of health. and universities of WHO member countries
to evaluate and solve their own problems in reproductive health,
perinatal care and infant health through country specific
projects. Capacity building has taken the form of technical
assistance, educational programs for training, and stimulation
of health services research.
Second,
it continues to expand its depth as a center of excellence
in health services research. To this end, experts and faculty
have been recruited to become participating Fellows of the
WHO/CC/RH. Collaborative networks are being built with professionals
and governments around the world.
Third,
it is working to create a stable financial base for it's core
activities through endowments.The
Atlanta-based collaborating center works closely with WHO/Geneva
in the Family Planning and Making Pregnancy Safe project,
the International Collaborative Effort on Perinatal and Neonatal
Morbidity and Mortality, and the United Nations Relief and
Works Agency (UNRWA). A special working partnership has been
built with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) through
activities with the Center for Latin American Perinatology
(CLAP) in Uruguay.
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