News and Blogs

Emily Herfel, DO, Msc-GH, FACOG (Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Obstetricians and Gynecologists), is an assistant professor at Duke Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, an affiliate at the Duke Center for Global Reproductive Health, and a volunteer professor at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania. Dr. Herfel completed her undergraduate work at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio followed by a Doctor of Osteopathy at Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine in Athens, Ohio. She completed residency at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She then went on to receive her Masters of Science in Global Health through a Women’s Global Health Fellowship at Duke University. During that fellowship, she received an NIH-Fogarty grant to complete her project in Kisumu, Kenya. I had an enriching conversation with Dr. Herfel to learn more about her experiences within the global health sphere and her passion for reproductive health care. “Right in the heart of COVID, in July 2020, I moved to...

The Center for Global Reproductive Health and the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health recently partnered to convene a webinar on “The unfinished agenda of maternal and child health in Africa and Asia: promising directions to address maternal mortality challenges.” The panel, moderated by Dr. Megan Huchko, included: Dr. Mariam Claeson, former Director of the Global Financing Facility for Every Women Every Child at the World Bank and now at the Karolinska Institute Dr. Qjan Long, Assistant Professor at Duke Kunshan University, formerly worked at the Department of Reproductive Health and Research, WHO Ms. Jacquelyn Caglia, Director of Learning, Communications for Merck for Mothers Experts discussed the historic and current challenges in addressing maternal and child mortality in the region, and brought up some promising innovations and strategies with the potential to effect these disparities in the future. The webinar can be seen here, with a fill description of the background and discussion on the CPIGH website....

As the topic of sexual and reproductive health re-enters the public consciousness in America through the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it becomes increasingly important to access American Sex Education, or rather, the failures of it, and how we teach these topics to our most impressionable population, children. The state of sex-education in this country is in shambles. Though the majority of Americans support sex-education in middle school and in high school, what exactly does that education look like?  The first and one of the most important things to note about sex-education in the states is that there is no universal regulation of it. Only thirty nine states, plus DC, even have government mandated sex-education [5]. Within the states with mandated sex-education, only thirteen must provide “medically accurate” sex-education [1]. The content of what is covered in sex-education varies widely from state to state, within states that do have government mandated sex-education, it is often left to individual districts to decide...

The United States is one of the leading nations in medical advancement and spends a significant portion of expenditures in healthcare and yet, we have the highest rate of maternal mortality (ratio of 57) among developed countries. About 57 mothers die during childbirth per 100,000 birth in a year. Maternal mortality is defined as the death of a mother due to pregnancy and/or childbirth complications [3]. These complications can arise due to a variety of factors including environmental lifestyle, predisposing conditions, risk factors, genetics and socioeconomic factors [1]. Pregnancy complications are likely to arise in women with higher maternal age and those with chronic cardiovascular conditions. Preeclampsia is a condition in which women develop high blood pressure due to preexisting cardiovascular conditions and kidney disease. Black non-Hispanic mothers are 2.5 times more likely to die from pregnancy or labor complications compared to white women and 3.5 times more likely to die than Hispanic women [3]. Why is there a disparity in...

Although stigma surrounding menstruation exists around the world, this stigma manifests in a way that has a deeply negative effect on the lives of menstruators in some communities in India. In these communities, periods are treated as dirty and impure. Many menstruators are not allowed to pray, go to the temple, or enter the kitchen while on their period. Due to the negative stigma surrounding menstruation, menstruators in these communities do not discuss menstruation. Many men do not even know what menstruation is. Menstruators feel ashamed buying sanitary pads from male workers at health stores and are thus forced to use unsanitary cloth rags during their cycles. As a result of the lack of access to proper menstrual hygiene products and community support, in some Indian communities, young menstruators are forced to end their education after they get their period.  Despite how pervasive this taboo is in many Indian communities, there are a variety of efforts to combat this detrimental stigma....