Bolivia’s Improving Maternal Health, Research Paper Example

Millennium Development Goal 5 has two targets.

Target 5.A: Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.

Bolivia is fighting for better maternal health as a developing country. According to a report by Save the Children, Bolivia is established in the world rankings of the maternity in 179 countries. The targets cover how Bolivia is taking initiatives to improve their maternal health.

Primary Goals

According to the 2015 Goals Millennium Report, one of the primary goals—goal number 5— is to improve maternal health in Bolivia. This may refer to eliminating the ratio or maternal mortality as well as providing citizens access to adequate reproductive health. These statistics may be attributed back to goal 4 in the Millennium Report, which is to reduce child mortality. As compared with other regions in the world, Bolivia is considered to have a low mortality rate as of 2015 as noted in the Millennium Report. It still is considered an ongoing issue however, which must be addressed.

Research Statistics

In Bolivia, for every 140 births there is a woman at risk of dying from complications before, during or after child labor, which ranks the country as the worst nation in South America in maternal mortality rate. The main causes, according to the Pan-American Health Organization, are 33% due to bleeding, 17% due to infections , 9% to abortions , 5% to hypertension , and 2% for prolonged labor .

Uruguay has the lowest rate in the region with 1 out of every 3,500 women at risk of dying from complications due to childbirth or pregnancy. Followed by Chile with 1 case of mortality for every 2,400 ; Brazil with one out of 780; Argentina with one out of 630; Colombia with one out of 500; Peru with one out of 440; Ecuador with one out of 420; Venezuela with one out of 360; and Paraguay with one out of 290.

If in the comparison are added the twenty countries of Central America and the Caribbean, Bolivia scale a position only remaining above Haiti, which records the worst rate of maternal mortality in the region with a case of one for every 80 births.

Challenges of Goals

There are unfortunately several challenges and conflicts that compromise Bolivia’s maternal health as a developing country. Conflicts of war continue to drive Bolivian families out of their homes where they are forced into becoming refugees. This drives those refugee families into extreme poverty without access to food, water, or shelter. An infant being born into a refugee life is certainly compromising to maternal health.

Compared to Surrounding Nations

Bolivia is also in the queue in South America with regard to infant mortality. For every 1,000 born, 39.1 do not make it to the age of five. It was followed with 22.5 Ecuador and Paraguay with 21.9.

Adding Latin America and the Caribbean, Bolivia was again to be just ahead of Haiti, which shows the face more difficult for the children. In the Caribbean country, 72.8 die from every 1,000 children born before reaching the age of five.

Fortunately, mortality rates for children under the age of 5 have significantly decreased since the early 1990’s and the early 2000’s. The entire Latin American region has experienced a 4.1 mortality rate in 2015 from the 5.6 rate in the early 2000’s. This improvement is an indication that maternal health in Bolivia as well as other developing countries is getting better with time and effort.

Cuba, Chile and Costa Rica provide the lowest rates of infant mortality. In these countries, between 6 and 10 of every 1,000 children die before their fifth birthday.

Target 5.B: Achieve by 2015, universal access to reproductive health.

Maternal health continues to be an ongoing concern in Bolivia because as reported by United Nations Children’s Fund in 2008, Bolivia experienced over 200 casualties for every 100,000 new born children. Fortunately, the global mortality ratio has experienced a reasonable improvement since the 1990’s and early 2000’s. 1990 reported 380 deaths per 100,000 live births and 2000 reported 330 deaths per 100,000 live births. Bolivia’s mortality ratio is just below the global mortality ratio of 210 deaths per 100,000 live births.

To drive the goal of improving maternal health care even further in Bolivia’s favor, 2014 reported a significantly improved percentage of global births assisted by experienced health professionals from the 1990 reporting. 1990 showed 59% of new born infants being assisted by a health care professional as 2014 jumped to 71%. Although it took 24 years to make a 13% increase in this statistic, it is still considered substantial for developing countries such as Bolivia. Both of these improvements are in Bolivia’s favor to improve maternal health. Infant mortality is more likely to occur in poverty stricken environments where access to basic health care assistance is not readily available. Vaccinations are an important part to improving maternal health and poverty stricken areas are not the most suitable environments to access vaccinations. Luckily the coverage for vaccinations has improved from the early 2000’s.

It was also noted in the Millennium Goals Report of 2015 that improvements in infant sustainability require focused efforts to help eliminate socio-economic disparities. It is reported that infants have a better chance of sustainability should they be born to mothers with at least a secondary or higher education. With this on record, helping to provide access to education to Bolivian citizens would not only assist in the development of the nation, but it would also assist in improving maternal health.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the country of Bolivia is well on its way to improving their maternal health. It will not happen overnight, but the statistics have shown that the nation has certainly made progress from the 1990’s as well as the early 2000’s. As technology and medical science continue to vastly improve, the nation can further innovate itself with the use of given resources. Although a developing country, Bolivia will hopefully become a fully developed country should they continue their progress.

Bibliography

Cepal. Goal 5. Improve maternal health. Economic. Bolivia: Cepal, 2015. <http://www.cepal.org/mdg/noticias/paginas/2/35592/ficha_odm_5en.pdf>.