Organisation: Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights

Millennium Development Goal 5 strives to improve maternal health as 80% of the maternal mortalities are preventable by accessible and safe health care. The Millennium Development Goals are directly related to developing countries. However also in a developed country like the Netherlands  accessibility of health care can be a problem for vulnerable groups and therefore affect the maternal mortality rate. In this particular study the affects of a draft bill, modification Health Care Insurance Law (31 249) on access to obstetrician care for uninsured and undocumented migrant women were assessed.

The outcomes of the study have been used for a successful lobby towards the Dutch government to reject the proposed change in the draft bill for the compensation system for midwives: to reduce the compensation cost for health care services for undocumented migrant women provided by midwives by 20%. The reduction could lead to reduced services by midwives, as they would run a higher financial risk in helping these women and cannot guarantee complete care. Furthermore undocumented migrant women might not seek and/or seek health care assistance too late due to the financial barrier that would be in place. Further recommendations have been made and are included in the case study as well.  

Bibliographic Details

Author: Aniek Wubben

Publisher: (2008) Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights:Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Netherlands

Reproductive/Sexual Rights

Right to Health

Women's Rights

Online Source(s)

Where possible, links are provided here to the original publication sources. Click on Source Title to open the document, but please note that this redirects you to a different website.

Language	Format	Source Title
English	PDF document	Violations of Human Rights in The Netherlands

Toolsets Used

The following toolsets are referenced or used in the report:

Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI)