The Health of Mother and Child in Rural Central Africa

Abstract

In the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa, the population suffers from severe proteo-caloric malnutrition, with adverse affects on maternal and child health. Improvement of maternal nutrition would lead to rapid consecutive pregnancies, reducing the length of time each child could be breastfed and reducing the protein available to each child. Hence, the authors recommend modern birth spacing methods in combination with programs to improve the health of mother and child.