This volume offers a clear, multidisciplinary, essential overview of maternal health throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. Covering essential and emerging topics—from nutrition, infection, haematological disorders, and biochemistry to the maternal microbiome and the role of biomedical engineering, it highlights both core principles and areas sometimes overlooked such as maternal health in the context of physical disabilities and antibiotic use in pregnancy. Enhanced by figures and tables and enriched by a blend of international perspectives with primary data gathered from African healthcare providers through targeted online questionnaires, the book offers an accessible yet rigorous resource for clinicians, researchers, and public health professionals, in particular for those in developing countries.

Callixte Yadufashije is a prominent scientist, academic leader, and researcher who has mainly contributed in the field of medicine and health sciences through teaching, research, and community outreach.   He is Associate professor of epidemiology and infectious diseases with extensive experience in teaching research methods for undergraduate and postgraduate medical science students in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and Burundi. As academic administrator, he has held top leadership positions such as Deputy Vice Chancellor for academic Affairs and Research and Director of research and consultancy at INES Ruhengeri Institute of Applied Sciences in Rwanda, and played a significant role in the faculty of health sciences in postgraduate program development, conference organization, and scientific talks in antimicrobial resistance. A part from expanding his network in East Africa, He contributed to academic mobility programs under the Inter University council for East Africa and linked professors to institutions that hosted them during this program aiming in enhancing quality education through the exchange of academic staff among sister universities in the region. The author has contributed to scientific community through serving as editor and reviewer in peer reviewed journals in the region and beyond, he published scientific articles in reputable journals, and supported both undergraduate and postgraduate students in their final year dissertations in his field of specialization. He received different awards such as NCI Cancer Research Training Travel Award for LMIC Investigators to attend the IPOS Research Training Academy and 20th world congress on psychooncology in Hong Kong, Africa Science Leadership Program (ASLP) 2022 by Future Africa Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa, Africa Research Excellence Fund Towards Leadership Program 2023 United Kingdom, and others. Callixte yadufashije is an inventor of the innovative pedagogical approach in the use algebraic equations to teach research methods in 2025 article published in Indian Journal of Science and Technology