Mapping maternal health
Issued: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:17:00 BST
Lecturer Julie Clague, who teaches in the School of Critical Studies, is heavily involved in research to understand how religion motivates people to behave in certain ways, and in particular how this impacts on health. 
‘My work is trying to put the knowledge base of theology into contact with what’s happening on the ground in a global context,’ says Ms Clague.
‘Faith-based interventions can have a hugely positive impact in addressing the HIV pandemic, for example. Many religious organisations run schools, hospitals and provide other sorts of provision and support. Yet blockages that result from a harmful theology can continue a cycle of people being infected with HIV.’
Four of Ms Clague’s twelve PhD students work alongside her on issues of HIV and religion. A key piece of work she is engaged with brings together representatives of the United Nations and a range of faith-based organisations including World Vision, Islamic Relief and Caritas Internationalis. The global project aims to map how religious groups promote maternal health in two areas: the provision of skilled birth attendants and the prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission.
‘When international agencies give money for health care, it might not end up doing good because of corruption or poor infrastructure,’ explains Ms Clague. ‘In the developing world it’s often faith communities working in villages that give people on very low incomes access to health provision – for example, teaching people how HIV is transmitted or offering testing to pregnant women.
‘To make a difference to maternal health and the survival rates of children, we must look to these places to identify good and bad practice. Our work in mapping the contribution of faith-based organisations to health provision can help the UN to improve the means by which it provides support on the ground.’