Maternal health
In this page :
What is maternal health?
Maternal health covers all aspects of women's health during pregnancy, childbirth and the period immediately following. It requires access to effective, low-cost and universal medical care.
Improving maternal health is Goal 5 of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000, and it will be a priority item on the G8 summit agenda in June 2010.
How are we doing?
Since 2004, Malawi has managed to recruit and train 1000 doctors, nurses and midwives. As a result, 70 000 more women every year are giving birth in medical facilities, and the number of deaths during childbirth has declined by 1000 per year. In 2008 Nicaragua adopted a community health program that has provided maternity services to 410 000 people in 70 of the country’s poorest municipios. And Thailand has already achieved the MDG objective for maternal health. These success stories prove that investments in maternal health can make a real difference.
Yet despite these efforts, the worldwide maternal mortality rate only went down by a marginal 5% between 1990 and 2005.
Nearly 500 000 women are still dying every year, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where health services are inadequate and insufficient. 80% of these deaths are due to haemorrhaging, infections, abortions performed under poor conditions, and complications related to pregnancy and childbirth, all of which are avoidable or treatable causes.
At the two-thirds marker along the road to the MDG target year, 2015 deadline, there is a real need to speed progress in order to address this situation.
What do we expect from the G8 and the G20 in June 2010?
Leaders must commit themselves to:
- Keep their promise to invest $1.5 billion in maternal and child health.
- Bridge, by 2015, the shortfall between current aid levels and what is needed to achieve the MDGs for maternal and child health.
- Guarantee universal and free access to medical care.
- Support recruitment of the 4 million health professionals needed in countries of the South.
- Provide money and personnel to support the “Catalytic Initiative to Save a Million Lives”, a Canadian project launched in 2007. Canada's contribution alone should save 200 000 lives through the provision of medications and proper care.
In these times of economic crisis, it is more important than ever to make sure that pregnant women and mothers receive the care they are entitled to. Take your place At the Table and urge world leaders to honour their promises to boost funding for public health systems in countries of the South.
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