Every minute of every day, a woman dies needlessly in pregnancy or childbirth. Most of these deaths occur in the developing world. Ten million women are lost in each generation – mothers and sisters, daughters and grandmothers, wives and partners, friends and neighbours.
Between the 18th and 20th of October 2007, the conference Women Deliver was held in London. The aim of the conference was to create attention and stimulate action to promote women's health and rights – especially the right to safe pregnancy and childbirth. The United Nations and a number of organisations in different parts of the world came together to arrange the conference.
Why Women Deliver?
20 years have passed since the Safe Motherhood Initiative put mothers' health on the agenda, but despite this, maternal mortality has not decreased since 1993. Mothers dying is the health issue which, more than any other, separates rich and poor countries, according to the World Health Organisation. The main reasons why women die are haemorrhage, eclampsia (high blood pressure) and unsafe abortions.
– We are making a promise to the women of the world, said Ann Starrs, executive vice president of Family Care International, the conference organizing partner, at the closing plenary session. – We recognize your contributions and value your lives. We will not allow this injustice and waste to continue. We will deliver.
Strong new pledges of commitment to invest in women's health came from donors, government officials, corporations, foundations and non-governmental organizations. Many revealed exactly how much they would donate to the cause.
Lois Capps, head of the five-member U.S. congressional delegation, admitted that the U.S. had "dragged (its) feet a bit". – We're going to make sure that the U.S. participates in a global effort to deliver for women around the world, she said.
Why is investing in the health and wellbeing of women and newborns critical to development?
Working on common ground
Ensuring that women and newborns are healthy and able to contribute their full potential is a social and an economic investment. How can various disciplines and movements work together and advocate more effectively to realize this potential?
Adressing the controversies
In 1994, population policy shifted to a woman-centered, reproductive health and rights approach. This led to controversy. The plenary examines areas where action has not matched international commitments.
Keeping mothers alive – a key millennium goal
In the year 2000, the UN member countries agreed to eradicate poverty before the year 2015. Eight millennium goals were set up and are now used as guidelines in the work for global development. Sadly, progress on the fifth goal – to reduce maternal mortality – is lagging behind.
FactsTen million women are lost in every generation
In 42 percent of all pregnancies worldwide, the woman suffers complications. In 8 percent of all pregnancies, the complications are life-threatening. Women’s survival rates vary greatly between rich and poor countries, and between the rich and the poor within these countries.
One in 29,800 women...
...in Sweden will die of complications related to pregnancy.
One in 2,500 women...
...will die of these causes in the U.S. The risk faced by black women is more than four times higher than that of white non-Hispanic women.
One in 16 women...
...in sub-Saharan Africa will die as a result of pregnancy or child-birth.
One in six women...
...in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone die from pregnancy-related complications.
Fistula – when the body breaks from the inside
For many young women, pregnancy can mean death. Others are damaged for life. Natalie Imbruglia is the UN spokeswoman for the Global campaign against fistula – a severe medical condition in which a fistula (a hole) develops between either the rectum and vagina or between the bladder and vagina. The cause is often complicated or failed childbirth due to lack of adequate medical care, or because the girl is too young and not physically ready to give birth. In the movie below, singer Natalie Imbruglia talks about fistula and its consequences.
Access to comprehensive reproductive health services.
Education that informs women and girls about their bodies and gives them options in life beyond childbearing.
Care by skilled midwives, nurses or doctors during pregnancy and childbirth, as well as emergency obstetric care, and care for mothers and newborns after delivery.
Photo: UN photo/John Isaac Source: Women Deliver
Awatif is afraid to give birth after sunset
"I’m afraid", she said, swathed in a shawl of sunset orange, reds and purples. "I want a midwife to be by me in case something happens." Awatif, 27, was married at the age of ten, and this is her second pregnancy in this camp for internally displaced persons outside of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. The camp midwife helped her give birth to the youngest of her four sons, and she is hoping for a girl this time. The first time her village was attacked in Darfur’s civil war, she said, "They took all of our cows. The second time, they attacked the people and burned all our houses." After that she fled here with her family.
In Awatif’s village, the nearest health care centre was a three-hour walk away. Awatif relied for her first three pregnancies on a traditional birth attendant, who in Darfur customarily ties the hands of the expectant mother above her head and then pulls on the rope to elongate the woman’s body through each contraction. It is a difficult and painful process, especially if the woman’s labour continues for hours on end. In the camp, a nighttime complication will mean Awatif will have to get from the camp to the hospital in Nyala. But donkey carts are the only available transport. "It’s dangerous, and you have to pay a lot of money," she said.
Men – who decide when a woman can seek health care – often do not recognize the importance of referring their wives to emergency care, or are too poor to seek it.
Maternal mortality is high in Sudan: 509 women die for every 100,000 live births – a ratio that puts Sudan 130th on a World Health Organization ranking of the 181 countries with populations of 1 million or more. A woman’s lifetime risks here are so great that one in every 30 Sudanese women will die of pregnancy-related complications: only 71 percent of pregnant women receive antenatal care, only 57 percent of deliveries have a skilled birth attendant present, and only 13 percent of women receive postpartum care in the first six weeks following delivery.
Most people do not know how to identify complications, and men – who make the decisions about when a woman can seek health care – often do not recognize the importance of referring their wives to emergency care, or they are too poor to seek it. UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, teaches women and men in the camps about the importance of seeking such care, and also supports pooled community transportation funding for emergency night referrals.
A green tent houses the camp’s maternal health care clinic. Straw mats cover the floor and the smell of disinfectant wafts through the hot air. A simple sheet separates the ‘operating theater’ from the consultation room, manned by midwife Amina Mohammed. She provides ante- and post-natal care to IDP women, but wives must be accompanied by their husbands to receive contraception. "I’m very proud of what we’ve done here," she said. "I’d like to do even more – we’d like to support every pregnant woman in the area."
Article and photo taken from the Women Deliver website.
The fistula hospital in Addis Ababa needs pantyhoes for the girls that have had surgery. The foundation Stiftelsen Fistulasjukhuset is now collecting clean, second-hand stretch tights. It doesn't matter if they are torn as the legs will be cut of and used for weaving rugs.
You can help by sending tights to: Hamlin Fistula (tights) PO Box 3609 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
All films from the United Nations' Population Fund, UNFPA.
The Lancet about maternal mortality
New statistics show that the mortality of women has not gone down, and that it will be difficult to reach the UN millennium goals. But there are positive examples. Thanks to safe abortions and better maternity care, more pregnant women in Bangladesh make it through childbirth. It pays to invest in women.
Gender equality & the Millennium Development Goals.jpg)
Men – who decide when a woman can seek health care – often do not recognize the importance of referring their wives to emergency care, or are too poor to seek it.
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