Maternal health is always closely monitored throughout pregnancy to avoid any issues and ensure the healthy delivery of the unborn child. But first, what are maternal health issues? Screenings, regular check-ups, and tests are part of prenatal care. They are used to identify any potential maternal health issues. Gestational diabetes, Pre-eclampsia, and other complications that could affect the mother and the unborn child can be identified and treated with the help of appropriate prenatal care.
Factors affecting maternal health
What are the factors affecting maternal health? Here is a complete list of which factors affect maternal health:
Access to healthcare
Poor maternal health outcomes may result from inadequate access to healthcare. This may include not having access to prenatal, maternity, or postpartum care.
Academic level
Maternal health outcomes for women tend to be better for those with higher levels of education. Educated women are better capable of making informed choices about their health and getting the care they require.
Nutrition
Maternal health depends on proper nutrition, and complications during pregnancy and childbirth can result from inadequate nutrition.
Mental Wellness
The well-being of both the mother and the child depends on the mother’s mental health. Depression during pregnancy and after delivery is a common worry for women and impacts maternal health.
Age
Maternal health complications are more likely to affect younger and older mothers.
Leading causes of maternal mortality
Maternal mortality is the term used to describe a woman dying. At the same time, she is pregnant, giving birth, or recovering from childbirth. Unfortunately, maternal mortality continues to be a serious issue worldwide, with high rates of maternal deaths in many countries. The following are the main reasons for maternal mortality:
- Anaemia, a condition with insufficient red blood cells, can lead to fatigue, weakness, and other problems during pregnancy.
- Malnutrition can increase the risk of maternal death by causing some complications during pregnancy and childbirth.
- The risk of maternal infection and other complications can increase with HIV/AIDS.
- Social and cultural elements like early marriage and childbearing, illiteracy, and restricted access to healthcare may influence maternal mortality.
- Cardiac disease: Pregnancy can put a woman’s heart under stress, and if she already has cardiac disease, it can cause her to pass away.
- Obstructed labor can result in several complications, including the mother’s death, when the baby cannot pass through the birth canal.
- Infection: If untreated, infection during pregnancy and childbirth increases the risk of sepsis and death.
- Preeclampsia and eclampsia, which are hypertensive disorders characterized by high blood pressure and protein in the urine, are major factors in maternal fatalities.
- Hemorrhage is the most common cause of maternal death and refers to heavy bleeding during or after childbirth.
- Complications from unsafe abortion: In countries where abortion is prohibited or severely restricted, unsafe abortion contributes significantly to maternal mortality.
Importance of maternal and child health nursing?
Maternal and child health nursing is a specialized field focusing on women’s and children’s care. It is an essential aspect of healthcare, as it helps ensure that women and children receive the care they need to be physically and emotionally healthy. Here is a clear perspective on what is the importance of maternal and child health nursing.
Providing comprehensive care
The nursing specialty of maternal and child health is explicitly devoted to the well-being of mothers and their young. It is crucial to healthcare because it helps to guarantee that pregnant women and young children receive the medical attention they require for physical and mental well-being. We may sum up the significance of maternal and child health nursing as follows:
Offering all-around medical attention
Maternal and child health nursing professionals are educated to assist mothers and newborns at every stage of their lives. Newborns and children up to the age of five are also cared for.
Risk assessment and management
Maternal and child health nurses are educated to recognize and address potential threats to the health of mothers and their young children, including gestational diabetes, hypertension, and pre-eclampsia. Psychiatric issues, such as postpartum depression, can also be diagnosed and treated by these professionals.
Teaching and empowering mothers
Maternal and child health nurses play a crucial role in teaching and empowering mothers so that they may make educated choices about their own and their children’s health. They help pregnant women, and new mothers learn about and practice healthy behaviors like prenatal care, breastfeeding, and more.
Foster healthy communities
By caring for and supporting mothers, dads, and children, maternal and child health nurses help to foster healthy communities. They aid families in understanding their options within the healthcare system and connect them with relevant resources and referrals.
Improving maternal and child outcomes
The work of maternity and child health nurses can significantly enhance health outcomes for mothers and their children. They try to ensure that all women and children can get the healthcare they need and that maternal and newborn death rates go down.
The three components of maternal care
What are the 3 components of maternal care? Maternal care includes three phases prenatal care, labor and delivery, and postpartum care. To ensure the safe delivery of a healthy baby, prenatal care includes regular check-ups and screenings. This includes keeping tabs on mom and baby to ensure they’re both healthy, keeping an eye out for and dealing with any issues that may arise, and offering emotional and informational support.
Assistance throughout labor and delivery is a crucial part of childbirth care, as is monitoring the health of the mother and newborn and tending to their needs as soon as following possible birth.
Postpartum care involves recovery support and newborn care, including monitoring the mother’s physical and emotional health, giving breastfeeding advice and support, and caring for the newborn.
What is the major focus of nursing practice in maternal and child nursing health practice?
Comprehensive and holistic care for mothers and their infants is the primary emphasis of nursing practice in maternal and child nursing health. All aspects of care, from the physical to the mental, are included here. Evidence-based and up-to-date care with current standards of care is prioritized alongside personalized, family-centered, and culturally sensitive care.
Nurses specializing in this area also contribute to better maternal and child health outcomes by researching and lobbying for legislation promoting maternal and child health. One way to achieve this goal is by providing parents with the resources they need to make educated choices about their children’s and spouses’ health.
How does maternal health affect child growth and development?
Maternal health can have a substantial impact on child growth and development. Adequate maternal health during pregnancy and the postpartum period is vital for maintaining a favorable pregnancy result and optimal development of the kid.
Appropriate prenatal care
Prenatal care is vital for recognizing and controlling potential health problems during pregnancy. Adequate prenatal care can assist in preventing issues such as pre-eclampsia, which can have major effects on both the mother and the baby.
Child development
Adequate maternal health during pregnancy and postpartum is vital for maintaining healthy child development. This involves physical, cognitive, and emotional growth.
The mother’s mental health is essential for the well-being of both the mother and the infant. Prenatal and postpartum depression can negatively impact maternal health and the cognitive and emotional development of the child.
Proper nutrition
Appropriate maternal nutrition during pregnancy is crucial for fetal growth and development. Malnutrition in the mother can result in low birth weight, prematurity, and other health complications for the infant.
Suitable birth weight
Good maternal health during pregnancy can contribute to healthy birth weight. Low birth weight increases the risk of infant mortality, developmental delays, and chronic health conditions.
Objectives of maternal and child health?
What are the objectives of maternal and child health? Maternal and child health aims to ensure that all mothers and children have access to high-quality medical treatment to boost their health and reduce the risk of death throughout pregnancy and infancy. Here’s how these aims can be developed further:
- To achieve this goal, we must reduce mother and infant mortality and morbidity, enhance maternal and child nutrition, and guarantee that all women and children have access to high-quality medical care.
- Ensuring that all mothers and children can afford and receive high-quality prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care is crucial to expanding access to healthcare for everyone.
- Educate the public about the importance of healthy lifestyles, including good eating habits, regular exercise, and positive choices during pregnancy.
- To improve mother and child health outcomes, tackling the underlying causes, such as poverty, lack of education, and lack of access to healthcare, is vital.
- Addressing cultural and ethnic disparities entails addressing cultural and ethnic differences in maternal health outcomes and providing culturally appropriate treatment and resources.
Final word
Maternal health, which includes women’s physical, emotional, and social well-being during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum, is an essential component of general health and well-being. It helps ensure that women and children receive the care they need to be physically and emotionally healthy. The mother’s health directly affects the newborn child’s health and may have long-term effects on both the mother and child.