Midwifery, Maternal Health and Gynecology

Maternal and child health focus on health issues affecting women, children and families, such as access to recommended prenatal and child health care, prevention of infant and maternal mortality, maternal and child mental health, newborn screening, childhood immunizations, nutrition and services for children with special health care needs. States invest in healthy children and families to strengthen communities and avoid unnecessary health care costs. 

Gynecology is a medical discipline dedicated to women's health issues, including the development, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of disorders and diseases unique to the female reproductive system. The medical care of a woman and her child before, during and after birth is attributed to the field of obstetrics. Gynecology and obstetrics are related disciplines concerned with women's reproductive health. Throughout their lives, women experience multiple events associated with reproductive development, such as menarche, menstruation, pregnancy, childbearing, and menopause. Compared to male reproductive developmental events, these female reproductive developmental events induce more drastic physiological alterations, greater psychological changes and more complex psychosocial consequences for women.

Pregnancy is the term used to describe the period during which a fetus develops in a woman's womb or uterus. Pregnancy usually lasts around 40 weeks, or just over 9 months, measured from the last menstrual period until delivery. Health care providers refer to three segments of pregnancy, called trimesters. Missing period, headache, light bleeding and spotting, hypertension, heartburn, constipation, cramps, back pain, anemia, breast changing, vomiting’s etc. are some of the symptoms of pregnancy. Anemia, Urinary Tract Infections, mental health conditions, diabetes, hypertension, weight gain etc. are some of the major complications of pregnancy.

Women's health has long been a concern, but today it has reached a supreme point of concern. In general, men and women share comparative health problems; the only difference is that women's health deserves special attention. Often treated as regenerative women's health alone, many rallies clash over a broader definition of general women's health, best communicated as "women's health."

Sexual and reproductive health is an area of ​​research, health care, and social activism that explores the health of an individual's reproductive system and sexual well-being at all stages of life. Reproductive health refers to the state of the male and female reproductive systems at all stages of life. These systems are made up of hormone-producing organs and glands, including the pituitary gland in the brain. The ovaries in women and the testicles in men are reproductive organs, or gonads, that maintain the health of their respective systems. They also function like glands as they produce and release hormones.

Infertility is defined as the inability to get pregnant despite frequent, unprotected sex for at least a year for most couples. Infertility can result from a problem with you or your partner, or from a combination of factors that prevent pregnancy. Fortunately, there are many safe and effective therapies that dramatically improve your chances of getting pregnant. The main symptom of infertility is not getting pregnant. There may not be any other obvious symptoms. Sometimes infertile women may have irregular or absent periods.

The field of obstetrics therefore deals with the well-being of the pregnant woman as well as childbirth and healthy outcomes. Obstetricians work closely with pediatricians and neonatologists to take care of newborn care to reduce the risk of newborn death and illness. Obstetricians are responsible for working in conjunction with midwives to monitor and facilitate normal delivery for a woman during labor. Their duties include facilitating childbirth by performing an episiotomy which involves placing strategic cuts on the pregnant woman's perineum to enlarge the birth canal.

Prenatal care is the health care you receive during your pregnancy. It includes your health checkups and prenatal tests. Prenatal care can help you and your baby stay healthy. It allows your health care provider to detect health problems early. The availability of routine antenatal care, including prenatal screening and diagnosis, has been instrumental in reducing the frequency of maternal deaths, miscarriages, birth defects, low birth weight, infections neonatal and other preventable health problems.

Postnatal care (PNC) is the care provided to the mother and her newborn immediately after birth and during the first six weeks of menstruation. After giving birth, a mother goes through many physical and emotional changes as she learns to care for her newborn baby.

Pediatrics is a branch of medicine that plays a prominent role in midwifery practice. It involves competent nurses/midwives to administer primary health care management to women and their infants, children and adolescents. Drawing on the framework of midwifery and adolescent development, it provides direct care to women and children and stimulates healthy habits that reduce the risk of discomfort and illness. Midwives are the main carers of pregnant women; they can also be called obstetricians. Pediatric nurses often assist doctors by providing medical care and information about illnesses and treatment plans to their young patients.

Neonatology is a subspecialty of pediatrics that includes the medical care of newborns, especially sick or premature newborns. It is a hospital specialty, and is usually performed in neonatal intensive care units. The main patients of neonatologists are newborns who are sick or need special medical attention due to prematurity, low birth weight, intrauterine growth retardation, birth defects, sepsis, pulmonary hypoplasia or birth asphyxia.

Perinatology is a branch of medicine that deals with complicated or high-risk pregnancies and fetal malformations discovered during pregnancy. Perinatology is also known as maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) and falls under the branch of obstetrics. A doctor who specializes in perinatology is called a perinatologist. The job description of a perinatologist includes diagnosing, treating, and providing ongoing care to women who have medical complications during pregnancy. A perinatologist must undergo specialized training in perinatology after medical school, which usually takes an additional two to three years of residency. Perinatology is a fascinating specialty because doctors in this field work with sensitive and complicated cases.

Gynecologic oncologists provide an integrated approach to the diagnosis and surgical management of cancerous and non-cancerous conditions of the female reproductive system; these include cervical cancer, endometriosis, fibroids, ovarian cancer, pelvic masses, uterine cancer, vaginal cancer, and vulvar cancer.