Discussion and Reflection
My research and experiences of working with communities on issues of maternal health in Ghana suggest that effective training, engagement and monitoring and supervision of TBAs could be beneficial to improvements in maternal and newborn health. During the six months that the author conducted research with women and healthcare providers in Ghana, it was clear that TBAs still occupy an important position in maternal healthcare provisioning in Ghana. Qualitative interviews and regular interaction and conversation with community members, women, and TBAs suggested that TBAs are often seen as easily accessible and culturally competent and acceptable providers of maternity care services, particularly births at home in rural
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Ghana is progressively aiming to be a modern state, and therefore the power of modernity shapes ideas and practices relating to reproductive health policy and planning. For instance, Ghana’s Reproductive Health Strategic Plan (2007-2011) emphasizes the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity through the modernization of obstetric care. Like Harrison (2011), I would concede that the optimal intervention to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes might be to encourage all women to seek care from skilled health personnel. For instance access to skilled ANC at government health facilities can facilitate the detection and treatment of problems during pregnancy and provides an opportunity for health workers to inform women about their health and the danger signs associated with a pregnancy. It is during an antenatal care visit that screening for complications and advice on a range of maternity-related issues take place, including counseling about healthy lifestyles. Studies have even suggested that early and regular contact with a formal healthcare system during pregnancy may also contribute to timely and effective use of services during and after delivery or in the event of an obstetric complication (Guliani et al, 2012, Yesuf et al, 2013). Similarly, it has been observed that a considerable number of problems that lead to maternal and newborn deaths occur during the postpartum period (Titaley et al, 2010). In particular, the first 48 hours following delivery are critical for detecting and monitoring potential complications that if unattended, could result in the death of mothers and newborns. Therefore access to and use of post-delivery care services in government health facilities where skilled birth attendants are likely to be
After reading the book which mentions the maternal and neonatal situation in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, is pitiable. (1) Child birth takes place under lantern light, in Mud bricks with profuse sweating without electricity, no running water, no emergency backup. With only the grace of God and the skill of a midwife that child birth takes place in remote villages in the country of Mali, West Africa, having the third highest total fertility
Cook, Selig, Wedge, and Gohn-Baube (1999) stated that an essential part of the country’s public health agenda is to improve access to prenatal care, particularly for economically disadvantaged women. I agree with this statement because access to care is very important for the outcome of a healthy mother and child. Improving access to prenatal care for disadvantaged women will not only save lives but also lighten the high financial, social, and emotional costs of caring for low weight babies. Some of the barriers that these women face are mainly structural where the availability of care is limited; the cost of care is a financial burden; and the time to seek care is problematic due to being single mothers working more than one job (Lia-Hoagberb, 1990). Additionally, there is the issue of prenatal care being delivered differently depending on one’s race. A study found that White mothers delivering ve...
As mention earlier that a Jennifer Deane was brave enough to speak out the truth of what she did during pregnancy. Jennifer told the class that she smoked a cigarette before going to check for her fetus (personal communication, March 28, 2016). As I mentioned about the risks of smoking earlier, in my Drugs and Behavior class, the professor also lecture us about the consequences of smoking and drinking alcohol while pregnant. In my Medical Sociology class, we watched a documentary on pregnant women in Africa, called Dead Mums Don’t Cry. This documentary was remarkable because it compared and contrasted the different point between Africa and the United Kingdom. As the reporter, Steve Bradshaw, stated in the documentary that many women died during their pregnancy because most of them were under age, but most of all it was because of the undeveloped medical materials that even the uncritical situations cannot be treated (Bradshaw & Quinn, 2005). Unlike in the film or the documentary where women can have C-section whenever the situation is critical, women in Africa cannot have that because often time they live far away and the hospital has limited
The history in a family can influence many generations. Certain families have stereotypes about them based on family history. This is a real world situation; the movie The Pregnancy Project, stereotypes about teen pregnancy where shown, and how they affect people. In the Pregnancy Project, the use of Gabi’s background influenced people’s reactions because her family has a history of teen pregnancy.
Women's reproductive health is a debated and complex issue in today's society. Nowhere is its severity more prevalent than in areas of extreme poverty such as south and Central America. The resolution to these problems is far from simple. Yet, women are increasingly taking control of their lives and forming groups to combat many of the prejudices that hold them back. However highly debated some tactics for resolution may be it is hard to miss the shear urgency with which the issues of women's rights and health call us. The fight for gender equality cannot overlook the importance of equality in health care and control over one's own body. Women's health is an issue that passes along its concerns to another generation every time a child is born.
For this research study, barriers to health care for Ethiopian women will be in placed of the Ethiopian healthcare framework by which the community provides care for women who lives in rural communities or other community setting. The responsibility of care for the Ethiopian women is assumed by the governmental authority. Healthcare is a fundamental human needs for the Ethiopian people. If care is available, many health epidemics may be reduced. The study is crucial because it may require further information on healthcare barriers, which can be, addressed to the local government, public healthcare providers, and external organizations, specifically the importance of focusing on areas such as primary health needs, awareness for women and reproductive health concerns for women.
Neo-natal care has become a common practice that is incorporated in the healthcare plan. The reason for its development is to ensure that infants who are born ill are taken care of and that their lives are safeguarded against the possible dangers they could experience while in the community. One of the issues that affect neo natal care is poverty. When the environment within which infants are brought up is poor or hazardous, their lives are significantly affected.
Access to health care in Ethiopia has left many people without proper health care and eventual death. Millions of people living in Ethiopia die because of the lack of access to the health care system; improving the access to the healthcare system in Ethiopia can prevent many of the deaths that occur, but doing so will pose a grueling and challenging task. According to Chaya (2012), poor health coverage is of particular concern in rural Ethiopia, where access to any type of modern health institution is limited at best (p. 1). If citizen of Ethiopia had more accessibility of the healthcare system more individuals could be taught how to practice safe health practices. In Ethiopia where HIV, and maternal and infant mortality rates are sky high, more education on the importance of using the healthcare system and makin...
Summary of Findings Prenatal care is something that is important or a developing baby and the mother. Without prenatal care there can be serious health complications that can result. Prenatal care has to deal with is when a woman goes to obstetrician gynecologist (OBGYN) to get periodic checkups to make sure that the baby is developing on the lines that it is supposed to. It also has to deal with nutrition and support that a woman can receive while pregnant.
An obstetrician is one thing, and a gynecologist is another. The job is combined together, but the two branches can be worked separately. An obstetrician is a physician who focuses and is trained in the management of pregnancy, labor, and pueperium (the period following childbirth). A physician who has specialized and trained in the health of the female reproductive system is a gynecologist. The reason the jobs are combined is because they’re both all about women. Obstetricians and Gynecologists are physicians who provide general medical care to women. They equip medical care associated with pregnancy or childbirth, and they diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases, especially those affecting the female
All mothers, especially first time mothers need help moral support and advice during the first few days after their delivery to ensure proper care of their newborn. The care and help given to first time mothers is of utmost important during this period as to maintain the normality in their babies as well as to prevent any further complications. Typically all pregnant women are counseled during their antenatal period on how to prepare themselves mentally on the care of their babies after birth. Upon delivery, majority of the mothers would stay for a short period in the hospital. During this short stay, they would need time to recuperate, need to know what care to give their baby and how to carry out the care and also learn what to do if their baby is feeling unwell. Thus it is important for health care providers to assist first time mothers be it at the hospital or at home since it is a crucial period for them and they often requires more help and moral support especially when it comes to the proper care of their newborn. ("Routine care of a newborn baby")
The most important indicators of a community’s overall health are maternal, infant, and child health. It deals with the health of women of childbearing age from pre-pregnancy, labor, delivery and the postpartum period and the health of the child prior to birth through the adolescence (McKenzie & Pinger, 2015, p.192). Health data that is collected towards maternal, infant and child health are used to see the effectiveness of disease prevention and health promotion services in a community. Prenatal health care is one of the fundamentals of a safe pregnancy. An infant’s health depends on the mother.
The Millennium Development Goal Report 2013 states that the progress towards achieving the target of reducing maternal mortality by two thirds between 1990 and 2015 significantly falls short of the set goal and the indices are still poor in the developing countries especially sub-Saharan Africa (United Nations, 2013). The People’s Health Movement (PHM), through its WHO Watch clearly identifies the huge omission of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) in the WHO’s revised strategy on traditional medicine (PHM WHO Watch, 2013). The magnitude of this omission appears to be puzzling owing to the fact that in just about three decades ago the WHO aimed to reduce death of women associated with child bearing through the training of TBAs and promoted their integration into the orthodox health care system. The WHO calls for a collaborative effort in achieving the goal of reducing maternal deaths. Yet, one can insinuate that the TBAs are no longer seen as a resource to be harnessed by public health professionals in addressing the issues associated with childbearing (Langwick, 2011). The ‘friend or foe’ mentality can clearly be observed in a statement made by one of Nigeria’s chief leaders in the fight towards reducing maternal mortality published in Nigeria’s foremost editorial daily newspaper magazine, the Punch. He said that ‘it was no longer acceptable for women to give birth in TBA centres, TBAs were no longer required in labour and delivery because of the availability of enough trained or skilled personnel, and he promised to jail any TBA involved in a maternal death’ (Punch, 2013). As such, it is important for us to critically analyse and evaluate the relevance of TBAs in promoting health from a contemporary global health perspective. I...
“ Being a Motherhood is a choice you make every day, to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is...and to forgive yourself, over and over again, for doing everything wrong.” MMMMM. Being mother is one of the most blessed and the most challenging job in the world. Giving birth to a new life and making it walk through the new world holding its hands showing a good trail makes a mother victorious in her life. In this modern world women’s attitude against pregnancy and being a mother is changing accordingly. There occurs so many miscarriages and maternal death during the pregnancy. A woman should be physically, and more over mentally set to have a baby in her womb. Considering the biological fitness of health it’s said that safer age to be get pregnant is in between 20 to 29. Early pregnancy in the teenage age of 13 to 20 and the delayed motherhood age after 35 is challenging to the health of mother as well as the birth of the child causing currently social issues India.
That is 545 deaths per every 100,000 successful deliveries. Also, a woman’s chance of dying from “pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is 1 in 13” (Abara 2012) Nearly 50% of Nigerian women are mothers before they turn 20. There in inability to access quality 6 health care services, poor access to safe childbirth services and lack of adequate and affordable emergency care. In some parts of the country, religion does not allow women to deliver in the hospital. Also, the husbands are not to be happy to see their wives opening up to a doctor for any from of virginal exanimations. So from a young age, the girl child is taught how to deliver her baby unassisted. This leads to infections and death. Also, gender inequality is imbedded in Nigerian society and culture. Although women do have rights to land, the patriarchal society dictates that their rights are weaker than a man 's. This shows the unequal distribution of power between man and women. Women have a very high fertility rate of six children per woman, due to the pressure on her to give birth to boys who can inherit and own land. As said by Newbury, “If a woman has a girl first, she is more likely to have more children, not use contraceptives, have short periods between pregnancies, and be subjected to polygamy” (Newbury 2004). Each of these factors increases a woman 's vulnerability to