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HMHB
HMHB

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB)

Open to students

Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies (HMHB) is a collaborative research program aimed at providing life-saving health care for women and children in Papua New Guinea (PNG). It's one of Burnet's flagship initiatives.

HMHB aims to define the major causes of poor maternal, newborn, and child health, and to identify feasible, acceptable and effective interventions and service delivery strategies to improve reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health (RMNCH) outcomes in PNG.

There are 5 program objectives:

  • identify and quantify major causes of illness in mothers, newborns and infants attending health care facilities, and the impact of illnesses in pregnancy on poor pregnancy outcomes for mother and infant
  • identify key determinants of current maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) care utilisation, patterns (such as timeliness and completeness) of utilisation through pregnancy and the first year of life, and the predictors of optimal utilisation of health services for MNCH
  • evaluate RMNCH services and identify strategies to improve services aimed at reducing sickness and death
  • examine sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitudes, practices and outcomes among young people, and use this knowledge to develop strategies and inform policy development to improve sexual and reproductive health
  • identify strategies to improve RMNCH care, and strengthen disease control and develop new interventions to improve maternal and child health, targeted to populations in PNG with varying levels of access to health services.

HMHB includes 5 separate but complementary studies to provide a complete overview of the issues being faced. The emphasis is on the generation of evidence that has immediate use in East New Britain to improve services, and that can inform future health policy in PNG and similar settings.

The program addresses 3 major needs:

  • developing and testing better ways to provide interventions of proven effectiveness to communities that currently lack access
  • defining the major disease burdens that contribute to maternal and infant mortality, such as anaemia, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), sexually transmissible infections (STIs), malnutrition, and maternal complications of childbirth
  • developing new and more effective interventions to improve maternal and child health.

Understanding the causes of poor health among pregnant women and infants

In resource-poor regions globally, pregnant women experience high rates of malaria, anemia, under-nutrition, reproductive tract infections, and other viral and bacterial infections.

These issues can lead to morbidity and mortality in women. In infants, these factors can cause low birth weight (LBW) and premature delivery resulting in a significant number of infant deaths each year. 

Being born too small is the biggest risk factor for neonatal death, and also puts infants at risk of poor growth and development.

250508 PNG Day4 Part1 22 (1)
Thom Cookes

A mother and baby at the Paparatava Health Centre, East New Britain, PNG.

Poor growth and development in young children, often referred to as stunting, is a major problem in many regions and is associated with 40% of deaths in young children as well and many chronic health problems.

However, the roles of nutrition, anemia, malaria, and other infections on birth outcomes and child growth and development are not well understood which limits the development and implementation of effective strategies and interventions.

Through the HMHB initiative, we have undertaken a longitudinal study of 700 pregnant women attending antenatal care and followed them through to delivery and followed the mothers and their infants for 12 months after delivery.

Among these women, we are evaluating nutrition, including evaluating specific micronutrient deficiencies, metabolic status, anemia, and a range of infections including malaria.

Student opportunities

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HMHB in Papua New Guinea: understanding the causes of poor health among pregnant women and infants

This project involves investigating causes of low birth weight and poor child growth. It combines laboratory-based assays of samples collected from mothers and infants with analysis of clinical data.

A particular priority is to better understand and quantify poor nutrition and to identify the causes of anemia and poor child growth and development.

Partners

Principal supporter

  • BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP)

Partners

  • Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR)
  • East New Britain Provincial Government
  • Papua New Guinea National Department of Health
  • University of Papua New Guinea
  • Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)

Contacts

Main contacts

Professor James Beeson

Professor James Beeson

Deputy Director, Research Strategy; Head, Malaria Immunity and Vaccines Group; Adjunct Professor, Monash University
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Student supervisor contacts

Professor James Beeson

Professor James Beeson

Deputy Director, Research Strategy; Head, Malaria Immunity and Vaccines Group; Adjunct Professor, Monash University
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Chrissie Collins

Chrissie Collins

Executive Assistant to Professor James Beeson
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Dr Michelle Scoullar

Dr Michelle Scoullar

Senior Research Fellow - Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health. Paediatrician.
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Project team

Professor James Beeson

Professor James Beeson

Deputy Director, Research Strategy; Head, Malaria Immunity and Vaccines Group; Adjunct Professor, Monash University
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Professor Brendan Crabb AC

Professor Brendan Crabb AC

Director and CEO; Chair Australian Global Health Alliance and Chair Pacific Friends of Global Health
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Professor Caroline Homer AO

Professor Caroline Homer AO

Deputy Director – Gender Equity, Diversity & Inclusion; Co-Head, Global Women's and Newborn Health; Co-Head, Immunisation and Health Systems Strengthening
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Clarissa Moreira

Clarissa Moreira

PhD Student and Research Assistant
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Dr Elissa Kennedy

Dr Elissa Kennedy

Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head Global Adolescent Health
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Professor Freya J.I. Fowkes

Professor Freya J.I. Fowkes

Deputy Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Head, Malaria and Infectious Disease Epidemiology
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Professor Gilda Tachedjian

Professor Gilda Tachedjian

Head, Life Sciences Discipline; Head, Retroviral Biology and Antivirals Laboratory
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Dr Herbert Opi

Dr Herbert Opi

Senior Research Fellow
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Dr Joshua Hayward

Dr Joshua Hayward

Senior Research Officer
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Professor Joshua Vogel

Professor Joshua Vogel

Co-Program Director, Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health; Co-Head, Global Women’s and Newborn’s Health Group; Senior Principal Research Fellow
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Professor Leanne Robinson

Professor Leanne Robinson

Program Director, Health Security and Pandemic Preparedness; Senior Principal Research Fellow, Group Leader, Vector-Borne Diseases and Tropical Public Health
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Lisa Davidson

Lisa Davidson

Sexual and Reproductive Health Specialist
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Dr Michelle Scoullar

Dr Michelle Scoullar

Senior Research Fellow - Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health. Paediatrician.
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Onawuta Kesuwao

Onawuta Kesuwao

Project Officer, Grow Healthy Grow Strong Project
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Priscah Hezeri

Priscah Hezeri

Research Officer
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Ruth  Fidelis

Ruth Fidelis

Laboratory Supervisor
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Shan Huang

Shan Huang

Global Health Specialist
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Chrissie Collins

Chrissie Collins

EA to Deputy Director
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Dr Naomi Spotswood

Dr Naomi Spotswood

PhD Candidate
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