Mothers and newborns in India are healthier now: Study
Community-based health programmes in parts of India,
Ethiopia and Nigeria have been successful in improving health care for mothers and newborns, but inequities still exist,
says a new study. The study was published in the Canadian Medical
Association Journal (CMAJ). According to the researchers,
underlying inequities in these rural settings mean that more work is needed to
reach the poorest families, who bear the greatest burden of maternal and
newborn mortality.
“Our findings have both an optimistic and a
pessimistic interpretation, in that families from all socio-economic status
groups benefited, but inequities have also persisted,” said Indian-origin
researcher Tanya Marchant from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
in the UK.
To assess the impact of community-based health
interventions linked to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, an
international team of researchers looked at eight essential maternal and
newborn health indicators in rural India, Ethiopia and Nigeria, representing
more than 22 million people.
Indicators included antenatal and postnatal care,
births in health care facilities, hygienic umbilical cord care, breastfeeding initiation and
more. The researchers found some improvements. For example, more women in
Ethiopia and Uttar Pradesh, India, had access to maternity care in 2015 than in
2012.
In Gombe, Nigeria, socioeconomic issues as well as the
Boko Haram terror threat prevented most women from receiving adequate care,
although some positive family behaviour, such as hygienic cord care, showed
marked improvement.
Despite this progress, it was striking that in all
three settings the number of newborns receiving early postnatal care did not
improve.
30.10.2019
A little progress each day adds
up to big results
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