Category: antenatal care

Africa, antenatal care, Asia, Blog, Ethiopia, featured, Maternal Health, Maternal Health in the US, midwives, Nepal, Reproductive Health, United States, Wellbeing Foundation Africa

11 Maternal Health Organizations to Support This Year

Maternal mortality continues to be a major problem the world over. The United States is the only developed country where maternal death rates are increasing especially for non-Hispanic black women. And in low-and-middle income countries, approximately 830 women die each day from pregnancy-related, preventable causes.

Maternal health organizations are working diligently to save more mothers’ lives, but one death is still too many especially when it is likely preventable. I like to list organizations that you can support with donations in order to help them keep more women and their children alive on the local level and make sure mothers are a part of their families’ lives.

This list highlights local organizations that help some of the most vulnerable communities in countries with some of the highest maternal mortality rates. And, in the cases of the United States and Australia, the organizations help the communities that experience the most maternal deaths. Each site allows direct donations that go directly to maternal care and/or advocacy.

Continue reading “11 Maternal Health Organizations to Support This Year”

Jennifer JamesLeave a comment
antenatal care, Blog, featured, Maternal Health, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, Women, Women and Girls

Impress Mom With These Maternal Health Mother’s Day Gift Ideas + Giveaway

Mother’s Day is the perfect holiday to splurge on the moms in your life as well as to support moms around the world. It’s a day to show love for mothers we know and to also remain mindful of the mothers everywhere who may need a little or even a lot of help for them and their families. In a political climate where more and … Continue reading Impress Mom With These Maternal Health Mother’s Day Gift Ideas + Giveaway

Jennifer James5 Comments
Africa, antenatal care, Blog, Charity, Maternal Health, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, mHealth, Women, Women and Girls

New Maternal Health Mobile App for Tanzanian Women Seeks Crowdfunding

The more technology improves in low-and-middle income countries the quicker mobile apps will be invented and scaled to better people’s live. We already know that banking apps have transformed the exchange of money and have helped economies like Kenya’s thrive. Now, innovators are looking to create more and more mobile apps to transform health care and save more lives. Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the … Continue reading New Maternal Health Mobile App for Tanzanian Women Seeks Crowdfunding

Jennifer James2 Comments
antenatal care, Blog, Maternal Health, Maternal Health in the US, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, midwives, Women, Women and Girls, Women's Rights

Despite Differences in Culture, US and India Fall Short in Childbirth in Similar Ways

Image 20170307 20739 1fsg95m
Woman in labor, shown with monitors. 

Neel Shah, Harvard Medical School

After eight years of practicing obstetrics and researching childbirth in the United States, I know as well as anyone that the American maternal health system could be better. Our way of childbirth is the costliest in the world. Our health outcomes, from mortality rates to birth weights, are far, far from the best.

The reasons we fall short are not obvious. In medicine, providing more care is often mistaken for providing better care. In childbirth the relationship between more and better is complicated. Texan obstetricians, when compared to their counterparts in neighboring New Mexico, are 50% more likely to intervene on the baby’s behalf by performing a cesarean section. Nonetheless, Texas babies still have a lower survival rate than New Mexican babies.

I long assumed that our most puzzling American health care failures were idiosyncrasies–unique consequences of American culture, geography, and politics. But a trip to India for the 2017 Human Rights in Childbirth meeting led me to a humbling realization: when it comes to childbirth, both countries fall short in surprisingly similar ways.

image-20170222-6422-vo4cbn
Neel Shah, center, pictured with Jishnu Das, a Lead Economist at the World Bank and Leslie Page, President of the Royal College of Midwives. Neel Shah, Author provided

Human rights in childbirth

I take care of patients in at a well-funded teaching hospital in Boston, where pregnant women seem well-respected and have clear, inviolable rights.

Continue reading “Despite Differences in Culture, US and India Fall Short in Childbirth in Similar Ways”

Social Good Moms ContributorLeave a comment
antenatal care, Blog, Maternal Health, Maternal Health in the US, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, MaternalMonday, Merck for Mothers, Poverty, Reproductive Health, United States, Women

The Troubling Truth About Maternal Mortality in the United States

When everyday Americans think about women dying during childbirth it is probable that their initial thoughts travel directly to Africa where it is quite well known that maternal mortality is rife. Chances are their thoughts never focus on the deaths and near deaths during childbirth that women experience right here in the United States. After all, the overwhelming consensus is that the United States has the best medical care, superior health workers and health system in the world despite some of its inherent challenges. This thinking renders maternal mortality in the US thoroughly inconceivable to many even while data reveal it should not be inconceivable at all. In fact, maternal mortality is on the rise in America having doubled over the past 25 years all while global maternal deaths are steadily declining. Globally, maternal mortality was effectively reduced by 44 percent according to the World Health Organization.

The United States, while not the overall leader in maternal mortality among all countries, it is the leader among all developed nations. The United States ranked number 33 out of 179 countries in Save the Children’s 2015 Mothers’ Index Ranking and 46th in the world due to the rate of women who die from pregnancy and childbirth complications. Compared to other developed countries, the United States’ ranking is abysmal, especially with Norway, Finland, and Iceland ranking in the top three overall. Even countries like Estonia and Belarus, whose GDPs are considerably lower than ours, far outrank America.

Continue reading “The Troubling Truth About Maternal Mortality in the United States”

Jennifer JamesLeave a comment
Africa, antenatal care, Blog, Family Planning, Maternal Health, maternal morbidity, maternal mortality, MaternalMonday, midwives, newborn health, newborns, Reproductive Health

Better Maternal Care in Africa Can Save Women from Suffering in Childbirth

Kareemah Gamieldien, Cape Peninsula University of Technology

Every year just over 500,000 women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth across the world. Another 20 million experience severe complications. But many of these complications are entirely avoidable – including obstructed and protracted labour and one of its side-effects, obstetric fistula.

An obstetric fistula is a hole in the birth canal between the vagina and the rectum or between the vagina and the bladder that is largely caused by obstructed and prolonged labour. This can occur when the mother’s pelvis is too small or the baby is too large.

In sub-Saharan Africa for every 100,000 deliveries there are about 124 women who suffer an obstetric fistula in a rural area. Obstetric fistulas predominantly happen when women do not have access to quality emergency obstetric-care services. Antenatal care could help to identify potential problems early but will not have an impact if there is no skilled surgeon to assist with the labour.

Continue reading “Better Maternal Care in Africa Can Save Women from Suffering in Childbirth”

Social Good Moms ContributorLeave a comment
Africa, antenatal care, Blog, Family Planning, Maternal Health, maternal mortality, Women, World Health Organization

Why Mothers Aren’t Accessing Antenatal Care Early in Their Pregnancies

Anja Smith, Stellenbosch University

South Africa has extremely high maternal mortality levels. This is true when compared with developed countries as well as other developing countries.

According to the World Health Organisation, for every 100,000 live births in the country in 2015, 138 women died due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. In Sweden, fewer than five women die for every 100,000 live births. In Brazil, the estimate is 44 women for every 100,000 live births.

Continue reading “Why Mothers Aren’t Accessing Antenatal Care Early in Their Pregnancies”

Social Good Moms ContributorLeave a comment