Maternal healthcare education should be included in the school curriculum

Meenakshi Baruah

Good health is a key criterion that contributes to human wellbeing and economic growth. Both men and women with adequate nutrition are more productive and can create opportunities to gradually break the cycles of poverty and hunger. But in many societies, men and boys are given priority when meals are served. This can contribute to undernutrition in women and girls. Women require two-and-a-half percent more dietary iron than men, and women need more protein than usual when pregnant and lactating. While calcium is a vital nutrient for everyone, it is particularly important for women and those born as women. Calcium plays a major role in a number of aspects of women’s health, particularly because women have lower bone density than men. Women have thinner and smaller bones than men, and due to the structural differences, women need more calcium than men to maintain their bone density.

Indian women are generally vulnerable to poor nutrition, especially during lactation, which is highly overlooked in our society. The nutrition requirements for breastfeeding are similar to those for pregnancy, and women are recommended to continue eating similarly to how they were eating during their pregnancy. Nursing women need about 500 extra calories each day, as well as plenty of protein, iron, calcium, fluids, and other vitamins, to stay healthy and produce nutritious breast milk.

Here we shall discuss diseases caused by calcium deficiency during lactation and their implications. During lactation, insufficient calcium supply might lead to maternal bone loss, reduced breastmilk calcium secretion, and impaired infant bone growth. Almost all mothers—or those between the ages of 18 and 50—need to consume 1200–1500 mg of calcium per day to protect themselves from bone loss during lactation. Breast-feeding mothers have calcium stored in their bones. Should their diet be lacking in calcium, the body will remove calcium from the bones to supply it to the breast-feeding infant. Some studies have shown a 3 to 5 percent reduction in a mother’s bone mass during breast-feeding, most likely due to insufficient calcium intake from the diet.

Chronic calcium deficiency can result in osteopenia, osteoporosis, osteomalacia, and heel spurs, as well as disruptions in the metabolic rate and normal function of other bodily processes. Osteoporosis, which can lead to joint pain and easily cracked bones, rises with bone density loss. Complications from calcium deficiency disease include eye damage and an abnormal heartbeat. So, calcium deficiency, if left untreated, could eventually be fatal. When women experience such chronic health conditions, it may affect people to the point that they can’t work, eat properly, take part in physical activity, or enjoy life, and at last, it may lead to various diseases like anxiety, depression, gastritis, migraine, etc.

The lack of maternal health contributes to future economic disparities for mothers and their children. Finally, a woman’s health affects the household’s economic well-being, as a woman in poor health will be less productive in the labour force. The repercussions are not only borne by the women but also by their families. While women are an essential pillar of the family and society, they suffer poor health outcomes nationwide.

A woman may not get nutrition during lactation due to three reasons. They are: (i) due to poverty; (ii) abused by husbands or in-laws; and (iii) lack of knowledge about the issue. In the first two cases, women do not get nutritional food or medical treatment properly. In the third category, there are some women who, despite having adequate education, ignore their dietary and physical nutrition needs during lactation due to a lack of awareness and sensitivity about the issue. Later, they suffer from serious health issues.

Today, I take the opportunity to write this article because I am the victim of a circumstance where I was not provided any healthy food or any supplement during lactation or any kind of maternal care, assistance, or treatment after childbirth. So, after my childbirth, I have developed significant impacts on my whole body within a few months. I have been under the medical treatment of doctors and physiotherapists for eleven years. During the course of my treatment, I met a number of women like me who are acutely suffering physically as well as mentally after losing their physical fitness. Now, every day I feel that if maternal healthcare education had been included in our school curriculum or I had somehow gained knowledge about the issue, I would have saved my health anyway. Then, obviously, I would have enjoyed a wonderful time with my daughter, and my dream would have also led to my destiny.

As a part of commitments under the ICPD (International Conference on Population and Development) agenda, governments are obliged to provide for free and compulsory comprehensive human reproductive system education for adolescents and young people. Then why is maternal healthcare education not included in the school curriculum? The ICPD solidified the importance of women’s health and safe motherhood alongside other health and development priorities. Education creates alertness and raises awareness and sensitivity about the issue. It requires some desperate changes to achieve the well-being of women and gender equality by educating young girls as well as boys regarding maternal healthcare.

The Government of India implements various schemes and initiatives to make healthcare more accessible to all throughout the country, including women. But it doesn’t provide much awareness. Expectant fathers do have an important role in maternal health. But the role of husbands in maternal health is often overlooked by health programmes in developing countries. Male involvement needs to be recognised and addressed in health education due to the potential benefits it may bring to both maternal and child health outcomes. As per our social system, the daughter-in-law resides with the husband’s family after marriage, and decisions about maternal healthcare are made by the mother-in-law. However, the role of husbands in maternal health is often overlooked and neglected. Husband/father: He is considered the leader for his wife and kids; his love is unconditional, so he must be a trustworthy protector and support them in all situations. His best efforts will reflect in the relationships. He will indeed have a cherishable, long-lasting relationship with his wife and children. As husbands and fathers, men must take up these important roles that shape them into more responsible and caring individuals. So, whether a boy is married or contemplating marriage, this infographic can guide him to becoming a loving partner to his wife and a caring father to his child or children.

So, by building a strong education on maternal care at the school level for both boys and girls, we will provide each stage of maternal health as a positive experience in the later stages of life, ensuring women reach their full potential for health and well-being. Women will also be encouraged to take ownership of their own health. The good health of women will strengthen the economy of the nation.