Importance of Maternal, Infant, and Child Health
Definition of Childbirth:
Childbirth also known as labour or delivery is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies leaves the uterus by passing through the vagina or by Caesarean section.
Definition of Mental Health:
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.
Factors of Maternal and Newborn Health:
In maternity nursing, nurses need to understand factors contributing to maternal and newborn health. These include:
- Physical sustenance of the family members to supply basic needs to mother and baby. e.g. food etc.
- Economical support: parental attachment, pregnant women’s psychological wellbeing.
- Economic status.
- Family size: number of the children affects family interactions.
- Sibling order and gender.
- Culture.
Importance of Maternal, Infant, and Child Health:
Pregnancy can provide an opportunity to identify existing health risks in women and to prevent future health problems for women and their children. These health risks may include:
- Hypertension and heart disease,
- Diabetes,
- Depression,
- Genetic conditions,
- Sexually transmitted diseases (STDS),
- Tobacco use and alcohol abuse,
- Inadequate nutrition,
- Unhealthy weight.
The risk of maternal and infant mortality and pregnancy-related complications can be reduced by increasing access to quality preconception (before pregnancy) and interconception (between pregnancies) care. Moreover, healthy birth outcomes and early identification and treatment of health conditions among infants can prevent death or disability and enable children to reach their full potential.
Women’s Mental Health and Wellbeing:
Women’s mental health is multifactorial which is determined by both biological and social factors. Examining the clinical profile of mental disorders in women brings to light the fact that men and women are affected disproportionately by mental illness. The greater vulnerability of women can be owing to physiological changes as well as social factors such as poverty, sexual abuse, stress, intimate partner violence, and so on. Mental health during pregnancy and posțpartum deserves special attention as untreated maternal depression results in serious ill effects in both the mother and the child.
Reproductive health problems like infertility, female sterilization, and reproductive tract complaints also have been related to poor mental health in women. It is important to view mental health programs in a gender-based approach to circumvent the unique challenges posed by women’s mental health today. Apart from this, exploring other modes of service delivery such as mobile phone technology which has the potential to be effective and improve accessibility to services can boost mental health delivery for women.
You can read: Male and Female Infertility Treatment and Suggestion
Women’s mental health needs to be considered in the context of the interaction of physical, reproductive, and biological factors with social, political, and economic issues at stake. The multiple roles played by women such as childbearing and child rearing, running the family, caring for sick relatives, and, in an increasing proportion of families, earning income are likely.to lead to considerable stress. The reproductive roles of women such as their expected role of bearing children, the consequences of infertility, and the failure to produce a male child in some cultures are examples of mechanisms that make women vulnerable to suffering from mental disorders.
In addition, biological factors may play a major role, particularly in reproductive life events such as pregnancy, the postpartum period, and menopause as well as in the clinical manifestations of various mental health problems. Public health and social policies aimed at improving the social status of women are needed along with those targeting the entire spectrum of women’s health needs. Efforts to improve and enhance social and mental health services and programs aimed at increasing the competence of professionals are also required.
More questions related to this article:
- Define Childbirth.
- What is childbirth?
- What do you mean by childbirth?
- What is mental health?
- What do you mean by mental health?
- Define mental health.
- List the factors contributing to maternal and newborn health.
- Mention the key factors of maternal and newborn health?
- What are the main factors of maternal and newborn health?
- Mention the significance of maternal, infant, and child health.
- What is the importance of maternal, infant, and child health?
- Describe women’s mental health and wellbeing.
- Write a short note on women’s mental health and wellbeing.
