Maternal Mortality- Progress but not Enough
Comments (0) Guest Blogger: Anna Sandor
Maternal Mortality—Progress, but not Enough
43rd Commission on Population and Development
The theme of the 43rd UN Commission on Population and Development concentrated on Health, Morbidity and Mortality; however, a primary sub-topic was that of extending health care to all by exposing and rectifying gender inequality. Protecting women is important for multiple reasons—the most obvious being that they are the key to ensuring a healthy population and sustainable birth rates. Birth rates, in turn, directly impact economic development through human capital. Thus, if a sustainable and healthy growth rate of economic development is directly in the country’s interest, and this economic growth can only be reached only through gender empowerment, it is imperative for countries to address the specific health care access issues that women face. The New York Times, during the convention, published an article about the decline in overall maternal morbidity globally. Despite this, a common theme at the convention was the use of the NYT article by NGOs and country representatives as motivation to continue efforts to reduce gender inequalities instead of as a reason to slow them down. After all, the situation remains dire in developing and least developed countries. Pregnancy and childbirth is still the leading cause (globally) of death in 16-25 women. 54 million people worldwide still suffer from complications with pregnancy. In addition, sexual and reproductive problems are still 18% of the global disease burden. Maternal mortality is especially grave in Sub-Saharan Africa, where women face a 1 in 16 lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy related causes. Every country has a responsibility to reduce maternal mortality rates in order to advance human fulfillment, as well as economic development Thus, a major theme at the conference was that the recent NYT article should not dissuade us from continued efforts towards progress, but should remind us of all the work that is left.
Despite the positive advancements globally, maternal deaths in East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa fail to be adequately addressed. Moreover, the international community has a moral and social obligation to commit to addressing maternal mortality in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 4, 5, 6, and 3. These involve reducing child mortality, improving maternal health through universal access to reproductive health care, combating HIV/AIDS (1.5 million of the 2 million that die each year from HIV are children and women and women are 1.2 times more likely to be infected than men), and promoting gender equality. Three of the eight Millennium Development Goals are related to health. Most of these, particularly reproductive health, are important for the short-run, as well as long-run Millennium Development Success.
In order to continue advancing towards the goal, barriers in ensuring women’s health must be tackled. Unequal access issues must be addressed. Tackling these barriers requires initiatives at local and national levels to ensure sustainability. One barrier to access is the lack of a working health care system. Delivering an functional health care system requires effective engineering. The second large barrier is social inequality. Social and legal disadvantages yield unequal power relations and are a major obstacle in health care access for women. Empowerment of women is vital to ensure women’s health and ensures lower rates of gender based violence. This is vital, because women that are abused are 50% more likely to be HIV positive (according to Planned Parenthood).
Another barrier is the lack of access to family planning. Funding for this globally has almost halved and universal access to reproductive health has suffered as a result. According to the International Planned Parenthood Federation, one of the main pillars of development is family planning. Efforts to reform family planning should continue through civil society organizations that complement government organizations. After all, the facts are stark: 215 million people don’t have access to contraceptives. Access would prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies.
Global cooperation is clearly needed on the issue of maternal morbidity. Internationally funded support programs are imperative. This requires advocates and politicians to raise awareness. Many NGOs at the Commission recommended increased budget allocations towards women’s health. Some even recommended that donor countries commit . Seven percent of GDP to global and domestic programs for reproductive rights. The next commission will concentrate on adolescence and youth, and the role of maternal morbidity will be a continuing theme at this commission as well.
Themocracy