Third Millennium Development Goals: Maternal Health Based on the Teachings of Islam

The United Nations identified maternal health as the fifth goal of the third millennium development goals. Therefore, the present study has been conducted with the aim of examining the teachings of Islam in relation to the fifth development goal of the third millennium, namely maintaining the health of mothers.

The present study is a review study involving a comprehensive review of Persian and English articles using international databases of Web of Science, Direct Science, PubMed, Google Scholar and using English keywords such as Islamic Health, Women, Millennium goals, Maternal Health performed individually and in combination, as well as the Persian equivalent keywords on Persian databases, including SID, Irandak, and search engines. The authors of the article did not report any conflict of interests.

Among the teachings of Islam regarding the protection of mothers' health are paying attention to women's rights in various personal, family and social dimensions, paying attention to the dimensions of women's physical, mental and social health, fair access to health care, avoiding violence against women, paying attention to women's social status, advising on healthy pregnancies, avoiding unjustified abortions threatening women's health, avoiding unhealthy foods during sensitive pregnancies, etc., many of which are similar to the guidelines of the World Health Organization in maintaining maternal health.

The teachings of Islam, because they are based on human nature, are the best guide to having a healthy life; therefore, the recommendations of Islam in maintaining the health of mothers can be used as one of the basic strategies to achieve the development goals of the third millennium.