April 2020 - Maternal & Child Health Month

Rotary International's theme for April is Maternal and Child Health!

Every day mothers risk their lives giving birth and millions of children die each year from treatable, preventable causes. At least 7 million children under the age of five die each year due to malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation.

To help reduce this rate, Rotary provides immunizations and antibiotics to babies, improves access to essential medical services, and supports trained health care providers for mothers and their children. Rotary’s projects ensure sustainability by empowering the local community to take ownership of health care training programs.

Maternal and Child Health Care is also recognized as one of Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus.

From the World Health Organization (WHO)

Maternal and newborn health

Maternal health refers to the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, whereas perinatal health refers to health from 22 completed weeks of gestation until 7 completed days after birth. Newborn health is the babies’ first month of life. A healthy start during the perinatal period influences infancy, childhood and adulthood.

Maternal, perinatal and newborn health matters to every person, society and country, and should be viewed from both a human rights and wellbeing perspective as highly important topics.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of goals set out in 2015 in order to achieve a new sustainable development agenda for the world by 2030. Out of the 17 development goals, number 3 is the goal directly linked to health. Within goal number 3, target 3.1 aims to decrease the global maternal mortality rate to less than 70 per 100,000 live births by 2030.

In May 2016, the 69th World Health Assembly (WHA) took place in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHA, which is the highest decision-making organ within the WHO, accepted a resolution related to women’s, children’s and adolescent's health. The resolution strives to ensure that every woman, child and adolescent worldwide are able to survive and thrive by the year of 2030, and is directly aligned with the SDGs and goal number 3.

Health before pregnancy

Parent's overall health and lifestyle choices before pregnancy can affect fertility, maternal health and infant's probability of developing chronic conditions later in life. Such choices include: maintaining a healthy diet, being physically active and avoiding unhealthy behavior (such as smoking, illicit drug use, alcohol consumption and unsafe sexual behavior).

People contemplating pregnancy should be screened for health problems; these need to be diagnosed and managed for optimal maternal and newborn health.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, the dynamics of work and home life, as well as physiological and psychological needs, change in preparation for parenthood. A healthy environment and healthy lifestyle during the 40 weeks of pregnancy are important to optimize health in a woman’s changing body.

In the 53 Member States in the WHO European Region, particular groups of women have a higher risk of adverse outcomes of pregnancy and birth, including: adolescents, migrants, Roma and women with low socioeconomic status or education level. (Poverty is strongly associated with poor reproductive health.) These groups often do not seek antenatal care (ANC), and experience violence during pregnancy. To address these issues, SDG 3- “ Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” strives further to improve quality of care and decrease inequality in the social determinants of sexual and reproductive health. These are all important factors for reducing the maternal mortality rate.

High-quality ANC (professional health care throughout pregnancy) is essential to monitor maternal, perinatal and newborn health, along with providing education and basic, easily understood information on health care to expectant parents. While most pregnancies are uneventful, high-quality ANC is needed to detect and manage the minority that have complications. Evidence shows that timely prevention, intervention and management reduce maternal, perinatal and newborn morbidity and mortality.

Childbirth

Delivery complications may require immediate professional care. That is why high-quality, evidenced-based emergency obstetric and neonatal care is one of WHO’s highest priorities to reduce illness and death in mothers and their newborn babies.

Postpartum care

Monitoring maternal and newborn health during the postpartum period is critical. The risk of death is highest for newborn babies: 75% of all neonatal deaths occur during the first week of life. Timely detection and management of symptoms have been shown to reduce mortality and complications.

Breastfeeding is optimal for both maternal and child health, and crucial for a healthy start in life. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months provides just the nutrients that newborn babies need and promotes bonding with their mothers. For women, the benefits include a reduced risk of ovarian and breast cancer, and a quicker return to pre-pregnancy weight than with formula feeding.

Women who remain healthy during pregnancy and after birth are more likely to stay healthy later in life. The continuum of newborn, infant, child, adolescent, reproductive, maternal and perinatal health is part of a woman’s life-course. All these stages are interrelated.