Senturia K D
Soc Sci Med. 1996 Oct;43(7):1097-107. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(96)00029-9.
Women in Albania today live in a world very different from that of their parents and grandparents. In an increasingly "westernized" nation, women initially appear to have more autonomy within their families and greater power within society than their traditional ancestors had. From the reports of aid agencies and the former government, it appears that Albanian women's health has also greatly improved in the last half century. However, these reports are based largely on questionable statistics. At the same time, initial impressions based on women's public images can be deceptive. According to Albanian physicians, most of the data produced during the socialist era was falsified to improve the government's image. Furthermore, no comprehensive research projects have examined the multi-faceted nature of pregnancy including both social and physical factors. Albanian clinicians and international aid organizations need accurate indicators of maternal and child health to either corroborate or disprove the reports under discrepancy. The study reported here documents current health conditions for pregnant women and their offspring in Albania. Data for the study were collected in 1993 and 1994 from field sites throughout Albania. A total of 3250 medical charts from 1993 were abstracted from five maternity houses. Interviews were conducted during 1993-1994 with 1199 pregnant women who were followed through their pregnancies. Of these women, 938 were located at delivery. Their infants were weighed and assessed. The data show that infant birth weights, gestational ages and mortality rates are now comparable to the rest of Europe. Maternal disease rates and spontaneous and therapeutic abortion rates are also surprisingly low considering the previous reports. However, fertility rates remain relatively high compared to Western Europe. The results show that despite the degeneration of health services, maternal and child health in Albania is much better than expected and vastly improved over the pre-communist era.
如今，阿尔巴尼亚的女性生活在一个与她们的父母及祖父母所处世界截然不同的环境中。在这个日益“西方化”的国家，女性最初看起来在家庭中拥有比她们传统的先辈更多的自主权，在社会中也拥有更大的权力。从援助机构和前政府的报告来看，在过去的半个世纪里，阿尔巴尼亚女性的健康状况似乎也有了很大改善。然而，这些报告很大程度上是基于可疑的统计数据。与此同时，基于女性公众形象产生的初步印象可能具有欺骗性。据阿尔巴尼亚医生称，社会主义时代产生的大部分数据都是为了改善政府形象而伪造的。此外，还没有全面的研究项目探讨怀孕的多方面性质，包括社会和身体因素。阿尔巴尼亚的临床医生和国际援助组织需要准确的母婴健康指标，以证实或反驳存在争议的报告。此处报告的这项研究记录了阿尔巴尼亚孕妇及其后代目前的健康状况。该研究的数据于1993年和1994年从阿尔巴尼亚各地的实地收集。从五家妇产医院提取了1993年的总共3250份病历。在1993年至1994年期间，对1199名孕妇进行了访谈，并跟踪她们的孕期情况。在这些女性中，有938人在分娩时被找到。对她们的婴儿进行了称重和评估。数据显示，婴儿出生体重、孕周和死亡率现在与欧洲其他地区相当。考虑到之前的报告，孕产妇疾病率以及自然流产和治疗性流产率也出奇地低。然而，与西欧相比，生育率仍然相对较高。结果表明，尽管卫生服务有所退化，但阿尔巴尼亚的母婴健康状况比预期要好得多，与共产主义前时代相比有了巨大改善。
