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  • Title: Safer motherhood.
    Journal: Child Surviv Action News; 1987; (8):1-4. PubMed ID: 12341886.
    Abstract:
    Of the 500,000 maternal deaths that are recorded each year, 300,000 take place in South and West Asia, 150,000 in Africa, 34,000 in Latin America, and 12,000 in East Asia. Only 6,000 deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth occur in developed countries each year. The lifetime chance of dying in childbirth in a developing country ranges from 1 in 15 to 1 in 70, in marked contrast to the 1 in 3000 to 1 in 10,000 risk in developed countries. The most common medical causes of maternal mortality in Third World countries are hemorrhage, infection, and toxemia. Locations where access to health care is limited have high death rates attributable to obstructed labor and its complications. The poor nutritional status of women in developing countries is a contributing factor to maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. It has been estimated that 63-80% of direct maternal deaths and 88-98% of all maternal deaths could be avoided with proper health care. However, less than 50% of births in developing countries are attended by a physician, nurse, midwife, or trained traditional birth attendant and fewer than 50% of the women in some countries attend even 1 prenatal consultation with a trained person. Although the immediate causes of maternal deaths are generally medical factors, there are usually underlying socioeconomic causes such as poverty, malnutrition, place of residence, educational level, and women's status. Better education, special health programs directed toward men and the community, and more effective use of the media could help promote the socioeconomic changes necessary to enhance women's status. Improved access to maternal health and child spacing services can also be established through training traditional birth attendants, especially in the recognition and referral of complications of pregnancy and delivery. Also needed is the avoidance of unwanted pregnancy through the effective use of contraception. According to World Bank calculations, developing countries can reduce maternal mortality by at least half in a decade at a cost of only US$2/per capita/year.
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