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  • Title: Safe motherhood: with whom the responsibility rests?
    Author: Malhotra AD.
    Journal: Nurs J India; 1994 Aug; 85(8):193-5. PubMed ID: 7838776.
    Abstract:
    Whereas the risk of infant mortality is nine times higher in the least developed countries as compared to industrialized countries, the risk of maternal mortality is often more than 100 times higher. Approximately 75% of the 500,000 maternal deaths which occur each year are attributed to hemorrhage, sepsis, toxemia, obstructed labor, and the complications of unsafe abortion. Appropriate prenatal care would 1) prevent or detect and treat life- and health-threatening abnormalities; 2) prepare the mother for the demands of labor and motherhood and counsel her on diet, exercise, rest, and drug treatment; 3) prepare the mother psychologically and emotionally for child-bearing; and 4) provide general health screening. Special attention should be paid to complications, postpartum hemorrhage, reduction of low birth weight, resuscitation techniques for the newborn, and hygiene. The reduction in maternal and infant deaths will require an intersectoral approach and will benefit from the following: 1) giving high priority to maternal and infant deaths; 2) increasing the use of contraceptives and promoting safe and legal abortion; 3) providing HIV prevention education; 4) promoting the importance of prenatal care; 5) disseminating information about family planning; 6) improving health training programs; 7) developing health education campaigns; 8) using appropriate health care technologies; 9) strengthening community-based maternal health and delivery systems; 10) organizing operational research and evaluation procedures; 11) involving nurses and traditional birth attendants in existing health services; and 12) mobilizing and involving the community in all health programs.
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