ONE of Scotland’s most prominent public health chiefs is taking time out of her high-profile job to head a charity project aimed at cutting the rate of deaths in mothers and babies in developing countries across the world.

Dr Linda de Caestecker, director of public health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Scotland’s biggest health board, hopes her successes in implementing large scale projects such as Glasgow’s much-praised anti-smoking programme and healthy eating in hospitals, will stand her in good stead for her new role.

The mother-of-four, from Glasgow, said she has always had a strong desire to become involved in international public health and help save lives in the developing countries.

From August 3, De Caestecker will be leading a major project for the International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (FIGO) charity to promote women’s reproductive health in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Tanzania over the next few years.

Now that her children have grown up and flown the nest, De Caestecker believes the time is right to throw herself into implementing long term change in those countries, which could potentially save thousands of lives.

Speaking from Ghana, where she is working with another charity to help them set up health services in the north of the country, De Caestecker explained what led her to take on the challenge: “I start the new job on August 3, I’m here in Ghana for another week then back for two weeks to hand over.

“I am on holiday but it is a kind of working holiday in that it’s to do with another charity that is trying to set up health services in the north of Ghana. It is annual leave rather than being part of the new job.

“I trained as an obstetrician and gynaecologist and I worked in Ghana in the 80s for a few years and while I was there I thought I would much rather do public health because this is just the tip of the iceberg and we are not really dealing with the real problem.

“At that time I planned to come back to Britain and train in public health and then go back to work in developing countries but I had four young children then and I never quite managed it.

“Also, I went back to Glasgow and I was very happy practicing public health in Glasgow.

“I always thought as I got closer to retirement I would like to work in international public health again and this opportunity came up and I applied for it.”

NHSGGC Chief Executive Robert Calderwood has agreed De Caestecker can take time out of her job and interim arrangements will be put in place within the Public Health Directorate to enable one of the consultants to act up as director of public health until April 2016.

De Caestecker, 58, said that she feels very lucky to have the support of the board behind her. Though the job is based in London, she hopes to visit the countries where they will be implementing the project, including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Tanzania.

She said: “We have local champions and leaders in these countries so a lot of my work will be supporting them from this country but also visiting to understand their challenges so that the different countries can learn from each other in how they are promoting women’s reproductive health.

“The project is about ensuring women’s contraceptive needs are met because of the high maternal and child mortality in these countries and if you can encourage women to space out their pregnancies so there is more time they have got between children to give them time to breastfeed properly, time to get their health back before they have another child and they are not trying to cope with large families very close together, then the evidence is you can reduce both maternal and child mortality.

“The project is going to be evaluated by Harvard University so they will have results of the first couple of years as to whether the project is making its aims.

“The aim of this is that it becomes part of routine practice rather than something that is a project.”

De Caestecker said though she has will miss Glasgow, she will use her experiences in the city to make positive changes elsewhere.