Topic:
Country: Israel
Delegate Name: Jane Barnett
The State of Israel
UN Women
Improving Maternal Health
The World Health organization reports that 303,000 mothers and 2.7 million newborn infants die each year in childbirth. Even more disturbing, is the disparity in maternal health between income levels, and developing nations. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has made this issue even more urgent. According to the journal of reproductive health, “prenatal care visits decreased, healthcare infrastructure was strained, and potentially harmful policies are implemented with little evidence in high and low/middle income countries”. Further, this disparity is affecting indigenous women at a virtually unknown rate. The UN Population fund reports that there is alarmingly little data on indigenous maternal health throughout the world, which is an issue Israel hopes to address.With the improvement of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s absolutely crucial that the UN Women committee prioritize maternal health as a huge issue.
The country of Israel has already met the UN’s 2030 Sustainable development goals for maternal mortality, neonatal mortality, and mortality in children younger than 5 years in all population groups. Additionally, Israel has several initiatives to improve the maternal and neonatal healthcare of indigenous groups like the Naquab. Israel leads the world in access to in vitro-fertilization (IVF), the first step in maternal health, for many hopeful families. Israel is an incredibly child and family centric society, where maternal health is a priority. This nation hopes that this committee will work to support maternal health in a similar way.
The broad issue of maternal health is extremely multifaceted, and requires diverse solutions. One solution could be the expansion of Maternal death surveillance and response (MDSR). This encourages a “blame free” system of reporting neonatal and maternal deaths, in order to craft more precise and efficient policy. Additionally, improvement on education and implementation of nutrition, mental health, and medication can all help reduce the tragedy of preventable maternal and neonatal deaths. This issue is extremely complex, so Israel looks forward to crafting modern, effective, and specific solutions.
