Womb Within

Womb Within participates in Blog Action Day 2008

by Marijke on October 15th, 2008

Today is Blog Action Day - a day when bloggers from all over the world unite and blog about the same topic in order to raise awareness and hope that people will take action to help change the world for the better. How many blogs are taking part? According to the Blog Action home page, 9,374 sites are participating. Actions against poverty don’t have to be major or costly - the smallest gesture can sometimes make the largest impression.

Women in poverty have a higher rate of pregnancy complications, miscarriage, low-birth-weight babies, and infant loss. Many of the problems that poor pregnant women experience are preventable and rarer in their more well-off counterparts.

Women in developing countries have it even worse than those in the developed world. They deliver in unhygienic conditions without medical care - either during pregnancy or after delivery. Maternal deaths are as high as one in eight in countries like Sierra Leone. The majority of the deaths were preventable.

How does poverty affect pregnancy?

A woman who is pregnant should receive prenatal care. During prenatal visits, doctors or nurses can monitor the mother and fetus health, often catching problems while they are still manageable. But, beyond the health prevention, pregnant women need to eat well and stay as healthy as possible. A woman who is working overtime in minimum wage jobs will be tired and less likely to take care of herself and this can lead to other health issues. A woman who is poor is likely to not eat well, not exercise, and not be able to access the resources she needs to learn how to take care of herself and her baby.

To be honest, that is why people, like me, have a problem with the high number of teen pregnancies. Although many teen mothers end up doing well financially, most of them don’t. Usually, their education is cut short so their earning ability is limited. The result? Another family living in poverty.

If you would like to read more about the topic, please visit “I don’t do complications” - a story of a poor woman in Africa who died a needless death because of poverty, and Save the Children Mother’s Index.

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Blog Action Day 2008

Tags: pregnancy blog, poverty and pregnancy, poverty, pregnancy, maternal death, low birth weight baby, infant death

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POSTED IN: Health