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Reduction in disparities in improving maternal/infant outcomes

Guest Editor:
Monisa Aijaz, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA


Submission Status: Closed   |   Submission Deadline: 31 January 2024


This collection is no longer accepting submissions.


Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology is calling for submissions to our collection on Reduction of disparities in improving maternal/infant outcomes. 2.8 million pregnant individuals and infants die each year across the globe due to broader underlying social and economic inequities. In recent years, the increased awareness and attention to maternal and infant health have contributed to improving health outcomes and reducing disparities. We are interested in considering manuscripts exploring determinants and measurement of disparities, as well as policies, programs, and clinical interventions implemented to reduce disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes.

This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3.

Image credit: © tatyana_tomsickova / Getty Images / iStock

Meet the Guest Editor

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Monisa Aijaz: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

Dr. Monisa Aijaz specializes in implementation research and practice. Her main interests include the equitable implementation of evidence-based interventions and policies to address disparities in maternal health outcomes.

Dr. Aijaz is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Her dissertation focuses on understanding the effect of care management programs on disparities in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and its complications in the US through a lens of structural racism. Dr. Aijaz completed her MD at Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences in India. She completed the Master of Public Health degree at UNC with an emphasis on implementation science and its application to improve maternal and child health outcomes. Her past research focused on understanding the role of telehealth in improving access to maternal health services in the US and equity considerations during the decision-making process.

Her past activities centered on building the implementation capacity of WHO-affiliated low-middle-income countries to improve maternal health outcomes.

About the collection

Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology is calling for submissions to our collection on Reduction of disparities in improving maternal/infant outcomes. Inequitable access to high-quality and respectful healthcare perpetuates. This collection, edited by Dr. Monisa Aijaz, MD, MPH, is open to both original articles, systematic reviews, and commentaries focusing on clinical, social, and systemic factors contributing to disparities in maternal and infant health, with the ultimate goal to provide comprehensive, state-of-the-art evidence on this time-sensitive topic. We are interested in considering manuscripts exploring determinants and measurement of disparities, as well as policies, programs, and clinical interventions implemented to reduce disparities in maternal and infant health outcomes.

  1. Despite maternal flavivirus infections’ linkage to severe maternal and fetal outcomes, surveillance during pregnancy remains limited globally. Further complicating maternal screening for these potentially tera...

    Authors: Mary K. Lynn, Marvin Stanley Rodriguez Aquino, Pamela Michelle Cornejo Rivas, Xiomara Miranda, David F. Torres-Romero, Hanson Cowan, Madeleine M. Meyer, Willber David Castro Godoy, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Stella C.W. Self, Berry A. Campbell and Melissa S. Nolan
    Citation: Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology 2024 10:7
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. To address socioeconomic disparities in the health outcomes of preterm infants, we must move beyond describing these disparities and focus on the development and implementation of interventions that disrupt th...

    Authors: Zoe Bouchelle, Timothy D. Nelin, Elizabeth Salazar, Andrea F. Duncan and Margaret G. Parker
    Citation: Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology 2024 10:2
    Content type: Comment Published on:

  3. To examine the association between maternal education and adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes in women who conceived using medically assisted reproduction, which included fertility medications, intrauterine...

    Authors: Cassie L. Hobbs, Christina Raker, Gabrielle Jude, Jennifer L. Eaton and Stephen Wagner
    Citation: Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology 2023 9:16
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Women with disabilities face a number of barriers when accessing reproductive health services, including maternal healthcare. These include physical inaccessibility, high costs, transportation that is not acce...

    Authors: M. Tara Casebolt, Kavita Singh, Ilene S. Speizer and Carolyn T. Halpern
    Citation: Maternal Health, Neonatology and Perinatology 2023 9:11
    Content type: Research article Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles, Review Articles, Case Reports, Study Protocols, and Database Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Reduction in disparities in improving maternal/infant outcomes" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies, including those pertaining to Collections. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.