Blog #8- Mali

      For my final blog post, I decided to cover target 3.1.1 (Maternal Mortality) and target 3.2.1 (Under-5 Mortality) in the country of Mali. The reason I chose to combine these two targets is because they often go hand-in-hand with each other. Mali is a west African country that is located between the countries Mauritania and Niger.

      For decades, Mali had some of the highest maternal and child mortality rates in the world. There were many factors causing such high mortality rates. Some being the lack of proper nutrition, poor reproductive healthcare, and the lack of routine immunizations. About 1 in 5 children under the age of five died in Mali due Malaria or Pneumonia (both preventable diseases).  In 2015, 33% of deaths in the under-5 category were newborns. In the same year, there were 587 maternal deaths (Maternal and Newborn Health Disparities in Mali, 2019).

Photo Accessed from: https://worldsbestnews.org/telegram/mali-to-save-women-and-children/

      In 2015, Mali committed to create a fund for free medical assistance for women and children under 5. For decades, women had to pay for their own healthcare, and for a lot of women, it was nearly impossible. 50.4% of people in Mali had an income of less than $1.25 a day (Global Citizen-Mali, 2019).  That was hardly nothing to contribute to their medical costs. Even if they did come up with the money to receive medical care, there were still the added costs of traveling to a doctor.

      However, part of the fund for creating free medical assistance in Mali was to put health workers in every community. By doing this, mothers have access to the many different services they might need. In 2019, it is estimated that child mortality rates will be lowered 95% just by having health workers in Mali communities. The benefits these past four years have come from mothers having free access to prenatal care, immunizations and wellness check-ups. The most exciting news this year was back in February when Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced that they received an extra $120 Million to help reform the countries health care. Mali is a great example of a country wanting to change for it's people and sticking to the plan. They have made so much progress in only four years and I am excited to follow the progress they make in years to come.

Refrences: 

file:///C:/Users/18178/Downloads/country%20profile_MLI%20(1).pdf

Mali Is Providing Free Health Care to Pregnant Women and Children Under 5. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2019, from https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/mali-free-healthcare-under-five-maternal-elder/.