Progress and Ongoing Challenges
During the past few years, the Arab region has gained substantial progress in maternal and child health through its developmental improvements in health infrastructure, policies, and international cooperation. Yet, the challenges remain, including those resulting from sharp socioeconomic inequalities, political instability, and reduced health access to a certain extent for urgent intervention for healthy outcomes in maternal and child health.
Advances in Indicators
-
Maternal and Child Health
There have been observations on improvements of changes in maternal mortality rates and under-five child mortality in the Arab countries. Since the past decades of excellence over the last two decades, particularly after the GCC countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) demonstrated aggressive improvements in reducing maternal mortality rates through better prenatal care, skilled birth attendance, and accessibility to essential obstetric emergency care services. For instance, the UAE has some of the lowest rates of maternal and child mortality in the region. This is attributed to very robust health infrastructure and effective government investment in good quality maternal care services.
Immunization programs also expanded across the region with a reduction in vaccine-preventable diseases among children. Countries like Morocco and Egypt have implemented national programs meant to increase vaccination coverage; hence an important factor in reducing child mortality.
- Current Challenges in Conflict-affected Areas
Others are still experiencing great challenges even though some are succeeding in maternal and child health since other countries are still harbouring constant conflict and humanitarian conditions. These include Yemen, Syria, and parts of Iraq cited, where destroyed health facilities and generalized malnutrition among pregnant women and children are notably persistent issues.
The case in Yemen, by all means, is critical because that country ranks among the ones with the highest worldwide rates of maternal and child mortality. Pregnant women and babies are prone to morbidity because medical care access is unsatisfactory and have been devastated by exacerbating violence. More than 80% of the women in Yemen have no access to vital maternal healthcare services. Even the sectors of maternity and child healthcare are not left out in the crisis engulfing Syria. Mass displacement and congested camps with no infrastructure call into question the nature of care pregnant women will receive with regards to their pregnancy or post-delivery care. In this condition, risk for complication in childbirth or pregnancy stands heavily increased.
- Socioeconomic Inequities
Apart from conflict, the socioeconomic inequalities have pretty well been instrumental in determining the outcome of maternal and child health in the Arab region. Countries that have documented increased rates of poverty levels, such as Sudan and Mauritania, have not received any significant funds in terms of maternal health services. Skilled births are still at a very low level in these countries, and in most cases, access to a skilled birth attendant is very low, especially for the more distant rural areas.
Such health inequalities exist more in countries like Egypt. In such nations, the number of rural mothers who are not exposed to skilled births as well as emergency care is minimal compared to that of city mothers. This therefore gives a very high rate of maternal mortality in the rural areas.
- Eradicating Malnutrition
Another long-standing problem related to maternal and child health is malnutrition. Among the countries affected by conflict, Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia record the greatest incidence rate of acute malnutrition that is applied in poor health outcomes. Poor health outcomes among the mothers are also exposed to further complications during pregnancy and at delivery, which puts their children at greater risk of low birth weight, stunting, and disease during childhood.
Responsive to this, the WFP has developed programs in collaboration with others, such as UNICEF, aimed at pregnant women, nursing mothers, and children on nutritional supplementation in those areas. The approach targets the root causes of malnutrition and food insecurity for the more vulnerable.
- Policy Initiatives and the Way Ahead
Despite the said challenges, governments in the Arab region have stepped up efforts to improve maternal and child health through policy interventions. Some of these countries, such as Jordan and Lebanon, have created national strategies that help in improving women and children’s access to healthcare, increasing the usage of contraception, and providing a wider coverage of family planning services. Steps taken in such aspects have therefore helped in improving the fertility rate and reducing bad maternal health outcomes.
Indeed, efforts through the Arab League and regional inter-institutional collaboration toward common steps of resource development for improvement of the condition for maternal and child health remain under exploration. Among these measures include strengthening of healthcare infrastructure while training the healthcare workers, betterment of healthcare systems in response to emergencies, and improvement in general healthcare infrastructure.
Close the Gap
Much progress has also been made in the Arab region in terms of improved maternal and child health. Persistent challenges continue to be detected in conflict-prone areas and rural zones. Investment in health infrastructure, extension of access to maternal and child health services, and targeted interventions on reducing malnutrition and disparities in health care will continue to be necessary in pursuing this. Maternal and child health outcomes in the regional area can be improved by initiatives focused on cooperation with the government, international institutions, and the local community.
