page_title: Healthcare in Senegal
section_title: Maternal mortality
hierarchical_section_title: Healthcare in Senegal / Health care utilization / Maternal mortality
caption_attribution_description: Matrone et lit d'accouchement dans une île du Sine Saloum au Sénégal
context_page_description: Healthcare in Senegal is a center topic of discourse in understanding the wellbeing and vitality of the Senegalese people. Currently, there is a need to improve Senegal's infrastructure to promote a healthy, decent living environment for the Senegalese. Additionally, the country needs more doctors and health personnel, particularly general practitioners, gynecologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, and cardiologists. Moreover, there is a strong need to have more of these personnel in rural areas: as of 2008, Senegal has only twenty full-fledged hospitals, seven of which are in Dakar. From approximately 1905 to the present, there have been significant shifts in Senegal's healthcare system, the system's structures, specific diseases that are problematic in Senegal, as well as issues affecting women and children and access to healthcare in Senegal.
context_section_description: Maternal mortality rates in Senegal remain high relative to those of more developed countries. In 2008, the World Health Organization estimated a maternal mortality rate of 450 deaths per 100,000 live births in Senegal. Maternal deaths are typically clustered around labor, delivery, and the immediate postpartum period. One of the most prevalent issues is the regional imbalance in the distribution of health personnel and health indicators, with a disproportionate burden of disease in Eastern Senegal.  Expanding coverage of healthcare workers present at birth, in particular midwifery care, can lessen delays, thus minimizing the risk of severe complications and even death. Increased numbers of health workers in a given region is associated with improved outcomes in maternal mortality. Additionally, extreme conservative practices and fundamentalism can limit dispersal of health personnel, especially that of midwives and other female health workers.
caption: Midwife and birthing bed at an island in the Sine Saloum in Senegal, 2006.
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