Topic » Maternal Health
More than 350,000 women die every year in pregnancy or childbirth – the majority of them in developing countries. Pregnancy is the leading cause of death for women aged 15 to 19 worldwide, primarily due to complications of childbirth and unsafe abortion.
Universal access to family planning could prevent one-third of maternal deaths, while also allowing women to space or delay their pregnancies. Research shows mothers who wait three to five years before having another child have a lower risk of complications such as pre-eclampsia and hemorrhage and deliver healthier babies. PAI supports family planning as an effective strategy to improve maternal health, and advocates for increased access to life-saving reproductive and maternal health supplies.
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
Why Population Matters to Maternal Health
Unintended pregnancies are an important cause of maternal deaths. Pregnancies that occur too early, too late or too frequently can lead to illness during pregnancy and complications at the time of birth. Lowering fertility rates by increasing the use of family planning helps to reduce pregnancy-related deaths and population growth. In many countries with high maternal mortality, fertility rates would be lower if women had the number of children they desire.
The Key to Achieving the MDGs
Fulfilling the global demand for family planning can significantly reduce the costs of achieving the U.N. targets, especially in maternal health and education. In Kenya alone, providing universal access to contraception could generate a $200 million net savings for the social sector in meeting the MDGs.
Report
A Measure of Commitment: Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Risk Index for Sub-Saharan Africa
Centre for the Study of Adolescence Population Action International In 2008 the number of African women who died from pregnancy and child birth was much higher than the number of casualties from all the major conflicts in Africa combined. Maternal … Continue reading
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Advocacy Guide
A Practical Guide to Integrating Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS into Grant Proposals to the Global Fund
Karen Hardee, Jill Gay and Elisha Dunn-Georgiou Integrating RH and HIV can greatly contribute to mitigating the AIDS pandemic by reducing unintended pregnancy; preventing perinatal transmission; expanding to more target groups; reducing gender based violence; meeting the needs of people … Continue reading
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Mothers — It’s Complicated
There are always complicated issues around mothers. Being one, having one, not having one, wanting one, losing one, not being one. Personally, we love our mothers even when we don’t. Culturally, we revere them. Globally, we say how important mothers … Continue reading
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Regional Advocacy Training in Fiji
Bula! (hello in Fiji). I am here in Fiji, taking part in a regional advocacy training for young people from the Pacific, put on by the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights, a sub-grantee of PAI’s. I arrived yesterday … Continue reading
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A Measure of Survival: Where are Women at Highest Reproductive Risk?
Over half a million women worldwide die every year in pregnancy or childbirth—largely from preventable causes. In the developing world, pregnancy remains the leading killer of women in their reproductive years. And for young girls between the age of … Continue reading
Report
A Measure of Survival – Calculating Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Risk
Pregnancy and childbirth are deadly to more than half a million women worldwide every year—a fact that is unacceptable, but not unavoidable. These women are typically poor, uneducated and living in rural areas or urban slums. Despite 20 years of … Continue reading
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Policy Brief
A Measure of Survival
Pregnancy and childbirth are deadly to more than half a million women worldwide every year—a fact that is unacceptable, but not unavoidable. Despite twenty years of campaigning to improve their sexual and reproductive health, the risk of dying in pregnancy … Continue reading
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Policy Brief
Questions and Answers on Female Genital Mutilation
Q. What is female genital mutilation (FGM)? A. Female genital mutilation (sometimes erroneously called “female circumcision”) refers to three different kinds of cutting procedures performed on the external genitalia (vulva) of young girls or women. The three basic types of FGM are: … Continue reading
Policy Brief
How Family Planning Protects the Health of Women and Children
Family planning dramatically improves the health and chances of survival of both women and their children. At the same time, when parents are more confident their children will survive, they are more likely to have fewer children and plan the … Continue reading
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Policy Brief
How Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services is Key to the MDGs
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) offer precise targets for reducing poverty and promoting global development, but they remain incomplete if they do not build from and incorporate the objectives of other major international agreements, particularly those reached at the International … Continue reading