Decreasing Perinatal & Neonatal Mortality Rates: Low & Middle-Income Areas One in four pregnancies end in loss - think about that for just a second. If four women are randomly selected, chances are one of them have experienced some type of loss of a child. Approximately one million pregnancies each year just in the United States alone end in early pregnancy loss, stillbirth, or the death of a newborn child (October: Awareness). In an effort to lower these statistics, medical institutions should work to provide more efficient prenatal care as well as updated, more affordable education for lower income expectant mothers. A major cause to blame for these higher statistics is that low and middle-income families expecting a child do not …show more content…
One of the main target goals of the maternal, infant, and child health of Healthy People 2020 is to reduce that number to 5.9 deaths out of every 1,000 live births and fetal deaths (Healthy People 2020).
There are several factors related to these outcomes, however, it is difficult to come up with one single solution for health promotion or prevention because perinatal deaths usually occur secondary to diverse types of events and the denominators may differ depending on the cause. Some researchers suggest that gestational age has an effect on the overall risk of perinatal death. Preterm birth is the cause of about half of neonatal deaths (Smith, G. C., 2015). Most of the time these mothers go into preterm labor because of some form of placental abruption. This type of abruption can be due to a number of causes, but usually will trigger labor or medically indicated delivery. A massive placental abruption can lead to acute, severe asphyxia of the infant, which has the possibility of leading to death of the baby prior to labor, during labor, or neonatal death (Smith, G. C., 2015). A lot of times these incidents could be prevented or at least limited if the mother had a knowledge of the signs and symptoms and sought medical attention immediately.
Another component to the increased risk of perinatal deaths is the inability of the mother to have access to pre-pregnancy and pregnancy care to improve neonatal and perinatal mortality. A study
According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2016), preterm birth are the birth that happened before 37 ended weeks of pregnancy and is one of the number reason of newborn deaths and the second prominent cause of deaths in children below five. The preterm babies have chances of an amplified risk of illness, disability and death. In the first weeks, the complications of premature birth may include: breathing problems, heart problems, brain problems, temperature control problems, gastrointestinal problems, blood problems, metabolism problems, immune system problems. Long-term complications includes cerebral palsy, impaired cognitive skills, vision problem, hearing problems, dental problems, behavioral and psychological problems, chronic health issues.
Infant mortality rate constitutes the death of a baby before their first birthday. Mortality rates around the world differ tremendously with America leading the first world countries at an alarming rate of 6.1 deaths per 1,000 births. Conversely, Finland and Japan secure the last, most desirable position, with deaths totaling 2.3 per 1,000 births, as of 2010. (Ovaska-Few, 2015) In 2014, over 23,000 babies died in the United States. (CDC, 2016) Exploring the mortality rates in America brings light to a dire need for additional interventions and research as to why this developing nation has the highest rate of infant deaths before the age of 1 year old. African Americans face the worst outcomes of infant death compared to whites, Latino, and their Native American peers in North Carolina. (Ovaska-Few, 2015) This paper will explore why African American are the leading race for infant mortality and the steps that health communities need to take to address this devastating occurrence.
Healthy People 2020’s goal is to improve the well-being of women, infants, children, and families. As a result, increasing the quality of years of healthy life. All of this can accomplish by providing a roadmap to all to help individuals and health care providers meet these outcomes. Improving the families well-being has a great impact on the rest of each person’s life.
Premature birth is an important public health priority in terms of health of women and infants. Every year an estimated 15 million preterm babies are born and this number is still rising (WHO, 2015).In 2014, 1 of every 10 babies born in United States were premature and black infants were 50% more likely to be born premature than white, Hispanic and Asian/Pacific islander infants (CDC,2015). Almost 1 million children die each year due to complications of premature birth (WHO, 2015). Major survivors face lifelong disabilities like learning disabilities, hearing, visual, feeding, digestive, breathing and respiratory problems (CDC, 2015) and low birth weight (March of Dimes, 2014). A major challenge in decreasing the rate of preterm birth is
How socio-economic disadvantaged moms, results in their inability to good communication and less support systems in their environment, therefore reducing access to prenatal health care. Low education levels creates a barrier to accessibility of prenatal information and education, therefore, hampering mother's knowledge for good prenatal care.
According to Healthy People 2020, "Improving the well-being of mothers, infants, and children, is an important public health goal for the United States. Their well-being determines the health of the next generation and can help predict future public health challenges for families, communities, and the health care system" (Healthy People 2020, 2015). Infant mortality is defined as the death of an infant before his or her first birthday, while fetal mortality is defined as the intrauterine death of a fetus at any gestational age (MMRW, 2013 and MacDorman, Kirmeyer & Wilson, 2012). In the United States an estimated 13,000 fetal deaths occurred ≥ 28 weeks gestation making up 28% of all perinatal deaths in 2006, the latest year with available national data (Lee,
Only 71% of black and Hispanic women received prenatal care compared with 84% of White 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).
Prenatal care in the United States was not the way is today, there have been some improvements in regards to prenatal care. The number of pregnant women who received prenatal care has increased over the past 75 years (Zolotor and Carlough, 2014). Today, medical providers deliver more integrated services, which includes evidence-based screening, counseling, medical care, and psychosocial support.
Many questions about the causes of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also known as “crib death,” are still unresolved. The mysterious and elusive nature of SIDS creates problems, doubts, and more questions. This paper will present some of the most commonly asked questions as well as the answers that have been uncovered by scientists after years of research and study.
Herein I briefly overview the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) within the United States. Initially, I discuss specific causes of infant death and then, contributing factors which put babies at risk. Next, the distribution of various IMR is surveyed on a state to state basis. States possessing the ten highest infant mortality rates are discussed, including possible reasons for higher IMR. In addition, those states with the ten lowest IMR are mentioned. In conclusion, I consider preventative measures for minimizing the number of babies that die each year.
Economic growth has much improved the infant mortality rate though better healthcare facilities and living conditions. Japan has fallen to one of the world’s lowest infant mortality levels at 3.6 per 1,000 live births in 2006 (Saigusa, 2006). Infant mortality is largely affected by the health of the mother, which makes pre-natal health imperative in keeping infant mortality rates low. Since Japan offers health care to all, access to prenatal care is easier to get therefore making mothers healthier and help in finding complications earlier in the pregnancy.
In his article, "Why are so many U.S. women dying during childbirth?", Munz (2012) pointed out that U.S. is experiencing a rise in maternal mortality. It has doubled for the last 25 years and the experts are uncertain about the increase. Experts are not entirely clear for the rise in the maternal deaths in the U.S., but there are some aspects that may be link to this.
Pregnancy is normally the best and the happiest stage of any woman, but it can also be uncertain because anything can go wrong if you do not know exactly what to do. In order to understand the reasons of why Preterm Birth occurs, it is important to know what it is and how risky it can be. Preterm Birth is also known as Premature labor which mainly begins after “20 weeks but before 37 completed week’s gestations. Approximately 12.9 million babies worldwide are born too early every year representing an incidence of PTB of 9.6%” (Berghella, pp. 2, 8). Baby Center Medical Advisory Board says that about 12 percent of babies
Prenatal care is widely accepted as an important element in improving pregnancy outcome. (Gorrie, McKinney, Murray, 1998). Prenatal care is defined as care of a pregnant woman during the time in the maternity cycle that begins with conception and ends with the onset of labor. A medical, surgical, gynecologic, obstretic, social and family history is taken (Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary, 1998). It is important for a pregnant woman as well as our society to know that everything that you do has an effect on your baby. Because so many women opt not to receive the benefits of prenatal care, our society sees the ramification, which include a variety of complications primarily