The health of women and newborn babies is a key public health concern and is a major component of health resources in developed and developing nations. A recent article in the International Journal of Health Geographics reviews the extent to which nations are meeting global Millennium Development Goals, and how geographic analysis can aid in meeting and evaluating these goals. Of all the MDGs, maternal and newborn health are the least likely to be met in many countries.
I want to use this article as a thought piece to look at the birth experience in general in developed nations, where there are large geographic inequalities in interventions and outcomes within and between provinces.
Within my own province of New Brunswick, there are extreme differences in interventions such as cesarean sections across the province.
Overall, the cesarean section rate in New Brunswick is higher than in Canada, with some hospitals such as Saint John (the largest hospital in the province) being lower, and others such as Campbellton and Miramichi being higher.
These difference point to potential inequalities in care for maternal health and inequalities in the health system in general. Over the next few months I’ll be looking into this issue in more detail and will post updates as we come up with more.