Mödradödlighet i Afrika söder om Sahara: En kvantitativ studie om den nationella utvecklingens påverkan på mödradödlighet.

Abstract

About 1000 women in the so called developing countries die every day associated with pregnancy and childbirth. Sub-Saharan Africa is the worst affected region. This study aims to explore the different key factors in national development that can interact with a reduced maternal mortality. The study compares 15 countries in sub-Sahara where the greatest reduction in maternal mortality occurred with 15 countries in sub-Sahara where maternal mortality reduction has been at its lowest, between the years 2000 to 2010. This study also analyzes the link between reduced maternal mortality and various key factors for national development. The essay is based on the understanding that health is a broad phenomenon, where an improved state of health globally requires a multidisciplinary work that focuses on more factors than the medical. The results of the study are based on two different statistical analyzes. One of the analyzes have been done by comparing the mean value in the improvement of various development factors between the countries in sub-Sahara where the greatest reduction in maternal mortality occurred with the 15 countries of sub-Sahara where maternal mortality reduction was lowest, between the years 2000-2010. The second analysis was done by a correlation analysis between maternal mortality and various development factors. All data provided in the study were taken from the World Bank's open database. The results show that six different development factors correlate with reduced maternal mortality. These are; an increase in GDP per capita, increased education, increased life expectancy, a greater focus on health care, better access to clean water and better access to sanitation. Increased education was the only factor that showed a statistically significant difference between countries in sub-Sahara where the greatest reduction in maternal mortality occurred between the years 2000-2010 , with countries of sub-Sahara where maternal mortality reduction was lowest. By bringing together the results of the two analyzes shows that a higher level of education is a very important factor in achieving reduced maternal mortality in the sub-Saharan countries surveyed in the study.