Message Strategy Maternal and Infant

Message Strategy Maternal and Infant Mortality Message Campaign: The Health Belief Model Health disparities are a particular challenge for women living in poverty. Issues relating to prenatal, neonatal, labor and deliver care, which may potentially impact women from any class or context, require regular screening, attention and medical advice. Our discussion finds, though, that such outlets are often not available to women living in areas or circumstances of poverty, leading to higher rates of both maternal and infant mortality in said areas.

To this end, we find as a theoretical basis therefore that there is a direct relationship between low-income subsistence and the quality or extensiveness of the medical care which a woman may receive. (Kotch, 125) This justifies the design of a message campaign intended to inform women living in these conditions of the options available to them and the consequences of failing to access these options.

Another intention will be to create a message intended to inform those living in more affluent regions and countries of the conditions facing such women, with the hopes that contributions and public appeal will lead to more active aid and intervention.

This proposal is based on the values of the Health Belief Model for a larger research endeavor, initiating from the presumption that the promotion of information relating to proper self-care, the need for regular medical attention and ways to find this medical attention all will improve the likelihood of survival for mothers and infants in the developing world.

According to the Health Belief Model, we must approach healthcare disparities, according to the understanding that "how people use healthcare and how patients make decisions about whether to follow medical advice are influenced by individual beliefs and perceptions in combination with environmental resources or barriers." (Ell et al., 2002, p. 640) theoretical mode for evaluating the target population and the benefits and barriers facing it, the Health Belief Model will be central in promoting the engagement of medical advice for those who are pregnant.

Indeed, the Model is an appropriate way to gain a better understanding of what causes people to make certain health behavior decisions, such as those which are likely to have caused pregnant women to bypass regular medical attention or to have failed to take the necessary lifestyle precautions during pregnancy to protect her health and that of her unborn child. Without question, issues of poverty and a shortfall of necessary resources will be relevant causes.

However, the premise of the message campaign will be to disseminate information about self-care that can help those lacking access. Additionally, we act from the presumption that the scarcity of resources also means that where such are available, there may be a dearth of distributed information to make women aware of these options.

Therefore, it seems reasonable to deduce that a perspective through this model might help to reveal such possible causes for maternal and infant mortality and thus, help to mitigate some of these causes through the adoption of newly learned behaviors. The use of the Health Belief Model should contribute to the construction of an examination that seeks to alter negative health behavior by isolating such root causes as fear.