The UN has eight millennium goals. The fifth goal is improving maternal health. The target is: “reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.” Maternal health is the health of the woman and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, and shortly after. Since 1990, maternal mortalities have been cut in half, but work still needs to be done.
Nearly 287,000 deaths due to pregnancy occurred in 2010; 85% of these mortalities came from Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Less than half of all deliveries in these two areas are done by a skilled health care professional. A lot of these deaths are due to dieses and HIVs/AIDs. At least one visit to a doctor has increased in developing countries from 63% to 80%.
The solutions to these problems are having more doctors and nurses in these areas, prenatal care with a minimum of four visits, lessening teen pregnancy, increase the use of contraceptives, and family planning. Having doctors, nurses, and midwives saves lives by stopping heavy bleeding and gives care to the new born. Antenatal care promotes health, well-being, and survival for both mother and baby. When visiting the minimum of four visits to antenatal care, they will do screenings, treatment for infections, and identify warning signs, which could potentially stop mortalities. The UN wants to enforce laws that will set an age limit on marriage in areas where they marry young. If they set an age limit, there will be less risk for young women. Offering affordable contraceptives would prevent unplanned pregnancies. Planning families is a huge help. If women know the risk and are talked to about what will happen, they can plan their futures while keeping their health and safety in mind.
So far more women are receiving prenatal care, but there are certain areas that are still lacking professionals. Progress is slow, but teen pregnancy in developing countries has gone down. More contraceptives have been used and are now more affordable for those who want them. Areas for men and women to discuss planning families are rare. The UN will struggle to reach their goal, but with better technology, it is possible to do anything.
I never understood how bad the world’s maternal health was until I started reading this site. The UN has a long way to go to reach their goal. I personally don’t think they will get there, but if they only save one life along the way, they are doing the right thing. It is interesting and caught my attention that they are trying to set an age limit for marriage in other countries. This will interfere with religion in some regions of the world. I truly learned a lot by doing this assigned blog. I didn’t know anything about maternal health or how the UN was getting involved until now.
"United Nations Millennium Development Goals." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 03 May 2013.
Comments
Well done Paige!