Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgical field.
Prenatal care, also known as antenatal care, is a type of preventive healthcare. It is provided in the form of medical checkups, consisting of recommendations on managing a healthy lifestyle and the provision of medical information such as maternal physiological changes in pregnancy, biological changes, and prenatal nutrition including prenatal vitamins, which prevents potential health problems throughout the course of the pregnancy and promotes the mother and child's health alike. The availability of routine prenatal care, including prenatal screening and diagnosis, has played a part in reducing the frequency of maternal death, miscarriages, birth defects, low birth weight, neonatal infections and other preventable health problems.
Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to pregnancy, underlying conditions worsened by the pregnancy or management of these conditions. This can occur either while she is pregnant or within six weeks of resolution of the pregnancy. The CDC definition of pregnancy-related deaths extends the period of consideration to include one year from the resolution of the pregnancy. Pregnancy associated death, as defined by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), are all deaths occurring within one year of a pregnancy resolution. Identification of pregnancy associated deaths is important for deciding whether or not the pregnancy was a direct or indirect contributing cause of the death.
Obstetric ultrasonography, or prenatal ultrasound, is the use of medical ultrasonography in pregnancy, in which sound waves are used to create real-time visual images of the developing embryo or fetus in the uterus (womb). The procedure is a standard part of prenatal care in many countries, as it can provide a variety of information about the health of the mother, the timing and progress of the pregnancy, and the health and development of the embryo or fetus.
Prenatal testing is a tool that can be used to detect some birth defects at various stages prior to birth. Prenatal testing consists of prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis, which are aspects of prenatal care that focus on detecting problems with the pregnancy as early as possible. These may be anatomic and physiologic problems with the health of the zygote, embryo, or fetus, either before gestation even starts or as early in gestation as practicable. Screening can detect problems such as neural tube defects, chromosome abnormalities, and gene mutations that would lead to genetic disorders and birth defects, such as spina bifida, cleft palate, Down syndrome, trisomy 18, Tay–Sachs disease, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and fragile X syndrome. Some tests are designed to discover problems which primarily affect the health of the mother, such as PAPP-A to detect pre-eclampsia or glucose tolerance tests to diagnose gestational diabetes. Screening can also detect anatomical defects such as hydrocephalus, anencephaly, heart defects, and amniotic band syndrome.
Maternal health is the health of people during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. In most cases, maternal health encompasses the health care dimensions of family planning, preconception, prenatal, and postnatal care in order to ensure a positive and fulfilling experience. In other cases, maternal health can reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Maternal health revolves around the health and wellness of pregnant individuals, particularly when they are pregnant, at the time they give birth, and during child-raising. WHO has indicated that even though motherhood has been considered as a fulfilling natural experience that is emotional to the mother, a high percentage of women develop health problems, sometimes resulting in death. Because of this, there is a need to invest in the health of women. The investment can be achieved in different ways, among the main ones being subsidizing the healthcare cost, education on maternal health, encouraging effective family planning, and checking up on the health of individuals who have given birth. Maternal morbidity and mortality particularly affects women of color and women living in low and lower-middle income countries.
Maternal–fetal medicine (MFM), also known as perinatology, is a branch of medicine that focuses on managing health concerns of the mother and fetus prior to, during, and shortly after pregnancy.
Tropical diseases, especially malaria and tuberculosis, have long been a public health problem in Kenya. In recent years, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), also has become a severe problem. Estimates of the incidence of infection differ widely.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Cameroon is fulfilling 61.0% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Cameroon achieves 81.7% of what is expected based on its current income. In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 70.5% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. Cameroon falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling only 30.9% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.
Childbirth in rural Appalachia has long been a subject of concern amongst the population because infant mortality rates are higher in Appalachia than in other parts of the United States. Additionally, poor health in utero, at birth, and in childhood can contribute to poor health throughout life. The region's low income, geographic isolation, and low levels of educational attainment reduce both access to and utilization of modern medical care. Traditional medical practices, including lay midwifery, persisted longer in Appalachia than in other U.S. regions.
Prenatal care in the United States is a health care preventive care protocol recommended to women with the goal to provide regular check-ups that allow obstetricians-gynecologists, family medicine physicians, or midwives to detect, treat and prevent potential health problems throughout the course of pregnancy while promoting healthy lifestyles that benefit both mother and child. Patients are encouraged to attend monthly checkups during the first two trimesters and in the third trimester gradually increasing to weekly visits. Women who suspect they are pregnant can schedule pregnancy tests prior to 9 weeks gestation. Once pregnancy is confirmed an initial appointment is scheduled after 8 weeks gestation. Subsequent appointments consist of various tests ranging from blood pressure to glucose levels to check on the health of the mother and fetus. If not, appropriate treatment will then be provided to hinder any further complications.
The WHO's estimate of life expectancy for a female child born in Guinea-Bissau in 2008 was 49 years, and 47 years for a boy. in 2016 life expectancy had improved to 58 for men and 61 for women.
Zambia is a landlocked country in Sub Saharan Africa which experiences a burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. In line with WHO agenda for equity in health, it has adopted the Universal Health Coverage agenda to mitigate the challenges faced within the health sector. The Ministry of Health (MOH) provides information pertaining to Zambian health. The main focus of the Ministry of Health has been provision of uninterrupted care with emphasis on health systems strengthening and services via the primary health care approach.
Maternal health in Angola is a very complicated issue. In the Sub-Saharan region of Africa where Angola is located, poor maternal health has been an ongoing problem contributing to the decreased level of health in the population in the early 21st century.
Obstetric medicine, similar to maternal medicine, is a sub-specialty of general internal medicine and obstetrics that specializes in process of prevention, diagnosing, and treating medical disorders in with pregnant humans. It is closely related to the specialty of maternal-fetal medicine, although obstetric medicine does not directly care for the fetus. The practice of obstetric medicine, or previously known as "obstetric intervention," primarily consisted of the extraction of the baby during instances of duress, such as obstructed labor or if the baby was positioned in breech.
HIV in pregnancy is the presence of an HIV/AIDS infection in a woman while she is pregnant. There is a risk of HIV transmission from mother to child in three primary situations: pregnancy, childbirth, and while breastfeeding. This topic is important because the risk of viral transmission can be significantly reduced with appropriate medical intervention, and without treatment HIV/AIDS can cause significant illness and death in both the mother and child. This is exemplified by data from The Centers for Disease Control (CDC): In the United States and Puerto Rico between the years of 2014–2017, where prenatal care is generally accessible, there were 10,257 infants in the United States and Puerto Rico who were exposed to a maternal HIV infection in utero who did not become infected and 244 exposed infants who did become infected.
Childbirth practices in India are shaped by the prevalence of religious customs and joint-family living, India's young average population, the lower national average age at marriage, and disparities in social status and literacy between men and women. Inadequate maternal health care services in India are a result of poor organization, the huge rural-urban divide, and large interstate disparities coupled with stringent social-economic and cultural constraints.
Maternal mortality refers to the death of a woman during her pregnancy or up to a year after her pregnancy has terminated; this metric only includes causes related to the pregnancy, and does not include accidental causes. Some sources will define maternal mortality as the death of a woman up to 42 days after the pregnancy has ended, instead of one year. In 1986, the CDC began tracking pregnancy-related deaths to gather information and determine what was causing these deaths by creating the Pregnancy-Related Mortality Surveillance System. According to a 2010–2011 report although the United States was spending more on healthcare than any other country in the world, more than two women died during childbirth every day, making maternal mortality in the United States the highest when compared to 49 other countries in the developed world.
Black maternal mortality in the United States refers to the disproportionately high rate of maternal death among those who identify as Black or African American women. Maternal death is often linked to both direct obstetric complications and indirect obstetric deaths that exacerbate pre-existing health conditions. In general, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines maternal mortality as a death occurring within 42 days of the end of pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management. In the United States, around 700 women die from pregnancy-related complications per year, with Black women facing a mortality rate nearly three times more than the rate for white women.
