Dr Jane Hirst will speak on the topic of 'Pregnancy as an Opportunity to Improve Women’s Lifelong Health'. A brief description of the topic is set out below:

Globally non-communicable diseases are the leading causes of death and disability among women. In low- and middle-income countries, critical gaps exist in early screening and prevention programs for most non-communicable diseases. Women who develop complications during pregnancy, such as gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders, are at significantly increased risk for cardiometabolic complications in the years after pregnancy. The George Institute for Global Health developed the SMARThealth program as a low-cost approach to improving detection, referral and guideline-based management for cardiovascular diseases in older adults living in rural India. SMARThealth uses community health workers to screen adults in their home for cardiovascular risk factors, with a tablet App providing clinical decision support and referral to the primary care doctor. The primary care doctor has a complementary App to support guideline-based prescribing and communication back to the community health worker. We have adapted this approach for pregnancy and the first year after birth to integrate non-communicable disease prevention into pregnancy care (SMARThealth Pregnancy). Following a period of development and pilot testing, we are currently assessing the efficacy of SMARThealth Pregnancy through a pragmatic cluster across 30 rural sites in two states in India. The talk will present the SMARThealth pregnancy journey and potential directions for the future of women’s health.

This seminar will begin at 5pm in the Centre's Jerusalem Room. Prior booking is not required. All welcome.