Diversity and divergence: the dynamic burden of poor maternal health

Maternal health is a big issue and is central to sustainable development. Each year, about 210 million women become pregnant and about 140 million newborn babies are delivered—the sheer scale of maternal health alone makes maternal well being and survival vital concerns. In this Series paper, we ado...

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Published in:The Lancet (British edition) Vol. 388; no. 10056; pp. 2164 - 2175
Main Authors: Graham, Wendy, Woodd, Susannah, Byass, Peter, Filippi, Veronique, Gon, Giorgia, Virgo, Sandra, Chou, Doris, Hounton, Sennen, Lozano, Rafael, Pattinson, Robert, Singh, Susheela
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Elsevier Ltd 29.10.2016
Elsevier Limited
Subjects:
Abortion
Africa South of the Sahara
Cause of Death - trends
Clinical outcomes
Female
Global Health - trends
Health problems
Health Status Disparities
Human rights
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Internal Medicine
Maternal & child health
Maternal Health - economics
Maternal Health - trends
Maternal Health Services - organization & administration
Maternal Health Services - supply & distribution
Maternal Health Services - trends
Maternal mortality
Maternal Mortality - trends
Morbidity
Population Surveillance
Pregnancy
Sustainable development
Vulnerable Populations
Womens health
ISSN:0140-6736, 1474-547X, 1474-547X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Maternal health is a big issue and is central to sustainable development. Each year, about 210 million women become pregnant and about 140 million newborn babies are delivered—the sheer scale of maternal health alone makes maternal well being and survival vital concerns. In this Series paper, we adopt primarily a numerical lens to illuminate patterns and trends in outcomes, but recognise that understanding of poor maternal health also warrants other perspectives, such as human rights. Our use of the best available evidence highlights the dynamic burden of maternal health problems. Increased diversity in the magnitude and causes of maternal mortality and morbidity between and within populations presents a major challenge to policies and programmes aiming to match varying needs with diverse types of care across different settings. This diversity, in turn, contributes to a widening gap or differences in levels of maternal mortality, seen most acutely in vulnerable populations, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa. Strong political and technical commitment to improve equity-sensitive information systems is required to monitor the gap in maternal mortality, and robust research is needed to elucidate major interactions between the broad range of health problems. Diversity and divergence are defining characteristics of poor maternal health in the 21st century. Progress on this issue will be an ultimate judge of sustainable development.
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ISSN:0140-6736
1474-547X
1474-547X
DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31533-1