Topic:
Country: Turkey
Delegate Name: Vivienne Grzelak
In Turkey, the health of mothers has rapidly improved over the past 50 years. The mortality rate of Turkish mothers from 1974 to 1995 has decreased by 53%. Although this is good the mortality rate amongst rural infants and mothers remains higher than those of urban mothers and infants. This could be caused by the fact that rural mothers are less likely to get prenatal care than urban mothers. A study found that 37% of mothers did not get prenatal care and 24% of births were not assisted. The lack of assistance and care these mothers received in rural areas has led to higher mortality rates among mothers and children than in urbanized areas.
Unplanned pregnancies have also had dire effects on mothers compared to planned pregnancies. Unplanned pregnancies had higher chances of physical problems, lower hemoglobin levels, and a more increased chance of postpartum depression. It was also shown that mothers whose pregnancies were unplanned had significantly worse relationships with their spouses after finding out they were pregnant. The rate of unplanned pregnancy is high in Turkey and is a key factor in maternal mortality rates. Maternal mortality and unplanned pregnancies are parallel.
In Turkey, 3.5% of people ages 19 and younger have children, 1.5% below the age of 15 are married, and 0.2% have children before the age of 15. As low as those percentages are, it is still bad that children are having kids. This is prohibiting girls from an already underdeveloped country from attending school. Since these girls cannot attend school they will not be able to advance to get good jobs as they get older.
Maternal health in Turkey is a serious problem as of right now. With unplanned pregnancies, adolescent pregnancies, and the fact that rural mothers are less prioritized than urban mothers, maternal health is a serious problem. Other countries like Nigeria also have serious issues when it comes to maternal health. If other countries like the United States were to help with maternal health in Turkey then maybe rural mothers would gain more health care and more sex education would be made for teens to educate those on the effects of pregnancy.
