Reducing Maternal Deaths Essay

Maternal deaths are on the increase around the world with the recent statistic standing at 99% in developing countries. In the United States, more than 1.7 million women lose their lives while giving births due to pregnancy complications (Smith 2).Reducing Maternal Deaths Essay

Maternal deaths are mostly attributed to lack of proper medical attention of a skilled health or medical worker, unsafe abortions, excessive bleeding when giving birth and generally lack adequate education to pregnant women on pregnancy complications and their preventions (World Health Organization 7)

Impact Indicators For Maternal Mortality

Due to the increase of maternal deaths, something had to be done urgently to reduce the fatalities. The World Summit came up with a set of indicators that were to be used to closely monitor the maternal mortality reduction goals.

The Impact indicators agreed upon by UNICEF and WHO are the Maternal Mortality and Prenatal Mortality.

In Maternal Mortality, the levels, causes, and trends of maternal deaths are compared in different places. The Maternal Mortality ratio measures the probability of deaths caused due to pregnancy complications once pregnant, that means it measures live births.Reducing Maternal Deaths Essay

Inquiries from relatives in the household about deaths can also ascertain maternal mortality. This is called the ‘sisterhood method’ (Marlene 57). The survey conducted using this indicator has played a significant role in capturing the number of maternal deaths and helps to know the cause of death.

However, its main limitation is that it is unable to record the exact figure of deaths due to various reasons.