Premium
Global warming and reproductive health
Author(s) -
Potts Malcolm,
Henderson Courtney E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of gynecology and obstetrics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.895
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1879-3479
pISSN - 0020-7292
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijgo.2012.03.020
Subject(s) - medicine , family planning , population , poverty , abortion , reproductive health , birth rate , fertility , total fertility rate , birth attendant , developing country , food security , reproductive rights , environmental health , economic growth , pregnancy , maternal health , agriculture , geography , economics , research methodology , genetics , archaeology , health services , biology
The largest absolute numbers of maternal deaths occur among the 40–50 million women who deliver annually without a skilled birth attendant. Most of these deaths occur in countries with a total fertility rate of greater than 4. The combination of global warming and rapid population growth in the Sahel and parts of the Middle East poses a serious threat to reproductive health and to food security. Poverty, lack of resources, and rapid population growth make it unlikely that most women in these countries will have access to skilled birth attendants or emergency obstetric care in the foreseeable future. Three strategies can be implemented to improve women's health and reproductive rights in high‐fertility, low‐resource settings: (1) make family planning accessible and remove non‐evidenced‐based barriers to contraception; (2) scale up community distribution of misoprostol for prevention of postpartum hemorrhage and, where it is legal, for medical abortion; and (3) eliminate child marriage and invest in girls and young women, thereby reducing early childbearing.