MATERNAL HEALTH PROBLEMS: MATERNAL MORTALITY (death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy)

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MATERNAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

More than 150 million women become pregnant in developing countries each year and an estimated 500,000 of them die from pregnancy-related causes. Maternal health problems are also the causes for more than seven million pregnancies to result in stillbirths or infant deaths within the first week of life. Maternal death, of a woman in reproductive age, has a further impact by causing grave economic and social hardship for her family and community. Other than their health problems most women in the developing countries lack access to modern health care services and increases the magnitude of death from preventable problems.

Factors Affecting Health Status of Mothers

The major determinants of maternal morbidity and mortality include pregnancy, the development of pregnancy-related complications, including complications from abortion and the management of pregnancy, delivery, and the postpartum period. These factors include:

• Socio economic development of the country has serious Impact on morbidity and mortality .
• Poor agricultural development results in inadequate household food and has direct influence on nutritional status of mothers.

Maternal death often has a number of interlined causes, which may start as early as birth or in early childhood. For example, a girl who is not fed properly during her early years will be stunted and therefore more likely to have obstructed labour. Also, a woman's risk of dying from infection and haemorrhage is increased considerably when being malnourished.

Poor sanitary environment, poor housing, unsafe and inadequate water, adverse social and physical environment. 

Access to health services: Lack of access to modem health care services has great impact on increasing maternal death. Most pregnant women do not receive antenatal care; deliver without the assistance of trained health workers etc.

 Access to education: In many countries women have poor education and 2/3 of illiterate adults are women. Poor education of women has to be given serious consideration. Because denial of education indicates that women are denied the role they can play in decision-making and decreases the extent of contribution to their lives, family and community. Education is proved to have significant effect on women's health and reproductive behaviour through its influence on age at marriage, contraception and health care use, and awareness of risks and danger signs.

Women's reproductive and health behavior Reproductive and health behaviour involves, for example, the age at which a woman becomes pregnant, whether the pregnancy is wanted, and what kind of health care the woman seeks.

Access to and control of income and resources Women's income, access to household resources and power to make decisions influence their ability to seck and utilize health services.

Political commitment Political semmitment is crucial to allocate the available resources and to provide services which are accessible to those most in Noida.

Low social status of women. The health and well-being of women is related and highly influenced with their social status.

"Poor, Powerless, Pregnant" This is the status of women as labelled by a global survey in 1988.

Large number of women (about 50%) and girls in the world live under conditions that threaten their health, deny them a choice about child bearing limit their educational attainment, restrict their economic participation and fail to guarantee them equal rights as compared to men.

Low social status leads to sever burden & over work (Conjugal, maternal domestic, and professional) exposing to physically demanding activities.

Although all factors in the framework are likely to influence maternal morbidity and mortality as well as the health all women (and newborns), some have greater impact in the short term, particularly on the incidence of maternal death.

It is always important to address the above-mentioned factors, as women need to be physically, mentally & socially healthy to fulfil their reproductive duty safely and efficiently and to be a contributing member of their community.

Source:Pixabay

MATERNAL MORTALITY

Maternal mortality is defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy irrespective of the site and duration of pregnancy from any acutely related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.

Maternal mortality is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age in most of the developing world. Globally, an estimated 500,000 women die as a result of pregnancy cach year. It is the statistical indicator, which shows the greatest disparity between developed, and developing countries.

Maternal mortality in developing countries is given least attention, despite the fact that almost all of the suffering and death is preventable with proper management.

Maternal mortality constitutes a small part of the larger maternal morbidity and suffering because for every maternal death there are a lot of women suffering from acute and chronic illnesses during pregnancy, delivery and 6 weeks after Most of the deaths, 99%, are in developing countries the magnitude of maternal death is very high in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where material mortality ratios (material deaths per 100,000 live births) may be as much as 200 times higher than those in industrial countries. This is widest disparity in human development indicators yet reported.

This difference is further expressed when comparing lifetime risk of women: one in every 21 women in Africa dies of complications of pregnancy, delivery. or abortion, while with only one in every 10,000 in Northern Europe. The maternal mortality rate in Western Europe, a century ago, was less than most developing countries including Ethiopia.

Poverty, though not a disease in biological sense, it affects maternal health adversely and is reflected by maternal death. The difference in maternal mortality between developed and developing countries strengthen the above fact.

The risk of maternal mortality is also related to the mother's previous health and nutritional status, issues of gender discrimination, and access to health services. Adolescent pregnancy carries a higher risk due to the danger of incomplete development of the pelvis, and there is a higher prevalence of hypertensive disorders among young mothers. Frequent pregnancies also carry a higher risk of maternal and infant death. Concern for maternal mortality is not only for the mother's life. It is related to:

• The health and deaths of the seven million newborns who die annually as a result of material health problems and

• The health and socio-economic impact on children, families, and communities, Major Causes of Maternal Mortality There are five major causes of maternal mortality, especially in the developing countries. These are:

1 Haemorrhage.

2 Infection.

3. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

4. Obstructed labour.

5. Abortion.

As the predisposing cause show virtually all are preventable with proper and regular antenatal care followed by proper management during delivery and soon after.