Factors Contributing to High Maternal Mortality Rates
Maternal mortality can be defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy, delivery or within 42 days after pregnancy as a result of factors related to pregnancy. This problem remains a cancer to the health of women across the universe. Although improvement has been noted in regions for instance, Europe and Asia, the rates remain unacceptably high in the low- and middle-income countries, to be more specific sub-Saharan Africa. There is need to concerted efforts with an understanding of the various factors that are contributing to these rates and targeted interventions at those factors.
1. Poor health services and care.
Highlighting one of the causes of high maternal mortality is the complication from the antenatal period to the delivery where the lack of access to great quality health services is one of the major problems explaining the high mortality:
- Low-standard Healthcare Facilities: With many health centers in these regions being under staffed, lacking appropriate equipment, drugs for vital obstacles such as severe bleeding or obstructed labor, women find themselves in very few options for secured delivery and escalation of care.
- Distrust In Delivering Professional Assistance: Several women in rural or resource limited locations find themselves delivering without midwives or certified ob./gyn, or any trained practitioner. This gap exposes them to an increased risk of treatable complications.
- Geographical Barriers: The lack of proper transportation networks, in addition to the significant overland distance to health care centers, interferes with timely and critical healthcare. Such delays in emergencies are disastrous for both mother and baby.
2. Socioeconomic Factors
The mother’s socioeconomic status has a considerable impact on the maternal healthcare sought and the outcomes.
- Poverty: Low-income women have little money to pay for transport, healthcare or even medicines. Even crucial prenatal checkups or childbirth in a hospital becomes difficult due to financial limitations.
- Education: Limited educational attainment affects women’s knowledge level regarding maternal health care and the risks of pregnancy. Women who lack education may be less willing to voice their health concerns and needs.
- Employment Status: Those employed in the informal sector or are self-employed and not covered by health insurance have very weak financial muscle and so getting proper medical attention gets very difficult.
3. Cultural and Social Norms
There are many cultural and social practices which constrain women’s access to medical care while pregnant or during childbirth.
- Gender Inequality: Women with Less control over their reproductive health have less agency to determine when or where to go for care – often requiring the permission of a husband or some other family member.
- Cultural Beliefs: Some cultures do not encourage women to seek professional medical help. Rather, they advise women to give birth with the help of traditional maternal health care practitioners or to self-manage any complications that arise.
4. Pre-existing Health Conditions
among the many factors that increase the chances of developing complications during pregnancy and even after the delivery, having some pre-existing health issues is one.
- Chronic Diseases: Chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension are seen to have a greater correlation with a higher risk of developing various complications such as pre-eclampsia, difficult delivery and developing gestational diabetes.
- Infectious Diseases: Certain factors increase the risk of maternal death in women, such as having HIV/AIDS or Malaria without appropriate treatment and control of these factors.
5. Complications During Pregnancy and Childbirth
Pregnancy and even the act of giving birth itself is fraught with complications, many of them treatable and which preclude the requirement of such interventions including some medication that invokes further complexities.
- Obstetric Complications: The top three diseases that are among the filling factors of maternal death are pre-eclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, and obstructed labor which are borderline critical and require immediate medical attention but are not accessible in lower resources countries.
- Lack of Emergency Obstetric Care: The likelihood of dying if there is a delay in response to an emergency such as lacking s blood transfusion or lacking CT deficient surgical experts has the risk of resulting in higher levels of maternal death.
6. Inadequate Prenatal and Postnatal Care
Intensive education in prenatal and postnatal care should be provided in order to detect risks or potential life-threatening complications quickly.
- Low Use of Prenatal Care: Women who neglect prenatal appointments are less likely to diagnose such conditions as anemia or hypertension during their pregnancy.
- Failure to Follow Up Postnatally: Postnatal visits are essential medical checkups which detect complications that may have occurred after child birth which could lead the woman to have infections or uterine hemorrhage. A majority of women who do follow up visits risk able preventable deaths.
The Importance of Emergency Obstetric Care
EmOC is instrumental in reducing maternal deaths as the care givers understand the reasons for their deaths. Caring for a patient who is emaciating requires prompt and proper diagnosis: Effective management of complications that arise during labor and delivery EmOC is timely interventions along with maternal care. The presence of such care is fundamental to life of mothers on the verge of death.
Timely Interventions: Complications such as hemorrhage, obstructed labor, eclampsia, which, if detected and treated appropriately, can prevent maternal mortality.
Skilled Health Providers: Training doctors and nurses to effectively deal with medical and surgical emergencies prevents a life of a person or a fetus from being endangered.
Adequate Facilities: Hospitals and Self-employed health centers should be stocked with sufficient resources, including certain equipment, performing surgeries, and EmOC medications.
Overcoming Challenges to Maternal Health
In order to bring down the figures correlating with maternal deaths, there are some structural factors which should be tackled and these include ensuring that women have the access and the ability to receive care when necessary.
Strengthening healthcare facilities: Governments and NGOs need to make sure that in poor regions, they reinforce and deploy buildings into clinics and health institutions so that everyone has access to emergency obstetric care.
Outreach and Education: It is through outreach that women will understand the value of ante-natal care and post-natal care, and therefore their decisions around maternal health will be better informed.
Reducing Socio Economic Disparities: Supporting costs which preclude women from accessing maternal healthcare or increasing woman families’ health insurance can be a key consideration to the poor households.
Working with Communities: Using programs which respect cultures of communities and deal with gender disparity can bring about change in approaches of using health services.
Conclusion
There is need to understand that dealing with the issues of maternal mortality should consider the various complexities existing in the society, encompassing overreaching goals that center around access to appropriate health care, addressing social issues, and also education. The role of emergency obstetric care in the saving of lives through the management of complexities that accompany pregnancy and child birth cannot be overstated. This spheres target improvements in women’s health and their families’ wellbeing, which is related to greater public health and development principles.
