now Maternal Health Matters Inc, has a goal: to ensure that pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood are safe for all women and children, in Australia, our region and in every country around the world. Irrespective of their socioeconomic setting all pregnant women and their babies during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period have a right to optimal woman-centred care, through a holistic, human rights-based approach that provides a respectful birth experience and positive outcome. This is an issue not just for the developing world but a growing local crisis. Statistical data and case reports from wealthy and impoverished nations paint an increasingly disturbing picture. In maternity care systems worldwide the safety of mothers and babies is being compromised, hourly, daily, routinely. Every minute of every day, a woman dies of pregnancy and childbirth related complications, totalling more than one half million women each year. This crisis grows in the face of policy decisions that consistently direct resources away from maternal and child health. What is needed is greater investment in maternal care – more resources, and more informed policies that take account of the social determinants of maternal health – the factors we now know most influence maternal and child health outcomes
The foundations for health are laid early in life and are influenced by genetic, behavioural and environmental factors. Most women in Australia have access to high level antenatal, birth and post natal care resulting in positive outcomes for both mother and baby. Unfortunately, for groups who experience disadvantage such as; young women; women with a disability; women with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds; and Aboriginal and Torrres Strait Islander women the experience can be a vastly different.
