Maternity: Ensuring Optimal Health for Women and Infants

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Questions and Answers

What is the main focus of maternity health?

Reducing infant mortality rates

Ensuring women stay healthy during pregnancy

Promoting access to quality healthcare postpartum

Ensuring women have a positive pregnancy experience (correct)

Which factor contributes to maternal deaths according to the text?

Overhydration

Nutritional deficiencies

Viral infections

Excessive bleeding (correct)

How have births attended by skilled health personnel changed from 1990 to 2019?

Increased by 58% (correct)

Decreased by 23%

Increased by 23%

Remained constant at 81%

What has been the trend in deaths from pregnancy and childbirth complications over the past two decades?

Decreased by 38% Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a preventable factor contributing to maternal deaths?

Influenza Signup and view all the answers

What is highlighted as an essential step towards ensuring better maternal health for all women according to the text?

Raising awareness and addressing inequalities Signup and view all the answers

What is the average reduction in maternal mortality per year based on the text?

Around 3% per year Signup and view all the answers

What is the SDG target for maternal mortality by 2030 according to the text?

Less than 70 deaths per 100,000 births Signup and view all the answers

What is one key challenge mentioned in the text regarding public involvement in pregnancy research?

Transient nature of pregnancy Signup and view all the answers

What is one innovative approach mentioned in the text to improve maternal wellbeing and research engagement?

Yoga for Bump sessions Signup and view all the answers

What is one key issue related to maternal care experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic mentioned in the text?

Limited partner accompaniment during labor Signup and view all the answers

What is one policy change mentioned in the text that could address the psychological impacts on mothers due to visitor restrictions during the pandemic?

More flexible policies regarding visitor restrictions Signup and view all the answers

What is the key focus of the 'salutogenic model of care' mentioned in the text?

Reducing the medicalization of childbirth Signup and view all the answers

What is one key impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the 'salutogenic model of care' mentioned in the text?

Progress on the model has stalled due to restrictions Signup and view all the answers

What is one key area of maternal care services that was compromised by COVID-19 restrictions according to the text?

Access to emotional support during childbirth Signup and view all the answers

What is one future research direction mentioned in the text for improving maternal health outcomes?

Developing quality care interventions suitable for the pandemic context Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Maternity: Ensuring Optimal Pregnancy and Postpartum Experiences for Women and Their Infants

Overview of Maternity

Maternity refers to the health of women during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period. Each stage of this journey should be a positive experience, enabling women and their infants to achieve their full potential for health and well-being. Despite significant progress in recent times, maternal health remains an area of concern, with approximately 287,000 women dying annually from pregnancy-related complications and poor maternal health. Preventable factors like excessive bleeding, infection, hypertension, unsafe abortions, obstetric labor complications, and indirect causes such as anemia, malaria, and heart disease contribute to these deaths. To address these issues, raising awareness, promoting access to skilled healthcare, and addressing inequalities that impact health outcomes are essential steps towards ensuring better maternal health for all women, regardless of location or circumstance.

Key Milestones in Maternity Health

The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel has increased from 58% in 1990 to 81% in 2019.
Deaths from pregnancy and childbirth complications have declined by 38% over the past two decades.
Despite these improvements, progress is still insufficient, with an average reduction of just under 3% per year, requiring more concerted efforts to achieve the SDG target of less than 70 deaths per 100,000 births by 2030.

Addressing Pregnancy Challenges

Pregnancy presents unique challenges for women, particularly when it comes to accessing healthcare services that cater to their individual needs. For example, women with physical disabilities often face barriers in accessing appropriate prenatal care. Additionally, engaged public involvement in research remains challenging due to the transient nature of pregnancy. However, innovative approaches such as Yoga for Bump sessions, which combine free yoga classes for pregnant women with integrated opportunities for research engagement, can improve both maternal wellbeing and involvement.

Assessing Maternal Care Experiences

Understanding women's experiences during pregnancy and postpartum is crucial for improving overall maternal health outcomes. Research on parental experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed several issues, including restricted emotional support, limited partner accompaniment during labor and delivery, and reduced visitation rights after giving birth. As a result, more flexible policies regarding visitor restrictions are needed to consider long-term psychological impacts on mothers. Furthermore, focusing on non-clinical interventions like workshops or medical guidelines could reduce unnecessary induction and operative deliveries, ultimately benefiting both mothers and infants.

Adopting Salutogenic Model of Care

Recent years have seen a shift towards adopting more health-promoting models of care that aim to reduce medicalization of childbirth. This includes non-clinical interventions targeted at women and healthcare professionals, such as workshops, couple-based workouts, and guidelines. However, progress seems to have stalled during the pandemic due to restrictions that limited these approaches. As such, more relevant interventions tailored to the COVID-19 context are needed for mothers and infants alike.

Ensuring Quality Care During Childbirth

Quality standards related to maternal care services have been compromised by COVID-19 restrictions. Some key areas impacted include access to emotional support, partner accompaniment during labor, and visitation rights postpartum. It is crucial to address these issues while considering long-term implications for psychological wellbeing during the perinatal period.

Future Implications and Research Directions

As we strive towards improving maternal health outcomes, future research efforts should focus on developing quality care interventions suitable for the pandemic context. Additionally, addressing the limitations outlined in current studies, such as publication bias, unclear titles or abstracts, and poor indexing, will help provide a broader perspective on parental birth experiences with maternity care. Furthermore, exploring how experiences differ between parents across diverse cultural backgrounds will contribute significantly to advancing our understanding of maternal health care services.

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Description

Explore the importance of maternity health in ensuring positive pregnancy and postpartum experiences for women and their infants. Learn about key milestones, challenges in pregnancy, assessing maternal care experiences, adopting a salutogenic model of care, and ensuring quality care during childbirth. Discover future implications and research directions to improve maternal health outcomes globally.