Declan Meagher

Dr. Declan J Meagher (1921-2019) was an Irish obstetrician, Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Dublin, and a champion of women's reproductive health.^[1]

Doctor Declan J Meagher
Dr. Declan J. Meagher
Master of National Maternity Hospital
In office 1970–1976
Succeeded by	Dermot W MacDonald
Personal details
Born	(1921-03-21)21 March 1921 Ferbane, County Offaly, Ireland
Died	3 November 2019(2019-11-03) (aged 98) Dublin, Ireland
Known for	Women's Health Obstetrics

Career

In 1963, Meagher set up one of the country's first family planning clinics. This was a time when most women in Ireland lived in poverty, had a large number of children, and suffered from high childbirth mortality rates.^[2]

Meagher, who by 1970, had become Master of the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin, one of the largest maternity hospitals in Europe, sought to reduce perinatal mortality by implementing a new approach to the management of childbirth. He did so by giving a greater role to midwives, providing additional support for mothers and reducing prolonged labour.^[3][4] "The Dublin Experience" helped usher in the modern era of Irish obstetrics^[5][6] and led to the development of a clinical package of care now internationally known as "active management of labour".^{[7][8][9][10]}

Charity

After his career at the National Maternity Hospital, Meagher took over as Director-General of the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, in the West Bank. There, with the Order of Malta and the European Union, he helped build Palestine's first maternity ward, introduced maternity training programs for local doctors and midwives, and set up rural maternity care clinics for Palestinian women.^[11][12]

Publication

Meagher co-authored with Kieran O'Driscoll, The Active Management of Labour, which is used in medical school curricula in Europe, Australia, Canada, Great Britain, and the United States.^[13][14]