Maternal Health and Infant Mortality: A Generation Later
Maternal health is intimately connected with the health of a child therefore when we define barriers to maternal health, we can at the same time predict barriers to child mortality. In the most general sense, maternal health and child mortality is described as a mother’s ability to eat healthy, to have access to safe reproductive strategies, to seek and have access to the appropriate medical services, and to get educated on how to ensure that their life and the life of their baby remains healthy.
Under the Millennium Development Goals, nations around the world have the opportunity to sign on to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by at least three quarters as soon as 2015 (www.unicef.org).
Motherless children tend to be at a greater risk of death than children with mothers. Thousands of women die during childbirth [from complications] every minute around world, and in sub-Saharan Africa where there is a 1 in 16th chance of a woman dying during childbirth (www.unicef.org). Yet many of the factors (i.e. unsafe child birthing conditions) that lead to maternal mortality are for the most part preventable. A mother who has access to safe and effective medical services also has a better chance of raising a child (under the age of five) that does not suffer from a potentially fatal sickness such as Acute Respiratory Infection or diarrhoea (D’Souza, 2003).
Moreover in a study by Gyimah, Takyi, & Addai (2006), researchers found that socio-economic factors, such as extreme poverty, was not one of the major predictors of maternal health and infant mortality, however religious and other very strong ideological beliefs were seen as more of a predictor of current disparities in the rates at which women seek reliable medical services.
Some of the factors that directly contribute to poor maternal health and high frequencies of child mortality are: '''Haemorrhage''', '''obstructed labour''', '''hypertensive''' disorders in pregnancy, unsafe abortion, birth-related disabilities, and nutritional deficiencies. At least 30% of women worldwide lack '''antenatal''' care with 34% originating from Sub-Saharan Africa and 46% from South Asia (www.unicef.org). Highly infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS put both mothers and their infants at a greater risk of long-term sickness and early mortality. Children left orphaned by HIV/AIDS are at a greater risk of dying in the first two years of becoming orphans than children with parents (www.unicef.org). High-risk deliveries also pose a major threat to child mortality such that each year about 8 million babies die worldwide during labour and delivery and remain at risk up until the infant’s first week of life (www.unicef.org).
Maternal health organizations around the world have narrowed down four effective intervention strategies that have played a significant part in improving maternal health and reducing child mortality. The most important intervention specified by organizations such as UNICEF is the availability of quality medical services pre- and post-birth. This includes better-trained traditional (i.e. midwife) and formal (i.e. doctor) health care providers and available emergency '''obstetrics'''. As well, improving maternal nutrition practices during and after pregnancy is a strong predictor of the quality of health a newborn baby or infant will have once they are born. In addition counselling for mothers with HIV/AIDS or other infectious diseases (i.e. malaria) ensures that safer practices are utilized during mother-to-infant contact (i.e. breastfeeding). Finally, secondary education for girls has been shown to significantly increase the likelihood that mothers will have healthier pre-natal pregnancies and increase the survival rate of newly born babies.
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