Maternal health
Maternal health encompasses the well-being of individuals throughout the stages of pregnancy and childbirth, as well as the postpartum period. It aims to reduce maternal illnesses and deaths, particularly through education, support, and access to quality healthcare. For many, especially in developing nations, pregnancy can be fraught with anxiety and health risks, exacerbated by limited access to prenatal and postnatal care. High-risk demographics include young mothers, those living in poverty, and individuals from marginalized communities, who often face barriers to necessary medical services.
Prenatal care is crucial as it addresses potential health issues for both the mother and the unborn child while promoting healthy lifestyle choices. In developed countries, this care typically includes regular health assessments following childbirth to ensure both mother and baby are thriving. However, in many low-income regions, the absence of trained healthcare providers and emergency obstetric services significantly increases the likelihood of severe complications, such as high blood pressure and hemorrhage.
Global efforts, led by organizations like the World Health Organization and UNICEF, strive to improve maternal health outcomes, particularly in low-income countries where the majority of maternal deaths occur. Although there have been improvements in maternal mortality rates, challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic have negatively impacted these outcomes in various regions, highlighting the ongoing need for robust maternal health initiatives.
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Maternal health
Maternal health refers to the health and well-being of people before, during, and after pregnancy and gestation. International and local organizations work to improve maternal health by conducting research and by supporting programs to help educate and treat not only pregnant people but all people of childbearing age. The primary goal is to reduce the incidence of maternal illness and death through education, support, and quality health care aimed at improving reproductive health.
Overview
For many people, especially those in developing countries, pregnancy is filled with worry, sickness, pain, and even death. Most at-risk are women and young girls who live in countries where pre- and postnatal care is limited or nonexistent or within cultures that place women in a lower social status, thereby restricting their access to quality care and services. In the United States, people of color, people living in poverty or lacking education, very young mothers, and undocumented immigrants are at greater risk for illness and death resulting from a lack of prenatal care.
Prenatal care is preventive care that allows health workers to prevent and treat potential health problems for the mother or birthing parent and unborn child. In addition to monitoring the health of the mother or birthing parent and child, prenatal care includes counseling expectant parents on making healthy lifestyle choices that will benefit themselves and the pregnancy. Routine prenatal visits have been shown to reduce maternal illness and death as well as the incidence of miscarriage and low birth weight in babies.
Care for people during the postnatal, or postpartum, period begins at the birth of the child and continues for approximately six weeks. In most developed nations, a person is assessed immediately following delivery. Tears are sutured, the patient is monitored, and immediate or potential health issues are addressed. Medical staff ensures that the mother or birthing parent is lactating and that any problems with breastfeeding are resolved. The goal in the first few days following a birth is to ensure that mother and child are healthy and that the parents are equipped with any knowledge and information necessary to take care of their newborn. A doctor visit is scheduled for several weeks after the birth to ensure the mother or birthing parent is healing well and that potential health problems are not developing.
Limited or nonexistent pre- and postnatal care dramatically increases the incidence of maternal morbidity and mortality. The most common complications of pregnancy and childbirth for people without this care are high blood pressure, hemorrhage, and infection. Very young mothers whose bodies have not fully developed and who have narrow pelvises are at risk for obstructed labor and subsequent death. These young mothers in developing countries are the highest-risk demographic for maternal death. Malnutrition often leads to iron deficiency and maternal death or results in dangerously low birth weight. Pregnant women in most developing nations deliver newborns without the help of a trained midwife or doctor, and there is rarely any emergency obstetric care available. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 95 percent of maternal deaths occur in low- and lower middle-income countries and access to maternal healthcare could prevent the vast majority of these deaths. Conditions overall are improving, however; the WHO reported that the maternal death rate decreased by about 34 percent during the period from 2000 to 2020.
Despite such improvements, maternal death rates in the US and other parts of the world were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020. In the US, for instance, maternal mortality rates climbed from 20 deaths per 100,000 births in 2019 to 24 deaths per 100,000 births in 2020. Moreover, Black people were disproportionately affected, with rates reaching 55 deaths per 100,000 births in 2020 among Black mothers or birthing parents, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. These rates continued to rise during the 2020s. In 2021, deaths of pregnant women soared by 40 percent in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), bringing the US maternal death rate to 32.9 deaths per 100,000 births in 2021. That rate was far higher than many other high-income countries, which tended to have rates around 2 deaths per 100,000 births. Experts attributed this increase to continued challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as abortion restrictions and staffing shortages in hospitals.
Groups such as the WHO, UNICEF, the United Nations, and the CDC work to educate foreign governments and people worldwide on the importance of maternal health and the steps that must be taken to reduce the rate of maternal mortality and morbidity.
Bibliography
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