Family Planning Methods

Conditionality’s attached in the form of policy reforms include; decentralization of government health services with diminishing cost of public health sector funding, provision of risk coverage or insurance, introduction of user fees and privatization of health services (World Bank, 1987). This conditionality’s are empowering to the financial bodies but enslaving to the States and are tactics employed in manipulating policy making processes thus the role of the World Bank in policy formulation is promoted. This usually undermines the actual policy process and also neglects problems arising during implementation (Koivusalo and Ollilia, 1997)

Health related policy (HRP) targets two of the fundamental causes, medical and health systems laws and policies, making it the primary solution for decreasing the maternal mortality rate (MMR). However, a wider discussion has emerged about the importance of social determinants of health, the second fundamental cause, at a global level. The Report of the World Health Organization 's Commission on Social Determinates of Health (CSDH) (2008) importantly acknowledged that poverty, exploitation, oppression, and injustice damage health (CSDH, 2008). This document expanded the discussion on the

The Journal of Global Health Perspectives is an online open-access research journal. In addition to publishing primary research they also publish articles that relate meaningful experiences, observations and reflections from members of the global health community. To publish an article in the journal the article had to be E mailed to them along with a signed copyright policy and indicate the category of the work. Current topics of interest are Child health inequality, Maternal health in India, Ebola eradication.

Public health is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘all organised measures to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population as a whole’ (WHO, 2015). Within this role of public health, the midwife has an essential role. They are in the best position to be able to guide

The poor areas have many less doctors than the wealthy spots, even though the rural areas suffer from much harsher diseases on a larger scale. The countries either provide medical training for their own citizens or fund their training from somewhere else, but once the students have the skills to save lives, they move to different places for higher pay. This issue lies not only in South Africa, but in the entire continent. For example, for every Liberian doctor working in Liberia, there are two working abroad. Not only is there a shortage of doctors in general (averaging about 1.15 doctors for every 1,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa) but a shortage of nurses and midwives. Over two-thirds of mothers in Africa have no health professionals to guide them through hardships regarding pregnancy and childbirth, causing Africa alone to be responsible for over one half of the world’s infant and maternal

The Ottawa Charter emphasises the importance of global health promotion by identifying necessary conditions, sectors and resources involved in obtaining optimum community health. This is broken down into five strategies building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments for mother and child, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services (McMurray & Clendon, 2015). This essay will address optimum maternal health being ensured by the support of nurses and midwives to maintain healthy lives for both mother and child. Proceeding with a brief description of maternal health, followed by the role of the nurse/ midwife in response to the condition. This will be in relation to the five major

The health of many women in Algeria which is part of Sub-Saharan Africa in 1990 were impacted by the poor health care system because they lived in poverty. Poverty caused these women to lack essential needs to live a quality life. They lacked or could not afford resources such as supplies, health care professionals, and facilities for healthcare, clean water, and waste disposal. This ultimately affected the health of women and their children. For instance, lack of clean water and waste disposal facilities can cause health abnormalities such as cholera or typhoid fever which can cause devastating deaths. This is a healthcare problem because of the lack of funding. The lack of funding prevents antibiotics from being used to prevent death, and prevents African’s from being vaccinated against typhoid fever. Another example of how poverty affects woman’s health is unintended pregnancy, which is because they are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior. It's part of the health crisis because it includes a poor health system, and a lack of education about proper nutrition and behaviors during pregnancy. Complications in these pregnancies due to poor nutrition and not visiting the doctor regularly includes increased infant mortality. Infant mortality in the slums of Nairobe is 91.3% while it is 75.9% in urban areas where there is a better developed healthcare system. The inferiority of poor Africans in

Perhaps one of the most pressing issues faced by women in Many African countries today are the many barriers preventing them from having access to sexual health and family planning services. “The World Health Organization (WHO) defines family planning as “the ability of individuals and couples to anticipate and attain their desired number of children and the spacing and timing of their births. It is achieved through use of contraceptive methods and the treatment of involuntary infertility” (Tessema, Gizachew Assefa, 2). By examining the causes of what is preventing women in areas Africa from taking control of their sexual health, and the number of children they wish to have, possible solutions can be contrived. In Kenya for example, “20.9 percent

One of the points mentioned by Anne Murray is how women’s health’s has been ignored and neglected. This is a true case. Going back to the olden days and basing my analysis on women as healers, “Witches, Midwives, and Nurses” by English and Ehrenreich tells us women’s story as health workers and denounce the history of suppression. Women have always been healers. Even though they were not licensed with medical degrees, women were nurses and pharmacists. Today, however, the health care system is a male dominated industry. Because it has become the property of male professionals, many issues are affecting women and their children. For instance, according to Murray, female infants’ and children’s access to food and/ or medical care has been neglected because researchers either view the household as a single entity with uniform internal distribution or treat newborns as a sex neutral category. This demonstrates that little attention; research and financial support are given to expand the wellbeing of women and their children. The lack of participation of women in planning and implementing health care policies and politics has failed to take women’s health

Numerous groups became involved in the maternal health care systems within the Congo. In “‘Le Bebe en Brousse’: European Women, African Birth Spacing and Colonial Intervention in Breast Feeding in the Belgian Congo,” Nancy Rose Hunt describes how this politicalization of healthcare was not only done by state agencies, but local community groups and enterprises. Despite the pre-existence of maternal health care systems, it was thought that Congolese women needed to be introduced to the “Western” ways of child-rearing. Hunt states that, “the Belgian Congo as a colonial regime intervened more substantially and on a wider scale in maternal and infant health that any other colonial power in sub-Saharan Africa” (p.402). Under the pretense of guidance, the freedom for women to make decisions relating to her own care was removed. Everything from how many children to have, to the feeding of one’s own baby was no longer a choice of a

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.

Because in many developing countries, there are all too often issues with women’s rights and negligence in women’s health, they are also striving to specifically provide women’s health care to those who are pregnant or who have been sexually abused. Just this year, Medecins Sans Frontiers notes one of their major accomplishments to be treating over 100 individuals for sexual assault after two instances of mass rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo by militias.

Worldwide, approximately 1.3 billion people do not have access to affordable and efficient healthcare and out of those who have access, almost 170 million are forced to spend around 40 % of their income on medical treatment (Asante et al,2016).In low and middle income countries (LMICs), the major constraint to the access of healthcare is financial burden, where out-of-pocket payments (OPP) contribute to approximately 50 % of total health expenditure (WHO, 2010). As a result, in these countries there is high probability of many households being pushed into poverty due to high medical expenses (McIntyre,2006).The matter of concern in LMICS is that poor and disadvantaged groups of population do not have access to adequate quality of healthcare.For instance, according to WHO (2010) up to 20 % of women in rich population are more likely to have a birth attended by skilled health worker than a poor woman. Therefore, taking an action to address health inequities faced in these countries would save up to 700,000 women.

It is said that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation. Healthcare is an important concern for every government as people get ill, accidents happen, emergencies arise and the health institutions are needed to diagnose, manage and treat the different types of ailments or diseases that may arise. The healthcare industry is divided into several areas in order to meet the health needs of anyone and everyone. All over the world, the healthcare structures are different to accommodate specific needs of the people in that demographic however the healthcare methodology in Third World Countries does not accommodate the needs of their respective inhabitants in comparison to First world Countries. The Rate of corruption, quality of healthcare institutions, lack of adequate, functional surveillance systems and problematic hygiene conditions are amongst the top reasons why the healthcare systems in third world countries are substandard in comparison to First world nations.

One of the key learning from this topic is the relation between financial independence/education and women’s sexual and reproductive health. And the way social, economic, demographic, and community characteristics affect women’s ability to acquire information, and their ability to act and decide on their reproductive health and their overall health. I gained important understanding on social determinants of women’s health that is related to gender norms, that places women as inferior in many part of the world leading to health, social, and economic issues that men do not face. Coming from developing country the impact of social determinants on women’s health is a big issue, and understanding the disparities that even exist in developed countries from this course opened, my eyes on how disadvantaged women are worldwide economically and socially.