Background Information
While maternal mortality rates have declined drastically across the world within the past decades following actions from the United nations in the form of the Millennium Development goals (MDG) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), maternal mortality rates have not improved significantly within sub-Saharan Africa(Ng’anjo Phiri et al., 2014). Goal 5 within the MDG was aimed at reducing the global maternal mortality ratio by 75% between 1990 and 2015 however its efforts to impact regions of sub-Saharan Africa have been met with several significant barriers especially within rural parts of Africa. Inequality in access of women’s education, healthcare and the general status of women within sub-Saharan Africa are some major factors in the provision of maternal and newborn healthcare(Ng’anjo Phiri et al., 2014). Geographic accessibility is another major factor as there are not enough skilled healthcare providers within the region and the distribution of them are unequal. Poor transportation and road infrastructure impacts healthcare delivery two fold, as women are unlikely to travel to healthcare facilities during their pregnancy and healthcare providers cannot access rural communities for the delivery of healthcare(Ng’anjo Phiri et al., 2014).
Study Area
The following shows the extent of the study area in which we will be conducting our research within. This area was chosen since it included both, areas in which a majority of the roads were already digitized as well as large rural regions where road network data was severely lacking. This allowed us to clear identify the areas we would need to work in while also having a firm starting point.
