Standing on maternal mortality

Gary Jacobsen
Published: March 18, 2008

Anyone who attempts to express his or her views on subjects like gun control, creationism or abortion rights will find that the effort is akin to hitting a hornet’s nest with a stick. Readers have strong views on these subjects, and no matter what position the writer takes, critics, like hornets, will swarm about and make the writer resolve to never again venture into such hazardous territory.

But what about topics which are equally important, but which do not make readers resort to name-calling and incendiary rhetoric? For example, the issue of maternal mortality is important, but few people step forth to express their views on this issue. Why is that? Reasonable people will agree that we, as a society, must do all we can to promote and ensure the health of expectant mothers. But, like many things, talk is cheap. Americans, sadly, might scream loudly about guns, creationism or the plight of “unborn babies” but never utter a word about the health and welfare of pregnant women. When faced with statistics about maternal mortality, most Americans just shrug and uneasily change the subject.

Americans brag about how perfect the country is, but the facts sometimes tell a different story. On the issue of maternal mortality, the United States ranks merely 41 out of 171 countries worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Our country certainly is not as bad as those in East Africa or Afghanistan, where as many as 1,800 women out of 100,000 die in childbirth, but our rate of 13 out of 100,000 is still a poor showing for an industrialized country.

It is significant that Scandinavian and other European countries have maternal mortality rates that are less than half the rate in the United States. Sweden, Denmark and Italy, for example, have a maternal mortality rate of only three out of 100,000. Spain, Kuwait, Germany, Australia, Iceland, Israel and the Czech Republic have mortality rates of only four out of 100,000.

So what is wrong with the United States? Lots. To begin, we refuse to provide prenatal care to poor expectant women. Other industrialized countries have comprehensive health care programs for citizens, but not us. In fact, an estimated 47 million Americans do not have ready access to health care, either through insurance programs or through public health facilities. If you are poor, you are expected to get by the best you can. No one will help you — certainly not those who lavish millions of dollars on organizations that merely promote guns or pro and con positions in the abortion wars.

The rate of maternal mortality is directly proportional to a country’s poverty and literacy rates. In countries in Africa, the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent, many people live at or below a subsistence level. They have virtually no access to doctors, prenatal care or nutrition programs. Also, in the Middle East, religious fundamentalists prevent women from seeing male doctors. As a result, many pregnant women in these third-world countries die when attempting to have babies because of complications from HIV, malaria, anemia, infection and hemorrhage.

The maternal mortality rate in the United States is influenced by a woman’s economic status, but also by other factors. The two most significant are obesity and hypertension, both of which are controllable through nutrition programs and medication.

Dealing with obesity is not easy. Poor women usually cannot afford fresh fruits and vegetables. Also, they do not have the economic wherewithal to put together meals that are low in calories, yet high in nutrition. They try to get by with inexpensive processed food items that often are high in fat, starch, sodium and ultimately calories.

Poor women also cannot afford to see doctors and other health professionals to deal with the other causes of maternal mortality.

Can the United States do better? Certainly. Our government lavishes billions of dollars annually on space programs, weapons systems, subsidies to agribusinesses, congressional “earmarks,” and, of course, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Comprehensive health care for all Americans would cost only a fraction of the amount of money our elected officials squander every year. We can only hope that the administration that takes office in Jan. 2009, will solve this problem.

Source: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39642

Gary Jacobsen lives in Woodbridge.