Episode 8: Going Beyond Statistics in Maternal and Child Health

Dr. Priscilla Magrath and Lisa Balland discuss maternal and child health, particularly looking at the case of Indonesia while discussing the influence of policy on birthing practices, the notion of the “right to health,” and the limitation of using statistics to describe health status. Some discussion refers to Magrath’s article, “Right to Health: A Buzzword in Health Policy in Indonesia” recently published in Medical Anthropology.

Priscilla Magrath, PhD, is a Medical Anthropologist that specializes in global health policy and practice. Recent work in Indonesia has examined how global health policies are interpreted and implemented in the areas of maternal health.

Lisa Balland is a graduate student at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH), studying global Family and Child Health. She currently works with El Rio Health's Reproductive Health Access Project (RHAP), which centers young people in bringing sexual health access and rights to Tucson teens, as well as works as a research assistant for the Title V project at MEZCOPH.