PATTERNS OF FEMALE DEATHS IN CHILDBEARING PERIOD IN PORT SAID GOVERNORATE

Abstract

Worldwide, women's ability to lead fulfiling lives and to participate fully in society depends in large part on their health. When poverty, gender inequities or other socio-cultural barriers prevent women from enjoying good health, the consequences extend far beyond women themselves. Families and communities suffer as well from the loss or diminished capacity of women who are often primary caregivers, wage earners, and productive members of society. Women's reproductive health has become the focus of an increasing number of studies by researchers that face the problem of obtaining reliable data on the causes of deaths. Even in industrialized societies where certification of the cause of death is obligatory, derivative death rates have proved far less reliable as measures of the magnitude of women's health problems than generally assumed. Patterns of mortality and cause of death among female of reproductive age have been widely studied in the developed and developing countries. These studies help to direct the resources and the efforts towards the most pressing problems as regards women's health. The aim of the present work is to study the pattern of female deaths in childbearing period in Port Said governorate in the year 1998 through studying: 1. The main causes of female deaths in childbearing period 15-49 years and assessing their magnitude. 2. The determinants of female deaths in childbearing period