Maternal health is a global responsibility and it begins with a woman’s local community. In the medical literature, maternal health has been confined to a woman’s clinical characteristics like her age, weight, ethnicity and medical conditions. While these are important for her overall health and prognosis in pregnancy, the broader context that she lives in is just as critical.
Mother’s Day, celebrated internationally, reminds us of the inestimable social contribution that women make to the world as they care for their fetuses, newborns, infants and young children. Most mothers are living in the world’s resource constrained low- and lower-middle income countries. Many are experiencing crowded housing; lack of access to healthcare, clean water and sanitation; food insecurity and exposure to gender-based violence while caring for their children.
Ruth (*) came to a Jacaranda Health three days ago to deliver her healthy baby girl. When it was time to leave the hospital, Jacaranda nurses counseled Ruth- as they do for all of our mothers – to make sure she and her newborn had the best opportunity to stay healthy once they returned home in Kasarani, just outside Nairobi.