Maternal & Child Health - MedShare

Maternal & Child Health

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Maternal & Child Health Program

 

The health of women and children is vital to creating a healthy world. Despite great progress, there are still too many mothers and children dying — mostly from causes that could have been prevented. MedShare’s Maternal & Child Health Program intends to improve the quality of healthcare for mothers and children in the medically underserved countries we serve; thereby, reducing the number of deaths associated with childbirth.

 

Every year 2 million new moms watch their newborns die on their first day of life, all because of illnesses that could be prevented. Support 2 Million Mothers today!

 

 

The Challenge:

Every day, approximately 800 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Of these deaths, 99% occur in developing countries. In 2012, 6.6 million children die before age 5 — with 5 million children dying in the first year of life.

In 2015, an estimated 303,000 women died from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth*. In addition, for every woman who dies in childbirth, dozens more suffer injury, infection or disease. Almost all of these deaths occurred in low-resource settings and most can be prevented.

 

The Opportunity:

  • Decrease global health disparities as they relate to maternal and child health patients;
  • Increase the capacity to effectively treat and care for more mothers and children in local healthcare systems;
  • Strengthen global health systems so they are ready to effectively care for and treat mothers and children.
  • Improve health outcomes for mothers and children; and
  • Save lives of mothers and children in medically underserved communities.

 

 

Our Strategy:  

The Maternal & Child Health Program provides many of the necessary medical supplies and equipment required for the early detection and treatment of some of the most preventable medical conditions leading to maternal and child deaths. These efforts will help our partners focus on caring for infants before, during and after childbirth, and will also support midwives (and other rural caregivers) by providing them with the essential medical products for a safe childbirth.

 

Did You Know?

  • Every day 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.
  • In 2015, roughly 303,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth.
  • 5.9 million children under age five died in 2015, largely from preventable or treatable causes.
  • Newborn, or neonatal, deaths account for 40% of all deaths among children under five.
  • Skilled care before, during and after childbirth can save the lives of women and newborn babies.
  • A woman’s lifetime risk of maternal death is 1 in 180 in developing countries (compared to 1 in 4900 in developed countries). In countries designated as fragile states, the risk is 1 in 54.
  • The major complications that account for nearly 75% of all maternal deaths are severe bleeding (mostly bleeding after childbirth); infections (usually after childbirth); high blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia); complications from delivery; and unsafe abortion.

Source: World Health Organization