MDG 5 – Improving Maternal Health

On March 13, 2009 world leaders assembled in London to renew commitments on achieving the MDGs.  Two technical working groups were established to present analyses and recommendations to the Taskforce.  The focus of Working Group One was on constraints of up scaling and costs.  The focus of Working Group Two was on raising and channeling funds.[1]

The Facts – why funds are needed now:[2]

• worldwide a child dies every three seconds, a mother dies in pregnancy or childbirth every minute and 7,000 people are infected with HIV AIDS every day
• more than half a million women die from preventable complications in pregnancy and child birth every year
• current donor funding is not sufficiently predictable or sufficiently large to support reaching the health MDGs
• an additional estimate of US$30 billion is needed to save 10 million lives – 3 million mothers and 7 million children
• presently three health goals; to cut child mortality rates; improve maternal care and combat HIV, AIDS and malaria are lagging

Maternal Healthcare Facts

A total of 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries.  Five direct complications account for more than 70% of maternal deaths: hemorrhage (25%), infection (15%), unsafe abortion (13%), eclampsia (very high blood pressure leading to seizures – 12%), and obstructed labor (8%). 15% of pregnancies and childbirths need emergency obstetric care because of risks that are difficult to predict.  Unavailable, inaccessible, unaffordable, or poor quality care is essentially responsible for maternal death.  Because of maternal death, some one million children are left motherless each year.  These children are 10 times more likely to die within two years of their mothers' death.  The majority of maternal deaths could be prevented if women had access to quality family planning services, skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the first month after delivery.[3]

Four Healthcare Intervention(s) to Save Women (and Children)[4]

• Antenatal healthcare intervention to save women and children by providing an early utilization program at a community level

1. Four antenatal exams  (recommended for cases without complications)
2. Prevention of mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission (Antiretroviral treatment)
3. Nutrition

• Delivery

1. Skilled attendants at birth

• Postnatal healthcare

1. Breastfeeding  (and complimentary feeding)
2. Obstetric fistula
3. Treatment of reproductive tract infections
4. Malaria Nets (Intermittent preventative treatment for pregnant women (malaria; IPTp)

• Reproductive healthcare

1. Reproductive procurement (Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition - e.g. AccessRH)
2. Family planning (including education and contraceptive prevalence)
3. Treatment for sexually transmitted infection
4. Partner involvement

MDG 5 correlates directly with MDG 4 – reducing child mortality, MDG 1- preventing poverty and hunger, MDG 2 - universal education, MDG 6 - combating HIV/AIDS and malaria, and MDG 3 – promoting gender equality and empowering women. Current statistics show that the poorest and least educated women have the highest risk of death during pregnancy or childbirth.[5]

MDG 7 and MDG 8 are indirectly related to MDG 5.  MDG 7 – in developing countries, women are particularly affected by the lack of safe water and sanitation.  They are mainly responsible for collecting and managing the household supply of water.  On the average, trends show that having access to safe drinking water is improving but improvement in sanitation facilities is still lagging.[6]

MDG 8 - global partnership also includes tracking “commitments and measurement of progress for accountability”.  Partnerships, to name a few, includes providing access to affordable essential drugs in the developing countries, availability of information technology, reducing debt, ensuring access to health and education services, and encouraging NGO´s and other philanthropy institutions to sustain funding for MDG projects and programs.[7] Micro-financing, at a community level, encourages women empowerment, financial and social sustainability, as well as develops an infrastructure that integrates into a global economy.

In conclusion, the FAWCO´s Global Health Issues Team has focused their attention on MDG 5 – Improving Maternal Health.  We are looking for additional members who would be interested in working on this MDG.  You are more than welcomed to add to our list of  interventions. If you are interested, please contact either Regina Weber or Sylvia Behrman () who are co-chairing the Global Health Issues Team Committee.

 

Submitted from Co-Chairs:  Sylvia Cox (Italy) and Regina Weber (Germany)

---

[1] Working Group 1: Constraints to Scaling Up and Costs.  High Level Taskforce on International Innovative Financing for Health Systems.  Working Group One Technical Report.  June 5, 2009

[2] Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems meets in London on 13 March, 2009. (2009, March).

[3] WHO.  Maternal Health.  Retrieved on June 9, 2009 from http://www.who.int/features/qa/12/en/index.html

[4] UNICEF. (2008) Countdown to 2015.  Tracking Progress in Maternal, Newborn, & Child Survival.

[5] Millennium Development Goal 5.  Facesheet WHO/MPS/08.15

[6] United Nations. (2008, September) Facesheet: Goal 7 - Ensuring Environmental Sustainability. UN Department of Public Information – DPI/2517 M

[7] United Nations.  (2008, September) Facesheet:  Goal 8 - Develop a Global Partnership for Development.  UN Department of Public Information – DPI/2517 N