A Mother's Day Reflection on Global Maternal Health
Posted on: May 20, 2014Chicago
This post was written by CHC member Hana Zegeye.
Series: Global Health
Hana serves at Heartland Health Centers - Senn/Roosevelt as a Health Promoter.
Mother's Day is a day to celebrate the strength, warmth, and wisdom of mothers everywhere. However, it is also a good time to reflect on the many health challenges mothers face worldwide.
Improving maternal health is the fifth United Nations Millennium Development Goal (1). Maternal mortality is a key indicator of maternal health status and continues to be a hugely important health issue in many countries. Complications during birth, pre-existing conditions, and lack of access to adequate healthcare all contribute to maternal mortality. Global maternal deaths have decreased significantly since 1990 (2). However, there is still a long way to go in addressing maternal health issues.
Although maternal death rates are highest in Sub-Saharan Africa and India, the rates have actually increased in the United States over the last 25 years, the only industrialized country in which this has occurred (3). This trend puts the US as 60th in the world for maternal mortality (4). In addition, the US has large maternal health disparities - for example, African-American women are four times more likely than white women to die from pregnancy complications (5). Discrimination, lack of information about maternal care, and inadequate access to quality health care perpetuates such disparities (6).
In order for maternal health outcomes to improve, it is vital to find ways of connecting mothers to regular healthcare and health education. Teen mothers are an especially vulnerable population. As a heath promoter through Heartland Health Centers at two Chicago high schools, I help facilitate a teen mom group that educates pregnant and parenting teens on important topics such as nutrition, caring for their child, and contraception. I also help connect these students to important resources in the school health center during and after pregnancy, as well as to health insurance coverage. Although the world has a long way to go in ensuring the health and well-being of mothers everywhere, we must continue to build on our successes one step at a time.
References:
(1) http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/maternal.shtml
(2) http://www.who.int/entity/reproductivehealth/publications/monitoring/mat...
(3) http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/03/why-are-american-women...
(4) http://worldhealthnews.harvard.edu/2014/05/08/maternal-deaths-on-the-ris...
(5) http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/campaigns/demand-dignity/maternal-hea...
(6) Ibid.