Complications during childbirth and pregnancy have been one of the leading causes of death together with disability among women in their reproductive age. This has recently been an alarming case in the developing countries through which there has been an observation of an increased maternal rate in developing countries. The increase in the maternal rate reflects the increase in the parental deaths experienced among the developed countries. Despite the high maternal mortality rate being related to the developing countries which have challenges in having proper health treatments to curb the deaths, the unusual is being encountered with the increasing maternal mortality rate in the developed countries.
What is Maternal Mortality Rate
The maternal mortality rate is the risk that is associated with each pregnancy. It is the number of maternal deaths experienced in 100,000 live births. This is calculated by finding the ratio between parental deaths in 100,000 live births.
Maternal Deaths
Maternal death is the death of any woman while they are pregnant or between 42 days after terminating their pregnancy. This is irrespective of the cause of the death and the duration together with the site of the pregnancy. This might be through the management of aggravated by the pregnancy itself. However other causes either incidental or accidental are not considered in this. However in the facilitation of the identification of the parental deaths where there is an inadequacy of the cause of the death which cannot be attributed, a new definition of the parental death in which it is referred as the death of a woman while they are pregnant or even within 42 days after terminating their pregnancy despite the cause of death.
Maternal deaths are classified into two groups as either direct or indirect as described below;
Direct Obstetric Deaths – These are the type of parental deaths led by obstetric complications due to the pregnancy state. The pregnancy state includes the pregnancy itself, puerperium and labor. It may result from omissions, interventions, incorrect treatment or from several events combined hence leading in this type of direct death.
Indirect Obstetric Deaths – These are the type of parental deaths which result from the previously existing diseases or a disease which might have developed during pregnancy and which was not from the direct obstetric causes. The disease was however aggravated by the physiologic effects from the pregnancy
Live Births
This is the complete extraction or expulsion from its mother from the product of conception despite the duration of the pregnancy which on the separation, shows some evidence of life or breathes. Such evidence of life includes the pulsation of the umbilical cord, beating of the heart or certain movements of the voluntary muscles. It will be considered to be a life born whether the umbilical cord is cut or whether the placenta is attached.
With this the calculation of the parental mortality rate will be as below;
=All Maternal deaths in the reference period (1 year)Total live births in the reference period (1 year)×100,000
Places where maternal deaths occur
All over the world, there are inequalities in the parental deaths which indicate the differences in the health services offered as well as dictating a gap which exists between the rich and the poor. Most of the parental deaths occur in developing countries with a percentage of 99% in which more than half of these deaths have been recorded to arise from sub-Saharan Africa with South Asia taking a third of the maternal deaths.
In a study in 2015, the parental mortality rate in developing countries was recorded to be 239 in 100,000 live births while the parental mortality ratio in developed countries including 12 in 100,000 live births. This indicated a significant disparity between the maternal mortality of the developed and the developing countries. In addition to this, the disparities are also evident from the counties themselves on the differences in income levels between the women in the same state with the woman with low-income levels having a higher maternal mortality rate compared to women of high-income levels who were recorded to have low maternal mortality rate.
In addition to this, there is higher maternal mortality among the adolescent girls who are under an age of 15 years. This is due to the complications in pregnancy as well as those led by childbirth. The increase in the mortality rates related to mother in the developing countries is also highly led by an increased number of pregnancies compared to the number of pregnancies in the developed countries. From the studies, the probability of having a 15-year-old woman dying due to the maternal cause is 1 in 180 women in developing countries while that of the developed countries is 1 in 4900. Other countries are considered to be fragile in which there is a maternal mortality rate of 1 in 54 women.
Mortality Rate in Developed Countries
In the recent past, there has been a higher increase in the parental mortality rate in developed countries compared to the past. It is indicated that about 700 mothers die on childbirth in America with most of them is dying needlessly. This is much higher comparing it to other developed countries such as France, Canada, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom whose maternal mortality rates are decreasing. In addition to this maternal mortality, there are 50,000 mothers also suffer from severe injuries from the childbirth. However, there is an indication that these deaths could be prevented by about the total number of deaths. On the other hand, the injuries experienced by mothers can also be eliminated through the use of simple changes in the care offered by hospitals, doctors and medical experts learned for years.
Major Causes and Solutions of Maternal Mortality Rate in Developed Countries
Blood Pressure – High blood pressure is one of the major causes of deaths related to mother in the United States among other developed countries. In addition to this, it is also a significant cause of injuries on women during childbirth. This leads to a massive loss of blood in delivery and later leads to death or severe injuries if treatment is done late. One of the best solutions to this is through measuring the blood loss rather than estimating it visually. Where there is a diagnosis of high loss of blood, it should then be countered immediately by life-saving actions to avoid further injuries.
The reluctance in Health Care Services – Despite having highly rated hospitals in these economies, private groups and federal agencies have remained reluctant in the medical disaster. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services have failed to take an aggressive approach in improving the health care for pregnant women despite Medicaid paying half of the county’s births in a year. In addition to this, the private groups which accredit hospitals have also failed in ensuring that the best practices are followed by hospitals.
Best Solutions in Reducing Maternal Mortality Rates
Learning from experts – Recommendations to have mortality related to mother rates reduced require that experts educate health workers on the simple steps and timetables which they are to follow. With experts’ recommendations, there will be a gold standard of care set which decreases the parental mortality rates.
Stop the blames on victims – As it is said that some victims were unhealthy or that they were overweight, or other blames such as age or poverty. Instead of this, medical personnel should hold the responsibility and own the part of the problems being encountered.
Voting for new changes – With current leadership in the developed countries, there is a need for establishing new leadership to avoid persons who ignore this problem.
Going Public – This is checking on whether specific hospital follows the specifications and best practices on their health care of childbirth and pregnant women. With any information obtained in a particular hospital, you should ensure that you put it public so that people can choose the safer hospitals together with increasing the pressure for improving on the facilities use.
