Maternal Health

Every minute a woman dies from complications related to childbirth, pregnancy, or unsafe abortion. Nearly all – 99 percent – of these deaths occur in developing countries. And for every woman who dies in childbirth another 20 to 50 survive, but suffer from devastating injuries such as obstetric fistula.

EngenderHealth’s approach to maternal health is holistic, addressing women’s sexual and reproductive health needs throughout their lives, including adolescence. Ensuring the availability of quality services helps pave the path for appropriate, specialized care during pregnancy, labor and delivery. Still, for many women, pregnancy marks their first contact with a health care system, which provides an unmatched opportunity to not only help make pregnancy and delivery safe for both mother and child, but also to address broader aspects of women’s health including family planning, and HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

EngenderHealth’s programs ensure that health facilities are equipped with supplies and well-trained staff to provide high quality services supporting:

• Safe pregnancy
  • Essential and emergency obstetric services
  • Prenatal care
  • Treatment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia
    
• Postabortion care
  
• Fistula prevention and repair
  
• HIV and STI screening, prevention, treatment and counseling
  
• Family planning
  
• Appropriate partner involvement
  

In addition, we advocate for policy changes globally and locally to make motherhood safer, such as increased availability of a life-saving drug to treat pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. EngenderHealth currently is involved with maternal and child health activities in 17 countries.