Amid high-profile attention on the hunger crisis sparked by east Africa's worst drought for 60 years, another quieter emergency continues in the region and other developing countries - a woman dies almost every minute because she is having a baby.
Mothers-to-be in poor countries are up to 250 times more likely to die in childbirth than in Britain.
The rarity of British maternal mortality stands in stark contrast to the hundreds of thousands of women who die in the developing world each year.
Another 10-20 million women experience severe health problems because of complications.
These tragic figures explain why a midwife has travelled to Britain from one of the poorest countries around the globe to launch a mission today with the charity Health Poverty Action (HPA), aimed at raising awareness and support for the struggle to turn the tide.
Fatuma Ali works for HPA in Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia two decades ago but remains unrecognised as a state by the international community. She has played a leading part in enhancing maternal healthcare for women through education and training.
One of the charity's channels to communicate health messages across Somaliland consists of a popular radio soap opera which promotes the improved maternity services available.
Now she will meet politicians and supporters to spread the word that Somaliland needs their help as the country battles to meet the UN millennium development goal of cutting deaths among pregnant women and new mothers by three-quarters within the next four years.
Less than two weeks ago, British medical journal the Lancet reported that no nation in sub-Saharan Africa is on course to reach this target. Indeed, the UN's ambition of cutting maternal deaths is the most off-track of its goals.
But some countries have made notable advances - Honduras cut its maternal mortality ratio by 38 per cent between 1990 and 1997 through a package of measures including emergency obstetric care, family planning, a referral system for women with complications and an increase in the presence of skilled attendants at births.
Nepal has also cited dramatic reductions in women's deaths, with the mortality ratio 40 per cent lower during 1999-2005 than in the 1989-1995 period.
On a smaller scale in Sierra Leone, evidence from a HPA project showed that the maternal mortality rate at one hospital had fallen by almost three-quarters.
But Fatuma knows too well the reasons for general inadequate progress.
Too often there are not enough trained health workers to serve remote communities. Women face difficulty obtaining care before, during and after giving birth.
They may be put off by the cost of travel, or because they are unable to take time off from work or family duties. Emergency obstetric care may not be available.
Emergency care is particularly important in reducing maternal mortality. Three key factors are known as the three delays - the time taken to decide whether to get help, transport problems when going for help, and the lack of skilled staff, equipment and supplies once a woman arrives at a health centre or hospital.
The challenges are compounded for women living in poverty. Women require good nutrition before, during and after pregnancy to avoid malnutrition and anaemia, for example. They need clean water and sanitation to ensure proper hygiene.
Pregnancy can be especially risky for young girls, older mothers, those whose pregnancies are not spaced some time apart and for women with existing health problems.
In all these cases, lack of access to contraception and sexual health advice puts women at further risk, and many women have to continue heavy physical work throughout their pregnancy in order to earn a living or run a household.
Health Poverty Action is running a campaign entitled Mothers on the Margins, which seeks to tackle the disproportionate numbers of maternal deaths among indigenous women in developing countries.
Worldwide about 1,000 girls and women die in pregnancy or childbirth every day, most of them unnecessarily. A significant number are from indigenous groups.
In Guatemala, for example, the estimated maternal mortality ratio in the year 2000 was 153 per 100,000 live births. Yet the figure for the indigenous population was three times higher.
The British government has published its framework for results on maternal health, and while the objectives of the framework are admirable, not enough attention is given to marginalised groups such as indigenous and cultural minority mothers.
We need to see concrete action to save lives. HPA is encouraging British people to write to their MP asking for their support. It is also urging people to sign its petition calling on the government in Guatemala to introduce culturally appropriate maternal health care and collect data, broken down by ethnicity, to better understand the maternal health needs of indigenous women.
Readers can get in touch with their MP and back the petition atwww.healthpovertyaction.org
http://samotalis.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment