Facts about maternal health - share what you know
5 posts
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Cooper 
87 posts
Posted 10 months ago
I did not know until recently that one woman dies every, single minute because of complications from pregnancy or childbirth. EVERY minute. And then we read that maternal mortality is rising in the US. There is so much we don’t know. Please share the informaiton you do know about maternal health here. We all need to learn more about this problem, because knowing more means we are going to make an even bigger difference this year.
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Becki
693 posts
Posted 10 months ago
Sadly, most of what I know, I’ve learned within the past half-hour from you. I consider myself generally well-informed, but I’m woefully ignorant about the terrible health conditions most of the women in the world live with. Setting out to become better informed now….
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Brandie
713 posts
Posted 10 months ago
I’m not sure what I “know”’
I do know the number of c-sections and induced labors are up and I can’t help but wonder if those are linked to the higher number of infant deaths in the US. If you are induced and that baby, in fact, was not ready to be born, you could be facing some medical issues.
I have also heard in conversation (and if I find a link I will) that some hospitals are banning inducements prior to 39 weeks (without a valid medical condition) because it has significantly lowered the number of babies who needed respiratory therapy.
I have to say, I also know one person who has a doctor who induces everyone of his patients (unless apparently you really argue with him) at 38 weeks telling moms it’s safer and healthier that way. I cringe everytime she talks about visiting her doctor. Because I think he’s feeding moms some bull and I have yet to see ONE study that backs up what he is saying but my friend believes it because the doctor says so and it frustrates me!
::sigh:: This is a soapbox of mine. I should probably stop talking since this isn’t the correct forum to go into detail about it. But I can’t help saying I think there might be a correlation between society as a whole wanting to “schedule” births instead of actually waiting a full 40 weeks.
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Brandie
713 posts
Posted 10 months ago
According to the Millennium Development Goal:
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Globally, more than 1,400 women die every day in pregnancy and childbirth. According to the World Health Organization, there are more than 529,000 female deaths each year tied to maternal health; 99 percent of these deaths occur in the developing world. #
Each year, 10 million women are affected by injury, infection or disease related to pregnancy or childbirth. #
13 percent of all maternal deaths result from complications arising from unsafe abortions. #
Of the annual 3.3 million deaths from birth defects, 95 percent occur in developing nations. #
Only 58 percent of women in developing countries give birth with a trained doctor or midwife. #
More than 80 percent of deliveries occur in areas without proper emergency obstetric care facilities. #
Women are 175 times more likely to die during childbirth in sub-Saharan Africa than in a developed country.
I think the 13% of maternal mortalities being attributed to abortions really shocked me … I wasn’t even thinking that played in until reading that stat.
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Brandie
713 posts
Posted 10 months ago
More stuff (yes, I am now on a mission to read up on this!)
The major causes of maternal death are bacterial infection, toxemia, obstetrical hemorrhage, ectopic pregnancy, puerperal sepsis, amniotic fluid embolus, and complications of abortions.
As stated by the 2005 WHO report “Make Every mother and Child Count” they are: severe bleeding/hemorrhage (25%), infections (13%), eclampsia (12%), obstructed labour (8%), complications of abortion (13%), other direct causes (8%), and indirect causes (20%). Indirect causes such as malaria, anaemia, HIV/AIDS and cardiovascular disease, complicate pregnancy or are aggravated by it.
(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maternal_death)
With infections being the second highest direct cause, I am wondering how much of these deaths could be prevented with a clean water supply. I am guessing that the ability to have clean water is pretty important in many of these places and just getting that in place could help out a lot. Maybe?
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