Childbirth is considered to be a landmark and joyous moment in any woman’s life. And although health experts say that no two childbirth experiences are the same, it is quite astounding that this can, in many cases, reach the extreme of death. According to statistics released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank Group, around 2.8 million pregnant women and newborns die every year of preventable causes [1]. This turns childbirth into an event to be feared as it poses a significant threat to the lives of many women across the globe. According to the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs, quality education is defined as one the of the seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs), so how can education help mitigate childbirth mortality?
“Pregnancy is not a disease. It should not lead to deaths. Every maternal death should be regarded as an abnormality.” – Vivianne Ihekweazu, Director of the Nigerian Health Watch [2]
How are Childbirth Deaths Related to Education?
The World Development Indicators data from the World Bank [3] allows us to look into the impact of education on childbirth by exploring the percentage of births that are handle by skilled health staff. In the figure below, we plot the average life expectancy at birth in years with respect to the average percentage of births attended by skilled staff for each country. There is a clear positive correlation between the two variables. We therefore conclude that children who are delivered by skilled health workers during labor are more likely to have a higher life expectancy.
However, the impact of having educated people overseeing child delivery does not stop here. Unfortunately, carrying out child delivery without proper understanding of the necessary health procedures has more alarming implications. In the dashboard below, we notice a sharp decrease in both maternal mortality (women dying during labor) and neonatal mortality (newborns dying at birth) in countries where more childbirths are handled by skilled health workers. This implies that many of the childbirth related deaths can be attributed to the lack of necessary health skills.
Where are these Childbirth Deaths Mostly Occurring?
Below we find the places that suffer the most from this by selecting the countries that have a below average percentage of births attended by skilled staff.
By looking at the geographical distribution of these countries we unsurprisingly find that the majority is located in Africa. Furthermore, we notice that the educational attainment in these countries is significantly lower than countries that have more professionally handled childbirths. This is an expected causality since to have more skilled people perform childbirth procedures we need more educated people.
So the Solution Is, Educate More People!
“The benefits of education permeate all walks of life right from the moment of birth.” – Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO [4]
In light of the above, we clearly need to have more educated people that are able to professionally handle childbirth procedures. This is especially needed in developing countries where childbirth mortality is more pronounced. A key approach strategy here is to educate the local birth attendants and community midwives that are already active in these communities. These local and community health workers are already more connected to the women and families in their towns making their newly found skills more accessible and allowing them to spread health awareness to pregnant women in their communities [5]. Finally some communities in rural Africa are located in remote locations faraway from any medical supply and service centers. Therefore, setting up portable medical outposts near these towns would greatly enhance the quality of services provided by birth attendants.
The Arab world is considered one of the most youthful regions in the world. More than half (54%) of the total population are aged below 25 compared to 48% for the rest of the world. Given the important contribution adolescents and children will have in securing their countries’ future, it is necessary to monitor their social, mental and health situation. For that purpose, this study will be considering two indicators: adolescent’s fertility rate and the percentage of children out of school. The first reflects the overall situation of young females concerning child marriage and the second reflects the access to education for the countries belonging to the Arab League.
By monitoring adolescent’s fertility rate for the past 60 years, it is noticed that the overall situation improved significantly and approached the average world trend going from 134 to 46 birth per 1000 for women aged 15 to 19 in the last 60 years. The situation is nevertheless not the same for all Arab states as countries like Somalia and Mauritania still present critically high rates.
On the other hand, despite the decrease in the percentage of children out of school from 43% until 14% in the last 60 years, the figures remain higher than the world average (8% in 2020) which marks a critical condition for the access to education. Looking at each individual state, we notice a significant discrepancy between countries like Sudan at 42% children out of school and Oman at nearly 1%.
Throughout our work, we found that the situation is not the same for all children and adolescents in the Arab world as their situation is still vulnerable in countries like Sudan and Mauritania due to limited access to education and high percentages of child marriage (adolescent’s fertility). It is therefore essential for associations like Himaya or Kafa to intervene in such countries to improve children’s and adolescents social and physical wellbeing.
Literacy, as part of education, is a fundamental human right. Yet there are, according to UNESCO, 781 million illiterate adults (over the age of 15) around the globe. Over 63% of those adults are women. In countries like Niger, literacy rates are as low as 24%.
Fundamental human rights are just that — fundamental. These figures are also important because literacy (and numeracy) is one of the key ingredients to ending extreme poverty. As former UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in 2015: “The future starts with the alphabet.”
So, which countries have the highest illiteracy rates? Why are illiteracy rates that high in these countries? How can we decrease illiteracy rates?
Like many of my colleagues, I graduated from college back in 2019 and still not able to apply for my university studies ” said Salma, an Egyptian student, from Al Salam high school when she was asked about the state of education in her country. Is Salma an exception?
No!
Salma could be ME!
Salma could be YOU!
Salma is every student in arab world suffering to seek proper higher education.
Although the Arab League consider education to be the most effective tool for advancing the Arab society, when closely examining statistics on the status of education in the Arab region, the main conclusions have pointed to a deficit in educational attainment.
Using the world bank indicators data related to education, I was able to achieve a simple visualization that fully support my purpose of the presentation: the minimum level of education attained in the Arab League Countries remains the highest for the PRIMARY level and no significant improvement was really detected between these 3 years as the BACHELOR, MASTER and DOCTORAT levels are approximately the same.
The data highlight an urge need of innovative interventions that can transform education systems and schools across the region.
Those were the words of Sarah stark. She was seriously abused by her husband until she decided to break up with him and press charges.
As a proud father of a 1 year old baby girl, tackling this subject became a personal objective.
This dashboard sheds the light on domestic violence against women. It is an epidemic that knows no boundaries and it is getting more and more dangerous by the fact that those women tend to acknowledge and justify their partner’s behavior. Finally it shows the importance of education for both men and women and how it helps in solving the issue ,spreading awareness and trying to change women response and help-seeking behavior.
