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The sudden loss of a woman’s life during pregnancy or childbirth is both a terrible tragedy and a preventable injustice. Recently, the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a mixed-methods research study, the Impacts of Maternal Deaths on Living Children Study, in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa—Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi, and South Africa—in order to quantify the previously largely undocumented intergenerational health effects of maternal mortality and detail the mechanisms through which a mother’s death impacts child health, development, and well-being. Preliminary findings show not only greatly elevated rates of infant mortality, but increased risk of nutritional deficiency, poor educational outcomes, early marriage, and early pregnancy for the surviving children.
Read more at http://blogs.plos.org/speakingofmedicine/2015/02/09/translating-research-practice-series-inaction-advocacy-placing-women-children-center-sustainable-development/