International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Paternal involvement in pregnancies could help reduce the risk of infant mortality in the first year of life, a new study has found.

According to researchers from the University of South Florida in the US, babies with absent fathers were four times more likely to die in their first year of life than children with two parents playing an active role.

The infant mortality rate in Manitoba, central Canada, is more than twice the Canadian average, a new extensive study has revealed.

Even if mothers have access to sophisticated healthcare facilities in this area, which has a predominantly First Nations (indigenous) population, the number of infant deaths does not improve, reports CBC Canada.

Nigeria is working towards achieving the United Nations' (UN)-set Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by 2015, but in order to meet the targets it needs to invest more money in family planning, it has been reported.

The risks of newborn death and admission to neonatal intensive care are more common during night time deliveries, new research has shown.

Researchers in the Netherlands studied more than 700,000 births at hospitals in the country between 2000 and 2006, publishing their results in the obstetrics and gynaecology journal BJOG.

Babies born just one week early are more likely to develop learning disabilities and more serious problems, such as autism or deafness, a new study has revealed.

Researchers studied 400,000 British schoolchildren, finding that those born at 39 weeks are more likely to experience difficulties with learning than those born at full-term (40 weeks).

The infant mortality rate in India is being reduced by an initiative that offers women monetary incentive to give birth in a hospital.

A new study, published in the British medical journal the Lancet, has revealed that four fewer stillbirths and deaths in the first week of life per 1,000 pregnancies took place when women attended hospital to give birth.

An international conference on maternal and child health is due to take place in Washington, US, this week.

One country that will be focused on is Afghanistan, which has particularly high numbers of maternal and infant deaths, reports the Voice of America.

Putting on weight during pregnancy can result in an increased risk of heart disease for the child, researchers have found.

According to a study conducted by the Medical Research Council's centre at Bristol University, women who put on the most weight during gestation had children with less healthy hearts at the age of nine, reports the Daily Mail.

A poll conducted in Canada has revealed that the majority of people in the country oppose their prime minister's decision not to fund safer abortions in developing countries.

Some 58 per cent of respondents in the Canadian Press-Harris Decima survey said that Stephen Harper should not exclude abortion funding in his drive to improve maternal and infant health in developing nations.

The World Bank has released a new five-year plan aimed at helping developing countries to reduce their maternal and infant mortality rates.

Called the Reproductive Health Action Plan, it hopes to improve family planning, by providing access to contraceptives and better sex education, in 58 countries worldwide too.