Researchers expect the cost of health care services to be less than $5 for each person per year. The money would reportedly expand basic health care services, including birth control, nutritional supplements, and medication to treat serious diseases like malaria and pneumonia.
According to a study published on April 9 in the U.K. medical journal The Lancet, 74 low and middle-income countries will benefit from the cheaper health care. More than 95 percent of mother and child deaths occur in those countries annually, U.S. News & World Report stated.
Fatalities
Experts said that almost 6 million children under the age of 5 died in 2015 globally. More than 300,000 women die due to pregnancy-related complications.
"Many of these deaths could be prevented if high-impact and affordable solutions reached the populations that needed them most," study leader Dr. Robert Black said in a John Hopkins University news release, as quoted by U.S. News & World Report. "Our analysis shows that expanding access to care to keep more mothers and children alive and healthy is feasible, and a highly cost-effective investment."
Prevention
The health care services would cost around $4.70 each person yearly. The expansion of basic health care services could save the lives of 1.5 million newborns, 1.5 million children, and 149,000 mothers, the researchers said.
"For less than $5 per person, essential health services could reach the people who are most in need of them. Community health workers or primary health centers can deliver the majority of these services, which reduces the cost of expanding coverage," Black said, as quoted by U.S. News & World Report.
According to the study, a more widely accessible family planning services could prevent almost 28 million pregnancies and save 1.5 million lives annually. Increased availability of birth control could save the lives of 67,000 mothers, 440,000 newborns, and 473,000 children. Researchers also believe that cheaper health care could prevent around 564,000 stillbirths per year.
Protection Against Stillbirth
A new research has suggested that pregnant women who were vaccinated for seasonal influenza are safe from having a stillbirth. The study came from a group headed by Annette Regan from the school of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Pharmaceutical Press reported.
The research found that pregnant mothers, who received a dose of seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine (or TIV), were less likely to have a stillbirth as opposed to their counterparts who didn't have the vaccine. According to the study, stillbirth was 51 percent less likely to occur among vaccinated mothers as opposed to unvaccinated moms.
