Access to services and information
It is estimated that more than 500,000 women die globally each year due to causes related to pregnancy and childbearing. A large number of these deaths could be avoided if women had access to timely, appropriate and adequate care. Gender biases, combined with poverty, force many more women into sickness, poor nutrition, early marriages and repeated pregnancies.
The health of children born to women who experience these problems is invariably affected, thus setting up a vicious intergenerational cycle of mortality and morbidity. Key barriers to seeking care include lack of knowledge or perception of the seriousness of a problem, low socio-economic status, poor availability of health care providers and services, and lack of confidence in both the care provider and the quality of services provided.
- The influence of husbands’ approval on women’s use of prenatal care
- This article, published in the Ethiopian Journal of Health Development, examines the influence of the attitudes and background characteristics of husbands and wives on prenatal care utilisation, and identifies the role of husband’s approval on women’s use of prenatal care.
Recommended reading
- Making motherhood safer: overcoming obstacles on the pathway to care
- ( E. I. Ransom; N. V. Yinger / Population Reference Bureau , 2002)
- Recommended reading
- If motherhood is celebrated around the world, the path to becoming a mother can be a very dangerous one indeed. Half a million women die each year of pregnancy and/or childbirth-related causes. Ninety...
- Maternal mortality in the rural Gambia: a qualitative study on access to emergency obstetric care
- ( M. Cham; J. Sundby; S. Vangen / BioMed Central , 2005)
- Recommended reading
- This article, published in the journal Reproductive Health, reports on a study into socio-cultural and health service factors associated with maternal deaths in rural Gambia. Interviews with healthcar...
Latest Additions
- Cost effective methods of reducing neonatal deaths in Nepal
- ( J. Borghi;B. Thapa;D. Osrin / The Lancet , 2005)
- Of the 4 million neonatal deaths worldwide every year, most occur in developing countries. In Nepal, the burden of neonatal mortality is especially high, and over 90 percent of births take place at ho...
- How do women feel about their maternal health in Malawi?
- ( M. Rosato;C.W. Mwansambo;P.N. Kazembe / The Lancet , 2006)
- Improvements in preventive and care-seeking behaviours to reduce maternal mortality in rural Africa depend on the knowledge and attitudes of women and communities. Surveys have indicated a poor awaren...
