Topic:
Country: Denmark
Delegate Name: Giselle Wong
United Nations Women
Improving Maternal Health
Denmark
Giselle Wong, Forest Hills Northern High School
Over the years there have been many advancements in technology surrounding healthcare. Yet the mortality and injury rate surrounding the cycle of maternal pregnancy is unreasonably high. Every day around 830 women die during pregnancy or childbirth from causes that could have been prevented. With Denmark being a massive advocate for improving women’s healthcare in general, we have taken many steps to try and decrease the number of women who die or are injured before, during, or after childbirth.
Denmark has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world. Since 1994 when our childbirth mortality rate was 11.8 per 100,000 live births our numbers have dropped significantly. As of 2017, there were 70 maternal deaths and 999,206 live births, resulting in a maternal mortality rate of 7.0 per 100,000 live births and since then we have continued to make an effort to get fewer deaths every year. Denmark has expanded our efforts to research ways to prevent deaths when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth, we make sure our teams of health officials are well-trained and have the right qualifications to care for people during childbirth. Denmark has made sure maternal health is a priority and Although we strive to improve the quality of maternal healthcare in our own country we encourage other countries to follow in our efforts. Seeing as there are still countries in the world with maternal mortality rates as high as 1,150 per 100,000 live births. Denmark understands not all countries have the finances to significantly improve their healthcare systems so we have taken action in trying to help other countries by donating to their women’s reproductive and sexual health organizations as well as UNFPA. For example, Denmark has donated 25 Million Danish Krone. The funding will enable UNFPA to continue prioritizing the reproductive health and protection needs of women and girls affected by the war in Ukraine.
Denmark hopes for other countries to take into consideration, expanding their efforts to provide better care for the women in their countries. Whether each country puts more funding into budgets towards maternal health, strives for better OBGYN education, and/or brings more awareness to the topic of women’s reproductive and sexual healthcare. Denmark encourages countries to make maternal healthcare a priority, seeing as Denmark is a prime example that when countries take steps to improve maternal healthcare, the number of deaths by pregnancy or childbirth can significantly decrease.
