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Women Deliver Conference
Women Deliver for Development
Summary
There
is a large amount of research into maternal health as a health issue, but
maternal health as a development issue has been less explored. This Review
analyses the evidence from the past 20 years on the links between maternal
health and development to examine maternal health within a development
framework. We note that although existing evidence suggests that these links
are strong, further research is needed to definitively substantiate how and to
what extent maternal health and development affect each other. Further, we find
that progress and investment in maternal health have lagged far behind
estimates of what is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Introduction
The
reproductive years for women are of central importance to their lives, their
families and communities, and the next generation. During these years women not
only bear and raise children, but are active members of society in many ways—as
workers, leaders, and key actors in social change and development—and have the
greatest potential to deliver not only for their own lives, but also for
broader development. Since childbearing is a key part of the lives of most
women in developing countries, maternal health probably has an important effect
on their ability to fulfil this potential. However, although much public-health
research has examined maternal health itself, there has been less focus on the
assessment of evidence about how maternal health may interact with economic and
social development at family (micro) and national (macro) levels. The
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have identified maternal health as a key
development outcome, and thus assessment of the importance of improving
maternal health as a development goal is essential.
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