Maternal and Child Health - Public Health Notes

Table of Contents

What is Maternal and Child Health?

Maternal and Child Health (MCH) care is the health services provided to mothers (women in their child bearing age) and children.
The targets for Maternal and Child Health are all women in their reproductive age groups, i.e., 15 – 49 years of age, children, school age population and adolescents
Maternal and Child Health is a package of comprehensive health care services designed to meet the promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative needs of pregnant women before, during, and after delivery, as well as infants and preschool children from birth to five years.

Maternal health refers to women’s health during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period; each stage should be a positive experience, ensuring that mothers and their newborns realize their full health and well-being potential.

Child health refers to health of children under five years and protecting and improving the health of children is of fundamental importance

Provide basic health care to all mothers and children
Reduce maternal mortality and morbidity
Reduce prenatal and neonatal mortality and morbidity
Prevent malnutrition
Prevent communicable diseases
Promoting reproductive health
Regulate fertility so that desired and healthy children can be born when desired
Ensure the birth of a healthy child
Encourage healthy growth and development

It ensures a healthy pregnancy and good health care.
It aids in the delivery of a healthy baby by providing immunization services, guaranteeing a balanced diet, and maintaining sanitation
It safeguards reproductive rights and promotes a happy life
It ensures the health of both mother and child
It helps to reduce the preventable deaths among women and children

1. Infection

Maternal infection can cause:

a) Growth retardation

c) Low birth weight

d) Puerperal sepsis

Infection among children can cause

a) Diarrhea

b) Respiratory tract infection

c) Chronic infection like Malaria, Tuberculosis (TB)

2. Uncontrolled fertility

Consequences of uncontrolled fertility:

Issues like emergence of new viruses like Zika virus, Corona virus as pandemic can result in overall decrease in coverage across all maternal and child health interventions like in number of institutional deliveries, antenatal care services, immunization services
Increase in infertility due to various reasons can potentially affect various aspects of women’s quality of life such as physical health, mental health, social health and the total quality of life significantly
Adoption of sedentary lifestyle by many pregnant women reduces metabolism and impair the body’s ability to control blood sugar levels, regulate blood pressure, and break down fat
Consumption of junk food is in trend among younger children. This has certain short and long term consequences like lethargy, bloating, indigestion, obesity, dental problems etc. in children as well as adults

Scientific developments will continue to drive improvements in MCH, but future MCH research must become more transdisciplinary, translational, and precise in order to realize its full potential for improving population health.
Big data could improve predictive analytics and precision health, and technological advancements could drastically revolutionize our work in MCH; our issue will be to ensure fair access.
The most significant improvements in MCH will continue to come from better social conditions, which will necessitate pushing MCH across all policies.
Climate change, infectious outbreaks, and antibiotic resistance are all growing dangers to MCH, which can be avoided by limiting global warming, putting in place global early warning systems, and practicing responsible antimicrobial management.
From an ecological and life course viewpoint, the growing burden of chronic diseases in children and adults must also be addressed

One of WHO’s top goals is improving maternal health, which is based on a human rights perspective and connected to efforts to achieve universal health coverage.
WHO promotes health planning that puts women’s interests and desires at the center of their treatment.
It’s also critical to promote health during the entire pregnancy, labor, and postpartum period. This involves proper nutrition, disease detection and prevention, assuring access to sexual and reproductive health, and assisting women who are victims of intimate relationship violence.
WHO collaborates with partners and Member States to improve the lives of all children and achieve SDG 3, which seeks to eliminate avoidable deaths among newborns and children under the age of five by 2030.
WHO promotes Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the global availability of vaccines to avoid some of the world’s deadliest childhood diseases.
Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) is also promoted by the WHO, with a focus on exclusive nursing for babies.
UNICEF is dedicated to meeting the needs of women, babies, and children, ensuring that they have access to affordable, high-quality health care, nutritious food, and safe drinking water.
UNICEF collaborates closely with governments, partners, and communities to eliminate unnecessary maternal, neonatal, and child deaths.
UNICEF also assist governments in reaching out to more children and women, particularly the most vulnerable, with critical health services.