Jil Molenaar
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jilmolenaar.bsky.social
Jil Molenaar
@jilmolenaar.bsky.social
PhD student Institute of Tropical Medicine & University of Antwerp | maternal health, quality of care, the politics of data, Tanzania | quali-minded | she/her l @srhgroup-itm.bsky.social @itmantwerp.bsky.social
Pinned
Pressure to meet targets to improve health outcomes for women and their babies can have unintended negative consequences. In this blog post, published on Harvard’s Maternal Health Taskforce website, I explain why.
www.mhtf.org/2024/11/07/m...
Meeting the target but missing the point: The politics of childbirth data
Pressure to meet targets to improve health outcomes for women and their babies can have unintended negative consequences. Rose, one of two nurse-midwives on duty in a hospital labour ward in Southe…
www.mhtf.org
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
⚠️ Update: Live metrics show widespread restrictions to multiple social media and messaging platforms as #Tanzania comes back online after a five-day internet shutdown; the incident continues to limit election transparency and the free flow of information
November 3, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
What's happening to global health now that Trump's withdrawing the US from...everything? The Gates Foundation—already a major player—is now filling that power vacuum, for better or worse. Check out my new piece for @undark.org! undark.org/2025/07/02/g...
The Gates Foundation’s Global Reach Expands, to Mixed Reviews
As the U.S. and other countries cut funding for global health initiatives, what role will philanthropy take?
undark.org
July 7, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
🔎 The University of St Andrews research team led by Katherine Keenan and partner in the SOC-MISC project is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to work on analysing Scottish public data on miscarriages.

More information in the link below :
👉 www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
Post-doctoral Research Fellow – AR3162
Post-doctoral Research Fellow – AR3162, School of Geography and Sustainable Development, Salary: £38,249 - £45,413 per annum, Start: Earliest December 2025 (to be confirmed), Fixed term for 18 mont...
www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk
August 5, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
When health data go dark: the importance of the DHS Program and imagining its future

We discuss;

Consequences on the tracking of population health outcomes & behaviours.

Implications for national decision-makers & the global health community

Potential paths forward

doi.org/10.1186/s129...
When health data go dark: the importance of the DHS Program and imagining its future - BMC Medicine
Background The suspension and/or termination of many programmes funded through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by the new US administration has severe short- and long-te...
doi.org
April 28, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
February 17, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
🚨 What happens when vital health data disappears? The suspension of USAID funding for the DHS Program threatens global health monitoring, policymaking, and life-saving interventions. We must restore funding before this loss impacts millions. Share with your network!
www.itg.be/en/health-st...
February 14, 2025 at 10:26 AM
When health data go dark, we create dangerous blind spots. The USAID funding freeze has halted DHS Program work in many LMICs. Read our call to restore data access & continue DHS activities: shorturl.at/8U1LN @itmantwerp.bsky.social @srhgroup-itm.bsky.social @lenkabenova.bsky.social
When health data go dark
A call to restore DHS Program funding
www.itg.be
February 13, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Just published: ‘Getting the numbers right’ - on how healthcare workers navigate power & pressure when collecting MNH data in Tanzania. Ethnographic insights on the social lives of health data 🏥 tinyurl.com/3n8tcefh @srhgroup-itm.bsky.social @lenkabenova.bsky.social
January 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
We had heard about the challenges posed by motherhood within academia, but what about the previous stage? @ecfreewoman.bsky.social & I wrote our story for @science.org on how the academic system makes it almost impossible for women to even plan for a family ❤️‍🩹: www.science.org/content/arti...
As women in academia, having children can feel impossible. Talking about it makes us feel less alone
The struggle is “balancing their careers not just with motherhood, but with what comes before: relationships and planning for a family,” these postdocs write
www.science.org
November 29, 2024 at 6:34 AM
De hoge druk om doelstellingen te halen voor betere gezondheidsuitkomsten voor vrouwen en hun baby’s, kan onbedoeld negatieve gevolgen hebben. De Nederlandstalige versie van mijn blog staat nu online op de Kennismakers website! shorturl.at/WzVPt @srhgroup-itm.bsky.social @annadams.bsky.social
Doelen behaald, de essentie gemist: De politiek van geboortedata | Kennismakers
De hoge druk om doelstellingen te halen voor betere gezondheidsuitkomsten voor vrouwen en hun baby’s, kan onbedoeld negatieve gevolgen hebben.
kennismakers.be
November 26, 2024 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
Scientists should stop arguing about whether science is political and get on with defending science against increasingly powerful attacks on it, which, yes, means scientists should be political advocates 🔥🔥
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Scientists as political advocates
Science, both teaching and doing, is under attack. The recent US presidential election of a person and platform with anti-science bias exemplifies this. The study of climate processes and patterns and...
www.science.org
November 22, 2024 at 8:52 AM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
Georgia officials have dismissed all members of the state's Maternal Mortality Review Committee, which is charged with investigating deaths of pregnant women, in response to ProPublica's reporting on the deaths of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller.
Georgia Dismissed All Members of Maternal Mortality Committee After ProPublica Obtained Internal Details of Two Deaths
In a letter, the state’s public health commissioner said the action was taken because “confidential information provided to the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was inappropriately shared with outs...
propub.li
November 21, 2024 at 8:19 PM
Digital data systems hold a lot of promise, but we should avoid ‘techno-utopian’ views of digital technologies as straightforward ways to fix problems in routine health information systems. Our qualitative paper 'Data for whom?' is now out in BMJ Global Health! gh.bmj.com/content/9/11...
Data for whom? Experiences and perceptions of a perinatal eRegistry in two hospitals in Mtwara region, Tanzania
Introduction Digital data systems have the potential to improve data quality and provide individual-level information to understand gaps in the quality of care. This study explored experiences and per...
gh.bmj.com
November 21, 2024 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Jil Molenaar
"This #map represents what I know": the power of putting Lubumbashi’s #maternal healthcare services on the map

"Keeping the maps accurate therefore requires a continuous effort, which is unlikely to happen without local ownership."

www.itg.be/fr/histoires...
www.itg.be/en/health-st...
Mapping Lubumbashi’s maternal healthcare services
Recently, health system managers & stakeholders provided input on preliminary maps of maternal & newborn healthcare facilities in Lubumbashi
www.itg.be
November 12, 2024 at 6:27 AM
Pressure to meet targets to improve health outcomes for women and their babies can have unintended negative consequences. In this blog post, published on Harvard’s Maternal Health Taskforce website, I explain why.
www.mhtf.org/2024/11/07/m...
Meeting the target but missing the point: The politics of childbirth data
Pressure to meet targets to improve health outcomes for women and their babies can have unintended negative consequences. Rose, one of two nurse-midwives on duty in a hospital labour ward in Southe…
www.mhtf.org
November 14, 2024 at 9:00 AM