Maternal Health In Ethiopia Essay

Introduction
The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is located on a massive rough mountainous highland in Eastern Africa which covers 1,127,127 square miles in area (Milkias, 2011). Ethiopia is home to about 82 million people. Ethiopia is one of the poorest of the least developed countries which 39% of the population live below the poverty line (Woldemicael & Tenkorang, 2010; Bedford, Gandhi, Admassu, & Girma, 2013).
United Nations [UN] (2012) state that Ethiopia is one of the 189 countries that involved in Millennium Declaration. Millennium Declaration consist of eight Millennium Development Goals [MGD] which include eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce
However, maternal health care has dragged behind other health statistics (UNDP, 2015). Millennium Development Goal [MDG] six: improve maternal health will be discussed to explore the issues in the context of Ethiopia. With primary focus on maternal health, it will be argued that low rate of utilizing healthcare facilities with skilled healthcare providers affecting maternal health in Ethiopia. Several key factors which affecting healthcare utilization including educational status, healthcare facilities availability, economic status, and traditional practice in Ethiopia will be explored in the
Maternity services which include antenatal, delivery, and postnatal care that are provided by a health professional with midwifery skill are referred as skilled maternal care. Skilled care providers are healthcare professions who have been educated and trained to competence in the skills demanded to manage ordinary pregnancies, delivery, immediate postnatal stage, and complications (Worku, Yalew, & Afework, 2013). Maternal death defined as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy (Seifu, Gebrehiwot, & Fantahun,