Abstract

MAROTO-NAVARRO, Gracia; GARCIA-CALVENTE, María del Mar  and  MATEO-RODRIGUEZ, Inmaculada. The challenge of maternity in Spain: social and health difficulties. Gac Sanit [online]. 2004, vol.18, n.5, pp.13-23. ISSN 0213-9111.

Objective: The present article reviews the recent literature on various issues related to maternity services and fertility in Spain and elsewhere. Method: Information obtained from several official sources, technical reports, and the scientific literature produced in the last 5 years were used. Results: Maternity is assigned insufficient importance due to cultural changes, women's difficulties in the labor market, inadequate public policies to support families, and deficiencies in the quality of pre- and postdelivery maternity care. Conclusions: Increased fertility rates may transform the organization of productive and reproductive work and the development of health and social services, and may stimulate improvement in institutional support.

Keywords : Birthrate; Productive work; Reproductive work; Maternity protection; Social support; Maternal health.