Maternal mortality ratios and determinants across five countries

Determinants of Maternal Mortality

Be sure to complete the entire worksheet (Parts 1-4).

Maternal Mortality Ratio:

Go to the World Health Organization website link, "Cause-Specific Mortality and Morbidity: Maternal Mortality Ratio Data by Country," listed in this week's Learning Resources.

Select five different countries, representing different geographical regions.

Download data of these countries (or write them up in an Excel sheet).

Draw a time series chart of maternal mortality ratios of these countries.

Refer to the "Time Series Chart Example" document in this week's Learning Resources.

What are your main observations regarding this chart ?

There are two distinct aspects perceived from this chart. For starters, the maternal mortality ratio is greater for low income countries and middle income countries. This is regardless of the fact that the statistics indicated are declining as the years progress. Between the five nations, India indicated the highest decline through the years, followed by Myanmar. Kenya indicated a moderate rate of decline. On the other hand, the maternal mortality ratio was considerably low and indicated stability in the high income nations of France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Part 2: Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5):

Go to the World Health Organization's website link, "Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): MDG 5: Maternal and Reproductive Health," in this week's Learning Resources.

Click on the section titled "Women."

Select one of the indicators set for achieving MDG 5 (e.g., "Antenatal care coverage -- at least four visits (%)"). Click on the title to read more about each indicator. Links will open in a separate window.

Download the data of this indicator for the countries you selected in Part 1.

Draw a time series chart of the indicator among these counties.

Note: Refer to the "Time Series Chart Example" document in this week's Learning Resources.

Question

What are your main observations regarding this chart ?

With regard to this indicator, there is no obtained data for Myanmar, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Island and France. However, there is data for Kenya and India. Kenya has the highest ratio for the indicator between the two nations.

Part 4: Conclusion:

In the space below, summarize and interpret your results of the above exercise. Support your results with citations from the Learning Resources or any additional resources.

In general, the inference from the statistics shown in the graphs above is that low income nations and middle income nations have the highest ratios in relation to the five nations selected. On the other hand, the high income and developed nations have the lowest ratios of the indicators with regard to the five nations selected.

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