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Improving the Health of Women, Children and Adolescents: from Evidence to Action

Consider the latest data, priorities and debates about the health of mothers, children and adolescents in this free online course.

37,821 enrolled on this course

Image of children ranging from very young to teenaged

Improving the Health of Women, Children and Adolescents: from Evidence to Action

37,821 enrolled on this course

  • 6 weeks

  • 4 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Introductory level

Find out more about how to join this course

Each year, there are roughly 10 million new-born, child, adolescent, maternal, and stillborn deaths. Most of these deaths and linked disabilities can be prevented if evidence-based interventions are implemented.

By signing up for this course, you’ll learn from the world’s leading experts with direct experience improving the health of women, children and adolescents across the globe. They’ll take you on a unique and compelling learning journey, summarising the latest data, evidence, and research gaps in an accessible way.

Explore the lifecycle from birth to adulthood

The course will run over six weeks, exploring the lifecycle from birth to adulthood, to look at adolescent, reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health.

Each week will focus on a different area, inviting you to discuss the most recent data, and the current policy, programme and research debates that inform action to improve health outcomes.

At the end of the course we will reflect on the importance of lifecycle thinking for women, children and adolescents in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.

Get multiple perspectives on maternal and child health

The Centre for Maternal, Adolescent, Reproductive, and Child Health (MARCH) is the central hub for women’s and children’s health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and comprises more than 150 academics working around the world in 100 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. In this course, you will hear from MARCH Centre experts in a range of disciplines, including epidemiology, demography, anthropology, medicine and public health.

Contributors include:

  • Professor Joy Lawn, Director of the MARCH Centre
  • Professor David Ross from the World Health Organisation Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.

Understand case studies from around the globe

Through the use of case studies, multimedia content and discussions with other learners from around the globe, we will consider the latest evidence about how to improve the health of women, children and adolescents in the context of different country settings.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 12 seconds JOY LAWN: Welcome to this online course. My name is Joy Lawn, and I’m a professor here at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, as well as the director of the MARCH Centre who have developed this course. Now here at the London School, with famed for being obsessed with the life cycles of bugs and parasites. But in this course, we’re going to take a journey through the lifecycle of the human. And this is something that all of us can relate to. We’ve chosen to start not with the baby, but with the adolescent– young people. An opportunity for transformation. Then we will move to reproductive health under threat on the global agenda.

Skip to 0 minutes and 53 seconds Then to maternal health, 30 years of progress and yet, an unfinished agenda. Then onto newborns. Newborn on the global agenda, and still births that are still neglected. And we will end with the child. So many opportunities, and yet challenges. And the last week of this course, we will end up bringing together that life cycle. In each of the weeks, we will focus on where do we need to be by 2030? Only a decade until we need to reach ambitious targets. Where are we now? The evidence we have to bridge that gap around the world. And also the gaps– the research gaps, the data gaps, the action gaps, and the controversies.

Skip to 1 minute and 44 seconds In designing this course, we have learned together and from many participants who took the first edition of this course, 26,000 of you from 130 different countries. And one of the most beautiful things for us has been your participation and your inputs. So in this course, we want to interact with you. You will meet world-leading scientists, and you will meet next generation scientists. We have deliberately incorporated gender and diversity in the faces you will see. And we hope that together, we can learn not just about the evidence, but how to bring that to action, to change outcomes for women and children all over the world. We look forward to this journey with you. Thank you.

What topics will you cover?

  • The health of adolescents and young people
  • Reproductive health and what it means to make every birth wanted
  • The health of women during pregnancy, whilst giving birth and during the postnatal period
  • Newborns and stillbirths in the global health agenda
  • The health of children and the progress made to reduce their mortality.

When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

  • Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Investigate health across the lifecycle, from newborn to child, to adolescents and women, in areas of the world where the burden of disease is highest
  • Engage with how different stages of the lifecycle affect each other
  • Evaluate the evidence on what causes poor health outcomes and what is known about how to prevent them

Who is the course for?

This course is designed for healthcare professionals or anyone working in a health organisation; undergraduate students taking a healthcare or science-related degree; medical students and postgraduates wishing to complement their studies; and anyone else with an interest in learning about the health of women, children and adolescents.

What do people say about this course?

"Thank you for a most informative course. I have also completed the course on Health in Humanitarian Crises. For both courses the quality of the presentations, the organisation of the material and links to further information have provided me with resources that I will continue to use in my work. Again, thank you."

"I found this course very educative and thought-provoking as the facts and figures were laid bare."

Who will you learn with?

I am an African-born, British-trained paediatrician, and perinatal epidemiologist, with >25 yrs experience mainly in Africa, plus expertise in global estimates. Now Director of MARCH @joylawn

Who developed the course?

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is a world leader in research and postgraduate education in public and global health. Its mission is to improve health and health equity worldwide.

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Ways to learn

Choose the best way to learn for you!

Subscribe & save

$27.99

For the first two months. Automatically renews

Develop skills to further your career

  • Access to this course
  • Access to 1,000+ courses
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Digital certificate when you're eligible

Cancel for free anytime

Buy this course

$134/one-off payment

Fulfill your current learning need

  • Access to this course
  • Learn at your own pace
  • Discuss your learning in comments
  • Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible

Limited access

Free

Sample the course materials

  • Access expires 30 Apr 2024

Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)

T&Cs apply.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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