Maternal Mortality

I did my final project on the issue of maternal mortality, which is one of the most important but most overlooked issues regarding women's health. There are huge disparities between maternal mortality rates in developed countries and the rates in underdeveloped countries.

For example, the UN has statistics that are based on maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. In 2005, Sub-Saharan Africa had 900 maternal deaths, and Southern Asia had 490. These are the regions with the two highest maternal mortality rates. In stark contrast, in developed regions, the number of deaths in 2005 was 9. Even more startling is that 90% of these deaths could be prevented if women in underdeveloped countries had access to simple resources and trained health professionals.

In the past few years, the media has been used to bring attention to women's health issues. In 2005, the World Health Organization held a workshop in Bangkok entitled “Increasing Media Awareness on Maternal and Child Health Issues” which informed media professionals about what they can do to help bring awareness to issues about maternal health.

Former supermodel Christy Turlington is also playing an important role in bringing maternal mortality to the forefront of the media. She is currently making a documentary called, "No Woman, No Cry" in which she travels to Guatemala, Bangladesh, and Tanzania, documenting the lives of pregnant women and mothers there, as well as documenting the lives of mothers giving birth in the United States. In the clip below, she talks a little bit about the film and her interest in the issue.

Essay

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