1. Maternal Health in the
Developing World
By Jen Breidinger
S

2. Overview
S Maternal health in the United States versus that in developing countries – how
does it compare?
S Factors that create this difference
S Why do women die?
S What has already done to reduce this?
S Influence of economic development level, household wealth, and maternal
education on child health.
S Maternal education and child health associations
S Ethical dilemmas
S How can we help?

3. Maternal Health in the
Developed World Vs. the
Underdeveloped
S United States: 1/2800 chance a women will die during childbirth
S Underdeveloped counties: 1/16 change a women will die during
childbirth
S 95% of maternal deaths around the world take place in Africa or
Asia
S Since 1990, maternal deaths worldwide have dropped by 47%
Source: World Health
Organization

4. Factors that Create this
Difference:
S Poverty
S Distance
S Lack of information and maternal
education
S Inadequate healthcare services:
limited assistance of a skilled
healthcare worker during
pregnancy and delivery
S Limited access to emergency
medical care

5. Why do Women Die?
S Severe bleeding
S Infections
S High blood pressure
S Unsafe abortions
S Malaria and AIDS
Source: World Health
Organization

6. What has Already Been Done?
S Millennium Development Project
S Goal = reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015.
S Delay in recognizing complications.
S Delay in reaching medical services.
S Delay in receiving good quality care.
Source: World Health
Organization

7. Influences on Child Health
Outcomes:
S Objective: define correlations between economic
development levels, household wealth, and maternal
education on child health outcomes.
S Higher economic development levels and maternal
education resulted in better health outcomes for both the
mother and child.
Source: Boyle, Racine and
Georgiades

8. Maternal Education & Child
Health
S Objective: look more closely at the relatedness of
maternal education and child health.
S Found a correlation between higher education levels:
S Infant mortality
S Height for age
S Immunization status
Source: Desai and Alva

9. Ethical Dilemmas
S Is it morally right how maternal health is treated in some
countries?
S Is it morally right for us to infringe our beliefs about
maternal education and family planning on women of
other cultures and countries in order to improve maternal
health?

10. References
S Boyle, Michael, et al. "The influence of economic development
level, household wealth and maternal education on child health in the
developing world." Science Direct 63.8 (2006): 2242-2254.
S Desai, Sonalde and Soumya Alva. "Maternal education and child
health: Is there a strong causal relationship?" Springer Link 35.1
(1998): 71-81.
S World Health Organization. Maternal deaths disproportionately high
in developing countries. January 2012. 4 November 2012
<www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr77/en/index.html>.
S World Health Organization. Maternal mortality. 1 May 2012. 2012 4
November
<www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/index.html>.
S