Maternal Mortality in the Peruvian Amazon

As part of my Global Health elective in Iquitos, Peru through the Ben Gurion University Medical School for International Health, we have been learning about the maternal health issues particular to this part of the world. “Improve maternal health” is one of the mandates of the WHO’s Millennium Development Goals, and it is ever so relevant here in Peru, where the maternal mortality rate (MMR) – though declining – is 89 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and is higher than neighboring South American countries. It is an issue that has been highlighted by many groups and publications such as HealthAffairs, Physicians for Human Rights, and Amnesty International.

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Peru: Medicine is People Treating People

For the past few weeks, I have been living in Iquitos, Peru and rounding at the regional hospital (Hospital Regional de Loreto) as part of a Global Health elective that I applied for through a foreign university.

Things I’m Reading: Bad-News Edition

Here’s a quick run-down of some of the things I have been reading lately:

• NEJM: How should doctors react to the death of a colleague? A personal Perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine that resonates with me and reminds me of my own reflections on the way we handle death in the hospital. (H/t Gillian Christie)