Making Pregnancy and Childbirth Safer

Download or read book Making Pregnancy and Childbirth Safer written by Elizabeth I. Ransom and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of the nearly 600,000 annual maternal deaths can be prevented, and most occur in developing countries where the risk of maternal mortality is 1/1800 versus 1/48 in the developed world. The risk of maternal mortality is highest in Africa, but most maternal deaths occur in Asia. Maternal deaths have direct and indirect causes, and maternal health is influenced by environment. The consequences of maternal death are profound for families, societies, and national economies. Untreated maternal morbidity also has a high cost in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and women in developing countries lost more DALYs due to maternal causes than to any other cause. Pregnancy and childbirth can be made safer by 1) increasing access to family planning methods, 2) improving the quality of prenatal care, 3) ensuring recognition of complications of pregnancy and delivery, 4) ensuring access to essential obstetric care, 5) providing postabortion care, 6) providing postpartum maternal-child care, and 7) increasing awareness of safe motherhood.