In this unit we were told to investigate on an MDG, then choose an issue that follows under the goal. I choose MDG 5: Improve Maternal Health, the goal was to reduce by three quarters,between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio, and my issue was to investigate on maternal mortality ratio for the US and for another country. The reason for choosing a country was that the US can learn from that country on the issue. In this case I used Spain as an example because they have less maternal mortality then the US. After comparing information for both countries we wrote a letter to a senator or a representative that serves our country. For this I decided to write to Kay Hagan, she is a senator of north carolina and an attorney. I choose Hagan for the reason that she can understand what i'm writing and see it from the women perspective. I am proud of the information that I found (with some help) and the citations. One thing that I learned during this unit or investigation was that how many women die from childbirth, I thought that we didn't have that much deaths due to the resources and technology that the US haves. Im glad that I learned this because as a women I informed my self for the future.
KIS. USA and Spain maternal morality rate. (2013)
Sen. Kay Hagan
512 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Hagan,
I am a high school student at the Global Citizenship Experience (GCE) High School in Chicago. I write to ask for your support in lowering the rate for maternal mortality in the U.S. As a member of the attorney committee in Congress, you have a voice to speak for mothers’ health rights. The United States has 8 deaths out of every 100,000 births. That rate is good enough for 48th place in the world rankings, but it’s not good enough. I think we can lower our number.
For an example of a country we can learn from, look to Spain, in 14th place. Spain is smaller than the U.S. in terms of geographic size, population, and resources. Yet, it has lower maternal mortality than the U.S. How has Spain done this? Spain has looked at the many reasons why women die during and after childbirth. Reasons include lack of access to a health care, haemorrhage, sepsis, hypertensive disorders, a unsafe abortion, and pregnancies too close together. (Unicef, 2008)
As a result, the strategies and priorities of Spain are designed to address the challenges above. The Spanish government has increased family planning and sex education by building a family planning centers network. According to a United Nations report on Spanish health, “The Government believes that instruction, information and assistance should be made accessible to the entire population so that couples may decide the number and spacing of their children.” (UN Report on Spanish Health)
Spain has managed to achieve a low maternal mortality rate of only 6 deaths out of 100,000 births. This means that in Spain, even with good health measures, 946 mothers still die every year as a result of complications from pregnancy and childbirth. This is a tragedy. However, if the United States could reach the same percentage Spain has, losing 6 mothers rather than 8 for every 100,000 births, our country would be better for having saved the lives of 6,269 American mothers annually.
[Call to action] We have many resources and connections we can use to improve maternal mortality rate in our country. One way that we can improv is by checking in on the women that are pregnant and help them with any complication that they have or my have.
I am trying to spread the word by posting this letter on my blog. I look forward to hearing from you with what actions you can or have already taken to support this cause.
Thank you for your time in reading this letter.
Sincerely,
K.S
Sources:
Population Statistics,
"Spain Population." www.google.com, n.p. Tue. 8 Oct. 2013
United States Population -www.google.com, n.p. Tue. 8 oct. 2013
"UN Health Report on Spain" http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/doc/spain.doc
"Unicef." www.unicef.org, unicef. Tue. 8 Oct. 2013
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