A Critical Analysis Of The Maternal Mortality Rate Of Women

Maternal mortality represents more than the loss of lives for individual women, as it also reflects the larger value and prioritization of women 's health and threatens the health and survival of families, young children, and even the communities in which they live (Royston and Armstrong, 1989). Maternal mortality is unacceptably high (WHO, 2015b). Globally, approximately 830 women die every day from pregnancy- or childbirth-related complications (ibid.). The causes of maternal mortality are predominately preventable and can be classified into three fundamental causes: (1) medical - consisting of direct medical problems and pre-existent/coexistent medical problems that are aggravated by pregnancy, (2) underlying - social and legal conditions, and (3) health systems laws and policies that address availability, accessibility, and quality of reproductive health services (PHP et al, 2011).

According to the MDGs progress report; maternal mortality ratio stands at 16 in the developed countries, 220 in South Asia and 500 in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNDP, 2012). Lack of access to and utilization of health care services for delivery are among the main reasons for the high maternal and neonatal mortality rates in these regions (WHO, 2012). Maternal death can occur anytime in pregnancy, but delivery is by far the most dangerous time for both mother and baby (UNICEF, 2012).

But, even using standardized death rates, we can conclude that there has been a marked mortality decline in Asian countries. Particularly remarkable is the decline in infant mortality. The former infant mortality of 200 per 1,000 for India has now been reduced to half. In almost all countries it is far below the 100 per 1,000 levels. Burma, however, with an infant mortality rate of slightly more than 100 per 1,000 is an exception. Also, while observing mortality rate, birth rate is considered in why Asian population growth is phenomenal. The birth rate in boys is 9.17 births per 1,000 population and for girls 8.39 births per 1,000 population giving it a total of 17.56 births per 1,000 population, being much higher than the United States which is at 12.7 per 1,000 population.

In 2013, 289 000 women died during pregnancy and childbirth and it was estimated that everyday 800 women all over the world died from childbirth or childbirth-related problems (World Health Organization, 2014). Often, maternal mortality is found to occur more often in developing countries than developed countries. Maternal mortality refers women who died from the situation like during pregnancy, termination of pregnancy within 42 days, regardless of duration and place of pregnancy, from aggravation caused by the pregnancy or pregnancy management (Nwagha et al, 2010). Maternal mortality may be resulted from direct or indirect cause. Direct causes are from obstetric complications of pregnancy, labour, and puerperium, and interventions whereas indirect causes are from the worsening of current conditions by pregnancy or delivery (Givewell, 2009). This paper aims to examine the causes for maternal mortality in both developed and developing countries and will end with a proposal for government to ensure women are given reproductive health rights.

Infant Mortality Rate: I consider that is viable and useful because is a measure of the number of children who die, and this explains in a rate the conditions in a country that mothers are exposed to. Additionally, this illustrates the services that government provide and if these are appropriated. If a country has this rate high represents the poor health care and the flaws in humans rights. This measure has more involved because it demonstrates the doctors that are available, if the hospitals have enough equipment for difficult cases, and if women have access to clean water and food. They are diverse components that expose the situations in the country and the conclusions could illustrate the issues that a country has to solve to develop or become a core country.

Of particular concern is women and maternal health in Ethiopia. According to the millennium goal developments, the fifth goal is to reduce maternal mortality rate by 75% by 2015. One reason that maternal health needs to be increased in Ethiopia is because of the large amount of women who die each year. According to Skolnik (2012), the highest maternal mortality ratios are in sub-Saharan Africa, where there are 940 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. This means that a woman in some countries of sub-Saharan countries of Africa such as Ethiopia face 250 times the risk of dying a maternal death as does a woman in the high-income countries. (Skolnik, 2012) There are many factors that come into play when looking at maternal health. Among the first are the nutritional status and general health status of the mothers, in addition there is a link between maternal death and the level of education and income of the mother (Skolnik, 2012, p. 191). In order to help reduce the high incidence of maternal mortality rate focus should be turned to wards identifying ways to improve the access to care for women who are pregnant. I believe this issue is the important to tackle because it can improve the prenatal care that women in Ethiopia receive resulting

But the maternal mortality rate is still 327 per 100,000 births--far better than in 2002, when it stood at 1,600 per 100,000 (“Liberation”). Although the mortality rate has gone down drastically since 2002, the mortality rate is still very high. If more women are educated in their own health and anatomy, childbirth and pregnancy would be much safer. , it would substantially lower the mortality rate of babies. Clearly, equal education would improve the health of women in the Middle East.

Income and Substitution effects: higher incomes raises women's relative wages and thus the opportunity cost of children go up relative to household incomes.

According to Shi & Singh (2015), physical health status is often interpreted through morbidity and mortality rates. High maternal mortality rates have raised concerns regarding health care for women worldwide. In response to startling statistics, attention has been drawn to identify weaknesses within healthcare systems. Pinpointing the deficiencies and intervening with appropriate interventions will promote safe maternal care. Policies and initiatives have been created to compound the rising maternal mortality rates, and improve care for the maternal population.

This factors coupled in the last decades with a decline in the fertility rate, in maternal and infant morbidity and mortality.

In the Tibetan region of Surmang, China, resides a population in which a gap in maternal healthcare is at the forefront. The population in this region is a major focus of the Millennium Development Goals created by the United Nations with target areas such as; gender equality and empowerment of women, reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health (Amy Levi, Dawn Factor, Karen Deutsch, 2013). Between 1992 and 2005, a public health survey conducted in the Surmang region confirmed that maternal and infant mortality were among the highest in the world (Amy Levi, Dawn Factor, Karen Deutsch, 2013). The local population in this Tibetan region is also considered among china’s ultra-poor (Amy Levi, Dawn Factor, Karen Deutsch,

Despite the clear issues that require urgent addressing such as the stagnant maternal death rate and high newborn mortality rates, other issues still require immediate attention as maternal and child health is an incredibly important topic among organizations that are focusing on global health. The reason this issue presents itself in urgency and is becoming a high priority does not solely rest in the severity of the case. The problems that surround maternal and child health are so easily

The second article by Chima F. Madu named Why We Should Support Girls’ Education agrees with this statistic when Youth, V. O. (2013) states “Child marriage – in some cases involving girls as young as 6 or 8 – almost always results in the end of a girl’s schooling. The result is illiterate or barely literate young mothers without adequate tools to build healthy, educated families. On average, for every year a girl stays in school past fifth grade, her marriage is delayed a year. Educated girls typically marry later, when they are better able to bear and care for their children.” (para.5) A girl who is pregnant versus a girl getting an education has a large gap between the two. The girl who pursues an education is able to be self sufficient, know how to read and write, and is lessens the chance of her being taken advantage of. The girl who is married and has children can only do so much for her children because she is uneducated herself. When one educates a mother, the mother educates her children and in return can educate a village.

The countries with the highest HDIs are shaded in green and the ones with the lowest are shaded in red, while the darker the color of a country, the higher its birth rate. From these two graphs one can see a definite correlation between having a high HDI and lower birth rates, leading to the fact that on average, educated people have fewer children than uneducated people. The reason many parents in poor regions of the Earth want many children is that they hope that at least one of the children will survive a cruel

Income and Population Age Structure A) Relationship between per capita GNP and population growth GNP is the value of all final goods and services produced in an economy over a period of one year. Thus per capita GNP is the division of value of goods and services available to each person in a country, i.e. it is the per head income in a country. And population growth is the rate, by which population grows in an economy. From the above drawn diagrams it can be said that the higher the population growth rate the lower the per capita GNP and vice versa. This is due to the fact that if the population increases at a faster rate the GNP will spread over a large number of people thus reducing the value of the Gross National