Maternal Mortality

Focusing on the fifth Millennium Development Goal

What I Knew (Reflection 1) Bleeding to Death (Neg. impact of antenatal

care) Transportation Problems Mothers and Fistulas HIV Infected Mothers Hospital Personnel Issues What I Know Now (Reflection 2) Works Cited

Table of Contents

Actually, I should title this “What I Don’t

Know”. Though I know much about the struggles that my ancestors encountered with maternal health, I know very little about the bigger picture. I am well aware of the amount of women who are not given proper nourishment while pregnant. It is sad to think that many women do not have access to sanitation or professional health services when giving birth, and that these women should have to die trying to bring life to the world. This is why I chose this topic.

What I knew…

Bleeding to Death

We have attempted to increase the amount of antenatal care in countries with poor maternal health; this has had somewhat of an adverse effect, increasing the amount of out-of-hospital births.

Series10

1

2

3

4

5

6

Maternal Mortal-ity Decline

AfricaAMRSEAREUREMRWPRGlobal

Avera

ge A

nn

ual R

ate

of

Declin

e

Though this chart looks promising, the decline is not sufficient to meet our MDG.

According to the World HealthStatistics 2012

Transportation Problems

Specifically in Africa, one of the main reasons why most women do not deliver in a hospital is the transportation. Many cannot afford to be transported there, let alone pay for the services when they arrive.

Ethiopian women who give birth with a profes-

sional

WithWithout

Hamlin Fistula International

Mothers and Fistulas

Particularly in Africa, there is an issue with women experiencing difficulties in child birth, oftentimes creating fistulas (often killing the baby). These women are isolated because of their inability to keep up with their hygiene. Many complete suicide.Some hope: humanitarian efforts are creating

fistula clinics in these low-income countries.

Women Dying of Birth Complica-

tions

African WomenOther

From

“Tim

e t

o S

ave W

om

en

’s L

ives”

HIV Infected Mothers

Mother to Child HIV Transmission

Born HIV infected

Infected via breast feeding

Not In-fected

In many cases, women do not have enough money to support their family, so they turn prostitution. This often results in HIV infection. When pregnant, the virus can also transfer to the child.

Humanitarian efforts have kits with ARV drugs that decrease the risk of HIV transmission from mother to baby.

Untreated, according to AVERT.Org

Personnel

If the mother somehow finds the funds to get to a hospital to deliver her baby, the facility may not even be capable of taking care of her, due to lack of sufficient personnel. 77% of clinics in Ghana could not provide 24 h. emergency care, and 72% could not provide the full range of expected services.

Ghana’s Health Care Facilities

2002 Unable to provide full range of ser-vices

Able

According to "The Challenge of Global Health." Foreign Affairs

Once again, there is so much that I do not know, and I

am quite aware of that fact. The more I learn on this subject, the more I come to realize that without experiencing and seeing this crisis first hand, I cannot fully understand this topic. I know that fistulas, obstructed labor, and disease are some of the main reasons for maternal morbidity and mortality. I know that though our attempts at helping those in countries with this issue have had an impact, we are not helping enough. We need more clinics, more education, and more safety to be implemented in those areas. Most of all, we need more donors; of time and money to complete the Millennium Development Goal.

What I know Now…

Coeytaux, F., Taylor-McGhee, B., & May, E. T. (2010). Time to Save Women's

Lives. Ms., 36. Garrett, L. (2007). The Challenge of Global Health. FOREIGN AFFAIRS, 14+. Hamlin Fistula International. (2009). Fistula Fast Facts. Retrieved from Hamlin

Fistula International: http://www.hamlinfistula.org/what-is-a-fistula/fast-facts-and-faqs.html

International Federation of Social Workers. (2012). World health statistics 2012 – maternal and child deaths down. www.ifsw.org, http://ifsw.org/news/world-health-statistics-2012-maternal-and-child-deaths-down/.

Khor, M. (1996). Bleeding To Death: Health Care In The Marketplace. The World Resergance, 7+.

Kristof, N. D., & WuDunn, S. (2012). Half The Sky. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Wikipedia. (2012). Millenium Development Goals. Retrieved from Wikipedia: The

Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Development_Goals World Health Organization. (2012). World Health Statistics 2012. Switzerland:

World Health Organization.

Works Cited