improving maternal health

1. Improve
Maternal
Health
By: Mickaela Rocha

2. What is Maternal Health?
Maternal health is the status of a women's health while they are experiencing
pregnancy, childbirth, or postpartum recovery period.
What is improving Maternal Health?
Improving Maternal Health is trying to find a solution and save the lives a women
who are having complications during their pregnancy and childbirth.
What are the danger signs in pregnancy?
Vaginal bleeding, severe headaches with blurred vision, severe abdominal pain,
fast or difficulty breathing, fever and too weak to get out of bed, and
convulsions/fits.

3. How can we improve Maternal Health?
● Improving emergency obstetric care
○ In developing countries, half of the births are taken place at home without a trained
professional to deliver their baby.
● Laying the foundations for good prenatal care and making it more accessible
○ Only half of the women that are pregnant are able to get the recommended 4 visit check
ups during their pregnancy.
Why is improving maternal health
important?
It decreases the rate of maternal mortality and morbidity in developing countries.
By improving maternal health it helps determine the health of the next generation
and can help predict future public health challenges for families.

4. Facts about Maternal Health
● In 2013, There was an estimated amount of 289,000 maternal deaths.
● Nearly 830 women die everyday due to complications during pregnancy and
childbirth.
● There are 5 main reasons women die in pregnancy and childbirth
○ Severe bleeding, infections, unsafe abortion, hypertensive disorders (preeclampsia and
eclampsia), medical complications
● Since 1990, the mortality ratio has declined by 2.6% annually.
● More than 135 million women give birth every year.
● Between the ages of 15 and 19, nearly 16 million girls give birth each year.
● About 22 million abortions continue to be performed unsafely each year.

5. Why does Maternal Health resonate for me?
Maternal health resonates for me because I am currently 39 weeks pregnant. I
couldn’t imagine how my pregnancy would of been if I wasn’t able to obtain the
professional care I have been getting for the past 9 months. I think It is sad that
there are so many women out in the world that aren’t able to get the care they
desperately need while they are pregnant because it isn’t accessible where they
are currently living. The deaths that were caused by pregnancy and childbirth
complications could have been avoided if there were adequate health care all over
the world.

6. How can my interest be applied locally?
● In Washington State, the rate of pregnancy related maternal deaths is 9 per
100,000 births. However for the rest of the country, Pregnancy related
maternal births are 17 per 100,000 births.
● At Planned parenthood, women may be able to get free prenatal care. They
also help women to qualify for the state health insurance (Medicaid)so
women are able get the quality prenatal care they deserve while pregnant.
● First steps is a program for low-income pregnant women. It helps them get
the health and social services they may need and covers a variety of services
for pregnant women and their infants.

7. Where can I personally make the greatest
contribution?
Donating to One Day’s Wages to their maternal care program is an amazing way to join the movement in
improving Maternal Health.
One Day’s wages built or improved 79 clinics which helped 16,950 women get the proper health care they
needed while pregnant. This one organization impacted a total of 65,092 people.
Their impact: “In partnership with local maternal health organizations, ODW has assisted 9 communities in
7 countries. We have directly assisted the lives of 55,200 mothers and infants by training midwives and
nurses and constructing maternity wards and delivery centers. By equipping communities with facilities
and education, we are empowering communities to decrease these rates of maternal mortality. Pregnancy
and motherhood can cause immense pain, loss, and death for women in developing countries. By
providing women with the care they need, we can make pregnancy a safer and healthier experience for
many around the world”.

8. Is there a feature of social media that can be
uniquely applied to this goal?
On twitter, there is a hashtag improve
maternal health which consists of facts
about maternal health. It also includes
what is happening in developing
countries with maternal health.
Spreading the word on improving
maternal health is as simple as sharing
a news article about it on any social
media sites.

9. References
“10 Things You Didn't Know about Maternal Health.” Global Citizen, www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-maternal-health/.
“DANGER SIGNS IN PREGNANCY.” Counselling for Maternal and Newborn Health Care: A Handbook for Building Skills., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1970,
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK304178/.
“Give To Support Maternal Health.” One Day's Wages, www.onedayswages.org/maternal-health/.
“Goal: Improve Maternal Health.” UNICEF, static.unicef.org/mdg/maternal.html.
“Health Care Services and Supports.” First Steps (Maternity and Infant Care) | Washington State Health Care Authority, www.hca.wa.gov/health-care-services-supports/apple-health-medicaid-coverage/first-
steps-maternity-and-infant-care.
“Maternal, Infant, and Child Health.” Maternal, Infant, and Child Health | Healthy People 2020, www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/maternal-infant-and-child-health.
“MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health : Www.fao.org.” MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health | Sustainable Development Goals | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, www.fao.org/sustainable-
development-goals/mdg/goal-5/en/.
“Mothers Matter: Washington Moms at Unacceptable Risk during Childbirth.” KING, 26 Oct. 2018, www.king5.com/article/news/investigations/mothers-matter/mothers-matter-washington-moms-at-
unacceptable-risk-during-childbirth/281-608441949.
Parenthood, Planned. “Where Can I Get Prenatal Care?” Planned Parenthood, www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/pregnancy/prenatal-care/where-can-i-get-prenatal-care.
“United Nations Millennium Development Goals.” United Nations, United Nations, www.un.org/millenniumgoals/maternal.shtml.