Maternal health

According to the Tenth International Classification of Diseases, a maternal death is defined as 'the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and the site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.'

The scope of practice of professional midwives’ practice. The art and science of assisting a woman before during and after labour and birth. (Website UNFPA)

A person who, having been regularly admitted to a midwifery educational programme, duly recognised in the country in which it is located, has successfully completed the prescribed course of studies in midwifery and has acquired the requisite qualifications to be registered and/or legally licensed to practise midwifery.

The midwife is recognised as a responsible and accountable professional who works in partnership with women to give the necessary support, care and advice during pregnancy, labour and the postpartum period, to conduct births on the midwife’s own responsibility and to provide care for the newborn and the infant. This care includes preventative measures, the promotion of normal birth, the detection of complications in mother and child, the accessing of medical care or other appropriate assistance and the carrying out of emergency measures.

The midwife has an important task in health counselling and education, not only for the woman, but also within the family and the community. This work should involve antenatal education and preparation for parenthood and may extend to women’s health, sexual or reproductive health and childcare.
A midwife may practise in any setting including the home, community, hospitals, clinics or health units.

Adopted by the International Confederation of Midwives Council meeting, 19th July, 2005, Brisbane, Australia and supersedes the ICM “Definition of the Midwife” 1972 and its amendments of 1990 (Source: UNFPA website)

The process by which individuals and couples regulate their fertility. Methods include, among others, delaying childbearing, using contraception, seeking treatment for infertility, interrupting unwanted pregnancies and so on.

Voluntary decision by a client to use, or not to use, a contraceptive method (or accept a sexual and reproductive health service) after receiving adequate information regarding options, risks, advantages and disadvantages of all available methods.

Programmes providing health care aimed at improving the health of mothers and children, including efforts to ensure safe motherhood, eliminate unsafe abortion and help women plan and space their births.

Basic care includes parenteral antibiotics, oxytocic and sedatives; manual removal of the placenta; manual removal of retained products of conception; and assisted (vaginal) delivery. Comprehensive district level care would also include obstetric surgery and blood transfusions.

(Source: All key terms in this Glossary are adapted from IPPF)

The number of deaths of women due to pregnancy and childbirth complications per 100,000 women aged 15-45 or 15-49 years. This rate measures a woman's lifetime risk of dying associated with reproduction.

The number of women who die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth per 100,000 live births. Sometimes 1,000 or 10,000 live births is used instead.

Death of a fetus after 28 weeks of pregnancy or of a child within the first week of life. The perinatal mortality rate is the number of deaths per 1,000 total births.

IPPF endorses the definition of reproductive health agreed at the International Conference on Population and Development, which stated: "Reproductive health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, in all matters relating to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore implies that people are able to have a satisfying and safe sex life and that they have the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so. Implicit in this last condition is the right of men and women to be informed and to have access to safe, effective, affordable and acceptable methods of family planning of their choice, as well as other methods of their choice for regulation of fertility.

These rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children and to have the information and means to do so, and the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health. It also includes their right to make decisions concerning reproduction free of discrimination, coercion and violence, as expressed in human rights documents.

Pregnancy and childbirth with low risk of death or ill health. In order to make motherhood safer, women need regular antenatal advice and care, a good diet during pregnancy, to be attended by trained personnel at delivery, and to have access to treatment for obstetric emergencies. Reducing high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity also depends on reducing the likelihood of women experiencing an unwanted high risk pregnancy, which necessitates the availability of family planning and safe abortion services.

Defined as the constellation of methods, techniques and services that contribute to reproductive health and well-being through preventing and solving reproductive health problems. It also includes sexual health.

IPPF endorses the definition of sexual rights agreed at the Fourth World Conference on Women, which stated that: "The human rights of women include their right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. Equal relationships between women and men in matters of sexual relations and reproduction, including full respect for the integrity of the person, require mutual respect, consent and shared responsibility for sexual behaviour and its consequences.

Counselling on issues of sexuality with the aim of creating a climate where clients can express themselves and their concerns relating to sexual relationships and intimacy without fear of discrimination.

This comprises women who provide delivery services in the community. This includes traditional birth attendants who initially acquired their skills by delivering babies themselves or through apprenticeship. (WHO does not include them in the category of 'skilled attendants' who are allowed to provide/manage deliveries).  

Non-supply methods including periodic and post-partum abstinence, total abstinence if for contraceptive reasons, withdrawal, douche and folk methods. They are not reliable contraceptives.

Estimates of women who would like to prevent or delay pregnancy but are not using contraception, either because they lack knowledge about family planning or access to services, or because they face cultural, religious and family obstacles.

An induced abortion conducted either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical and hygienic standards, or both. Although the majority of the world's women live in countries where laws permit an induced abortion if a woman requests one and if there are health or social grounds for allowing it, a quarter of women live in countries where there is no access to legal abortion. Even in countries where abortion is legal, women may not be able to obtain abortions easily for reasons of bureaucracy, availability or accessibility. In these circumstances women with unwanted pregnancies frequently resort to unsafe abortion.

When the direct cause of death of a woman is due to pregnancy, usually in the case of a woman who is currently pregnant or who has been pregnant in the last six weeks. Sometimes the last three or 12 weeks is used instead.

A trained TBA is a TBA who has undergone a short course of training conducted by the modern healthcare systems to upgrade her skills.