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Maternal, Child and Reproductive Health

Ana Langer: "No Country Can Progress if it Marginalises Half of its Population"

8/11/2012

As part of ISGlobal's Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health Initiative, Dr Ana Langer was invited to give a talk on October 5th in the Medical Faculty of the University of Barcelona. The title of Dr Langer's talk was "Maternal mortality: a global priority". Afterwards, we had the opportunity to talk to this great champion of women's health, a doctor who has spent more than thirty years promoting women's rights. Dr Langer is currently coordinator of the Initiative in Women and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

You've been working to improve women's health for over 25 years. What has changed during that period? 

Over the last two or three decades the situation of women has generally improved. This is reflected in a number of indicators: the average number of years schooling has increased worldwide and, in politics, we are seeing more and more women in decision-making positions. In terms of maternal health, there has been a very significant reduction in maternal mortality in recent years. Overall, I would say that we can be optimistic, although there are still many contexts in which women remain very vulnerable.

We are used to talking about maternal health, but the initiative you coordinate at the Harvard School of Public Health is about women and health.

Women and health are related in many ways. Rather than being passive entities, women are key players in the care of both their own health and the health of those around them. It is very important that we, as health professionals, support women and give them the tools they need to reach their full potential. Women still have a long way to go to realise their potential due to cultural and economic factors as well as gender differences.

And political factors...

Political issues are often related to culture of the country. For example, certain Asian countries are experiencing a very dramatic development: sex-selective abortion. Governments should establish a much clearer legislative framework to prevent this from happening. But you cannot separate the government from the society it governs. To the extent that women are not valued by the society, the government will not do enough to protect them.

No country can progress if it marginalises half of its population. It is totally absurd. If women were given the opportunity to contribute in different ways, not only economically but fully in society, the society would advance.  There is a very strong correlation between the marginalisation of women and poverty.

In recent decades, international initiatives, such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), have tried to reduce maternal mortality, but progress has been slow and uneven. What is the problem?

Several factors intervene. The MDGs were set globally and not at country level. When countries adopted the goals they all set the same targets, and in some cases these have proved too ambitious. Also, to solve the problems of maternal health a country needs a highly functional health system with universal access for women. Having such a system is closely linked to development, and it's not easy to achieve.

And after the MDGs, what will happen to the question of maternal health in the international agenda?

The MDGs have made governments pay more attention and invest more resources in improving maternal health, even though their efforts still fall short of what is needed.

There will probably be no specific objectives after 2015. The MDGs will be more focused on sustainable development and health is a key component of that. This means that we will have to learn a different language to explain the importance of maternal health.