Have you heard the news? Yesterday three
jumbo jet aeroplanes collided in mid-air, killing all
1,500 passengers on board. Tragically, all the passengers
were pregnant women, and 1,485 of them were from the
poorer countries.
Part of this story is not true. There was not an
aeroplane crash yesterday. But 1,500 pregnant and newly
delivered pregnant women did die yesterday. Why didn't
you hear about it? Because 1,500 women die every day in
childbirth, so no newspaper reports it, no televisions
cover the story. These women died because they did not
have safe care when they were pregnant and when they
delivered their babies. They died of infection, a long
labour, high blood pressure, unsafe abortion and
bleeding.
Women dying, or being damaged unnecessarily by childbirth
is tragic enough. But women are mothers too. When a woman
dies or suffers in childbirth, her baby dies or suffers
too and her other children have little chance of
surviving. This is the first time that HD has covered
maternal health. We hope you agree that, for a child to
be healthy, she or he needs a healthy mother. A child's
chances of being well fed, educated, and given good
health care all depend on the mother.
The most common, direct cause of maternal deaths are
preventable, at a relatively low cost. Women need good
basic care during pregnancy, birth and afterwards. They
also need access to safe facilities - which can provide
caesarean sections, antibiotic therapy and blood
transfusions - when problems arise. This is what the
'Safe Motherhood Initiative' has set out to achieve.
Achieving safe motherhood is a big challenge. Health
workers need to be well trained and up-to-date. They need
adequate drugs and equipment to do their job. And, if
they are working outside a hospital, they need reliable
referral facilities.
This issue of HD looks at the basic care that health
workers should provide to women having a normal pregnancy
and birth. But only providing such care within hospitals
and clinics is not enough. half the births in the world
still take place without a trained attendant present. The
women who die in childbirth are mostly those who could
not reach the maternity services, or who reached them too
late. Health workers and policy makers must now look
urgently at how they can provide care in the communities
where poor and rural women live. All the good practice in
this issue of HD is equally true for all women and their
babies.
International agencies and national governments
everywhere are trying to respond effectively to this vast
human tragedy of 1,500 women dying in child birth every
day. Health workers have very important role to play.
Think about what you can do. This issue of HD should give
you plenty of ideas.
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