Posted: October 3rd, 2024

Leadership Advocacy Challenges In Maternal and Child Health Essay

A nation’s ability to provide quality maternal and child health care services is a basic indicator of the overall development in public and community health wellbeing. The provision of quality maternal and child health care services is essential for reducing mortality rates and improving health outcomes. Maternal and child health is concerned with all the major aspects of a properly functioning health care system including quality of life and rights and justice to access healthcare services (Kotch, 2012). Effective maternal and child health care requires a comprehensive approach that addresses the physical, emotional, and social needs of mothers and children. Given its importance as an indicator of healthcare development, major global initiatives on public and community health care have focused on improving the maternal and child health.

The assumption is that by focusing on the maternal and child health development, it would be easier to address all the issues concerned with the realization of sustainable development goals. This assumption is based on the understanding that maternal and child health is a critical component of overall health and wellbeing. Maternal and child health advocacy has, therefore, emerged as an important step in realizing the Millennium Development Goals and other initiatives towards quality public and community development. Advocacy efforts have been instrumental in raising awareness and mobilizing resources to address maternal and child health issues. It is necessary for leaders in public and community development advocacy groups to focus on maternal and child health as the main driver towards the overall goals. Therefore, leaders must be equipped with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to effectively advocate for maternal and child health. Therefore this paper focuses on maternal and child health advocacy initiatives and the issues faced by leaders in these initiatives.

Improving maternal and child health requires significant investments in the public health care system. These investments must be targeted towards addressing the root causes of poor maternal and child health outcomes, such as inadequate access to healthcare services and poor living conditions. There must be a political will to ensure allocation of enough resources in realizing major goals towards quality services (Leveridge et al., 2007). Political will is essential for ensuring that maternal and child health issues are prioritized and addressed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. Public institutions play a key role in setting the objectives for community health, and the process involves identifying causes for poor outcomes, promoting community awareness and developing effective public policies through legislations (Pillitteri, 2010). The role of public institutions is critical in ensuring that maternal and child health issues are addressed in a coordinated and effective manner. The progression in these steps aligns well with the role of advocacy initiatives in realizing better outcomes for maternal and child health. Advocacy groups play a crucial role in holding public institutions accountable for addressing maternal and child health issues. Advocacy groups influence the objectives of the public institutions towards addressing the major issues in communities, such as the challenges faced by women during childbirth and postnatal care. This influence is critical in ensuring that maternal and child health issues are prioritized and addressed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. This study is significant given the relationship between the issues in maternal and child health and the functioning of the community health care system.

Advocacy initiatives are normally geared towards addressing the major concerns of the most vulnerable people in society, such as the health care needs of the poor (Goffin, 1988). The focus on vulnerable populations is essential for ensuring that maternal and child health issues are addressed in a equitable and sustainable manner. Mothers and children constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in any society, and their wellbeing is central to the overall wellbeing of people in society (Victora et al., 2003). The wellbeing of mothers and children is critical for ensuring the long-term health and wellbeing of communities. It is by focusing on these groups that the advocacy groups can improve the quality of lives for everyone in the target community. This focus is essential for ensuring that maternal and child health issues are addressed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. There is a wide range of issues which can be addressed as part of the policy issues in maternal and child health, including health disparities and provision of basic infrastructure facilities to support social and economic development (Cohen et al., 2001). Addressing these issues requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account the social, economic, and cultural factors that affect maternal and child health. Vulnerable groups need the active participation of advocacy groups to act as their representatives and facilitators when dealing with public institutions concerned with the allocation of public resources (Carlisle, 2000). This participation is critical for ensuring that the needs and concerns of vulnerable groups are taken into account in the decision-making process.

Transformative policies in health care treat the needs of the vulnerable groups as human rights (Cooper et al., 2004). This approach is essential for ensuring that maternal and child health issues are addressed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. The right of woman and children to access quality health care services plays an integral part in realizing the global goals in public and community health wellbeing (world health report, 2005). Ensuring access to quality healthcare services is critical for reducing mortality rates and improving health outcomes. The specific issues involved in access to quality care include the availability of trained medical personnel and medical facilities (Kane et al., 1992). Addressing these issues requires a comprehensive approach that takes into account the human resources and infrastructure needed to support maternal and child health care. When these resources are provided to cater for the needs of maternal and child health, the whole community benefits through improved overall access to quality care. This benefit is critical for ensuring that maternal and child health issues are addressed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner. Leaders in public advocacy groups need to understand and focus on the relationship between addressing the basic issues affecting the vulnerable groups and the overall improvement in the public health care system. This understanding is essential for ensuring that maternal and child health issues are addressed in a comprehensive and sustainable manner.

References
Cilenti, D., & BUZI, R. S. (2024). Collaborations to Improve Maternal Health. The Practical Playbook III: Working Together to Improve Maternal Health, 73.
House, White. “Blueprint for addressing the maternal health crisis.” (2022).
Warren, M. D., & Kavanagh, L. D. (2023). Over a century of leadership for maternal and child health in the United States: An updated history of the maternal and Child Health Bureau. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 1-15.
Salvage, J., & White, J. (2020). Our future is global: nursing leadership and global health. Revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 28, e3339.

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Tags: Healthcare Development, Leadership Advocacy, Maternal and Child Health, Public Health Policy, Vulnerable Populations