Skip to main content

Maternal Health

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Global Health Essentials

Abstract

Maternal health, which encompasses health care for women before, during, and after pregnancy, is a major global health issue. Pregnancy and childbirth complications cause 211 deaths per 100,000 live births worldwide (UNICEF. Maternal mortality. Maternal mortality declined by 38% between 2000 and 2017. 2021. https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/maternal-mortality/), with strong differences linked to socioeconomic levels. Indeed, women, and girls, living in high-income countries have a lower lifetime risk of maternal death of 1 to 54,000 than those living in low-income countries (1–45). In the context of universal health coverage, Goal 3 of the SDGs increases the focus on ensuring safe motherhood by setting key maternal health targets, such as maternal mortality ratio and access to skilled birth attendant, to be achieved by 2030. In this chapter, we present the multiple factors which impact maternal health outcomes, both within and outside the health field, the current policies, and initiatives which promote access to quality maternal health care services and the available financial resources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. UNICEF. Maternal mortality. Maternal mortality declined by 38% between 2000 and 2017. 2021. https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/maternal-mortality/.

  2. World Health Organization. Standard for improving quality of maternal and newborn care in health facilities. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  3. UNICEF. Maternal mortality. 2019. UNICEF Data: https://data.unicef.org/topic/maternal-health/maternal-mortality/.

  4. World Health Organization EUROPE. Fact sheet on sustainable development goals: health targets. 2017.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Firoz T, McCaw-Binns A, Filippi V, Magee L, Costa M, Cecatti J, et al. A framework for healthcare interventions to address maternal morbidity. Int J Gynecol Obstet. 2018;141:61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Filippi V, Chou D, Ronsmans C, Graham W, Say L. Chapter 3. Levels and causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. In: Reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health: disease control priorities, vol. 2, 3rd ed. The World Bank; 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Crear-Perry J, Correa-de-Araujo R, Lewis Johnson T, McLemore MR, Neilson E, Wallace M. Social and structural determinants of health inequities in maternal health. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2021;30:230.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Gebeyehu Worku A, Worku Yalew A, Fantahun Afework M. Factors affecting utilization of skilled maternal care in Northwest Ethiopia: a multilevel analysis. BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2013;13:20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Habonimana D, Batura N. Empirical analysis of socio-economic determinants of maternal health services utilisation in Burundi. BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2021;21:684.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Tsala Dimbuene Z, Amo-Adjei J, Amugsi D, Mumah J, Izugbara CO, Beguy D. Women’s education and utilization of maternal health services in Africa: a multi-country and socioeconomic status analysis. J Biosoc Sci. 2018;50(6):725–48.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. World Health Organization. Strategies toward ending preventable maternal mortality (EPMM). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Brizuela V, Tunçalp Ö. Global initiatives in maternal and newborn health. Obstet Med. 2017;10(1):21–5.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Barreix M, Barbour K, McCaw-Binns A, Chou D, Petzold M, Gichuhi G, et al. Standardizing measurement of maternal morbidity: pilot study results. Int J Gynecol Obstet. 2018;141:10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. World Health Organization. Global strategy for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health data portal. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021.

    Google Scholar 

  15. World Health Organization. (2021). Abortion: fact sheet. Abortion: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion.

  16. Vallières F, Cassidy E, McAuliffe E, Gilmore B, Bangura A, Musa J. Can Sierra Leone maintain the equitable delivery of their Free Health Care Initiative? The case for more contextualised interventions: results of a cross-sectional survey. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016;16:258.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. United Nations Human Rights. Contraception and family planning. United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner; 2020.

    Google Scholar 

  18. United Nations Human Rights. Abortion. United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner; 2020.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Romaric Bado A, Badolo H, Robert Zoma L. Use of modern contraceptive methods in Burkina Faso: what are obstacles to male involvement in improving indicators in the Centre-East and Centre-North regions? Open Access J Contracept. 2020;11:147.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Dahab R, Sakellariou D. Barriers to accessing maternal care in low income countries in Africa: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(12):4292.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Banke-Thomas A, Ifeanyi Ayomoh F, Omolade Abejirinde I-O, Banke-Thomas O, Amaize Eboreime E, Anawo Ameh C. Cost of utilising maternal health services in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2021;10(9):564–77.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viviana Mangiaterra .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Mangiaterra, V., Bucagu, M., Sabbatucci, F. (2023). Maternal Health. In: Raviglione, M.C.B., Tediosi, F., Villa, S., Casamitjana, N., Plasència, A. (eds) Global Health Essentials. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33851-9_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33851-9_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-33850-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-33851-9

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics