Page 191 - Health, Population and Environment Education 10

In Nepal, there are legal conditions under which abortion service can be obtained.
Abortion is legal in Nepal on the following conditions:
i. Upto 12 weeks of gestation for any woman
ii. Upto 18 weeks of gestation if the pregnancy results from rape or incest, and
iii. At any time during pregnancy with the advice of a medical practitioner or if the
physical or mental health or life of the pregnant woman is at risk or if the foetus is
deformed and incompatible with life.

Abortion is punishable under the following conditions:
i. Sex selective abortion and
ii. Abortion without the consent of the pregnant woman.

8.3 Maternal and Child Health Care and its Measures
Maternal health is the health of a woman
during pregnancy, childbirth and the
postpartum period. Maternal and child
health care encompasses the health care
provided to the pregnant woman, post-
natal, breast feeding mother and children.
The main objective of maternal and child
health care is to improve maternal and
newborn health by raising the level of
motivation of health care workers to provide
high quality maternal and newborn care is Fig: 16
essential to detect high risk cases of mother
and child and give them special care, to identify complications and prevent them to educate
the mother and to promote, protect and maintain health of both mother and child.

In developing countries the maternal and child morality rates are very high due to lack of
effective and adequate maternal and child health care. An effective and adequate maternal
and child health care services helps to reduce maternal and child mortality.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimated that 289,000 women died of
pregnancy or childbirth related causes in 2013. These causes range from severe bleeding
to abstracted labour all of which have highly effective interventions. As women have
gained access to family planning and skilled birth attendance with back up emergency
obstetric care, the global maternal motility ratio has fallen from 380 maternal deaths per
100,000 live births in 1990 to 210 deaths per 1,00,000 live births in 2013.
Four elements are essential to maternal death prevention. The first one is prenatal care. It
is recommended that expectant mothers receive at least four antenatal visits to check and
monitor the health of mother and foetus. The second one is skilled birth attendance with
emergency back up such as doctors, nurses and midwives who have the skills to manage
normal deliveries and recognize the onset of complications. The third one is emergency
obstetric care to address the major causes of maternal death which are haemorrhage,
sepsis, unsafe abortion, hypertensive disorders and obstructed labour. The last one is
GREEN Health, Population and Environment Education Book-10 191