%0 Journal Article
%T Promoting Safe Motherhood in the Community: The Case for Strategies that Include Men
%A Denise M Roth
%A Michael T Mbizvo
%J African Journal of Reproductive Health
%D 2001
%I Women's Health and Action Research Centre (WHARC)
%X Although a decade has now passed since the launching of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, maternal mortality continues to be the health indicator showing the greatest disparity between developed and developing countries. Recently revised WHO and UNICEF figures indicate that an estimated 90% of the 585,000 worldwide maternal deaths that occur each year take place in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In terms of the lifetime risk of maternal death, this disparity remains striking: 1 in 12 women in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, compared with 1 in 4,000 women in Northern Europe. In addition, for every woman who dies, an estimated 16-17 will suffer from pregnancy-related complications. Research suggests that, in addition to biomedical interventions and the strengthening of health care services, improving awareness of obstetric complications among members of a pregnant woman's immediate and wider social network is an important step in improving her chances of survival when such complications occur. Many of the interventions implemented so far have focused exclusively on improving women's knowledge and practices as they relate to maternal health issues. Nevertheless, it is now increasingly being recognised that the actions required to achieve improvements in reproductive health outcomes in general, and maternal health in particular, should involve communities in the process and encourage men's active participation. Despite this, very few studies on risk perceptions or interventions to raise community awareness of obstetric risk factors, their complications and their consequences have targeted men. The present article argues for the development and testing of risk awareness interventions, which, in addition to women, target men in their familial and social roles within communities and as workers within health care services as a means of improving maternal health outcomes. (Afr J Reprod Health 2001; 5[2]:10-21) R¨¦SUM¨¦ L'avancement de la maternit¨¦ sans risque dans la communaut¨¦: plaidoyer en faveur des strat¨¦gies qui s'adressent aussi aux Hommes. Quoique la Safe Motherhood Initiative ait ¨¦t¨¦ lanc¨¦e il y a maintenant une d¨¦cennie, la mortait¨¦ maternelle reste toujours l'indice de la sant¨¦ qui montre la plus grande disparit¨¦ entre les pays d¨¦velopp¨¦s et les pays en voie de d¨¦veloppement. Derni¨¨rement, les chiffres revus qui ¨¦manent de l'OMS et du FISE montrent qu'environ 90% des 585000 d¨¦c¨¨s maternels partout dans le monde qui ont lieu chaque ann¨¦e, se trouvent en Afrique subsaharienne et en Asie. En ce qui concerne le risque de toute une vie du d¨¦c¨¨s maternel, cette disparit¨¦ reste frappante: I femme sur 12 dans certaines r¨¦gions de l'Afrique subsaharienne, par rapport ¨¤ I femme sur 4000 en Europe du nord. De plus, pour chaque femme qui meurt, il y en aura ¨¤ peu pr¨¨s 16-17 qui seront atteintes des complications li¨¦es ¨¤ la grossesse. La recherche laisse supposer qu'en plus des interventions biom¨¦dicales et l'am¨¦lioration des prestations de sant¨¦, l'am¨¦lioration au n
%U http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ajrh/article/view/7676