[afro-nets] Stopping the invisible epidemic of maternal deaths

[Madeleine Anne Decker <omsdoc@oms-mz.org>]

Stopping the invisible epidemic of maternal deaths
--------------------------------------------------

WHO Press release and Document: Stopping the invisible epidemic
of maternal deaths

WHO and partners act to reduce the maternal death toll of half a
million women each year

29 SEPTEMBER 2004 | GENEVA -- Every minute of every day, at
least one woman in developing countries dies in childbirth --
more than half a million each year. Today, WHO and the Partner-
ship for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health are intensifying
support to countries around the world to ensure that a woman
does not die while giving birth to her child.

The needs are wide-ranging - from training skilled birth atten-
dants who can help a woman give birth safely, to the very basic
issue of recording the cause of a woman's death. WHO estimates
that maternal deaths are under-reported by as much as 50% be-
cause deaths are not classified correctly, or more often, not
counted at all. In 62 countries of the world, there are no ma-
ternal mortality data whatsoever.

"If dead women are not even counted, then it seems they do not
count. We have an invisible epidemic," said Joy Phumaphi, World
Health Organization's Assistant Director-General on Family and
Community Health, at a gathering of health ministers, maternal
health specialists, African Parliamentarians, leaders of non-
governmental organizations and donor agencies today in Nairobi.

"Pregnancy is a normal, life-affirming state. Women should not
die giving birth. Their deaths are preventable, even in the
poorest countries. But it takes local knowledge, strength and
partnership to ensure women's lives are saved."

While the main causes of maternal deaths are haemorrhage, infec-
tion, hypertensive disorders, obstructed labour and unsafe abor-
tion, the fundamental reasons for the continuing crisis are un-
available, inaccessible, or poor quality care. The effects are
tragically amplified, as some one million children are left
motherless each year. These children are 10 times more likely to
die in childhood than children whose mothers have not died.

Maternal mortality shows a stark divide between rich and poor
countries. In some developing regions, a woman has a one in 16
chance of dying in pregnancy and childbirth. This compares with
a one in 2 800 risk for a woman from a developed region. Sub-
Saharan Africa and central south Asia in particular suffer high
rates of maternal death. The risk of dying in pregnancy in the
world's poorest countries is over a hundred times higher than in
the richest ones.

"Countries around the world have pledged to achieve the Millen-
nium Development Goals, which include reducing maternal mortal-
ity by three quarters by 2015. One key task of the global health
community is to close the gap in services for women in rich ar-
eas, and those in poor ones." said Joy Phumaphi.

"It is the duty of all governments to lead the fight against ma-
ternal and neonatal mortality," said First Lady of Kenya, Lucy
Kibaki, who jointly chaired the Nairobi meeting. Praising the
solidarity shown by the African parliamentarians present at the
launch, Lady Lucy Kibaki added, "Only by joining forces can we
achieve our common goals."

As part of its support, WHO is beginning world-wide training for
health staff today. A new manual for health planners and provid-
ers, Beyond the numbers - Reviewing maternal deaths and compli-
cations to make pregnancy safer is also available. The manual
delves into the question of why women die from complications re-
lated to childbirth, and spells out how to avoid them by using
effective and affordable methods which can be implemented in
even the poorest settings. Beyond the numbers is the new focus
for WHO regional and country offices and partners from more than
20 regional and international agencies, including UNFPA, UNICEF
and the World Bank. This programme includes the training of
health planners and providers in high-risk countries and regions
in the use of five methods to gather information upon which to
base actions: verbal autopsies, reviewing deaths in the commu-
nity, health facility-based reviews, confidential inquiries,
near-miss case reviews and clinical audit.

The implementation of this initiative is urgent, but requires
more resources. US$ 10 million are needed to train decision-
makers, national health planners and medical service providers.
This will take place in 20 high-priority countries. Funds will
also be used to measure progress.

"Each time, such a gathering reminds us vividly of the loss of
lives of those we cared for and our beloved ones. It is time for
all of us to turn technical knowledge into action to save the
lives of the women who give life," said Dr. Luc de Bernis, one
of the authors of Beyond the numbers from WHO.

For more information contact:

Xu Baert
Communications Officer,
Telephone: +41-22-791-3436
mailto:baertx@who.int


Shamila Akram
Telephone: +41-22-791-4477
mailto:akrams@who.int

--
WHO document

Beyond the numbers: Reviewing maternal deaths and complications
to make pregnancy safer

Beyond the numbers is directed at health professionals, health
care planners and managers working in the area of maternal and
newborn health who are striving to improve the quality of care
provided. They should be in a position and willing to take reme-
dial action based on the findings of these reviews and should
use the information collected to help improve maternal health
outcomes. This can be done through empowering health profession-
als to critically evaluate current practices and change them, if
necessary. Because action is the ultimate goal of these reviews
it is important that those with the ability to implement the
recommended changes actively participate in the process.

Download as Adobe PDF file (150 pp. 2.61 MB!):
http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/publications/btn/btn.pdf

WHO sites
Maternal health
http://www.who.int/topics/maternal_health/en/

Pregnancy
http://www.who.int/topics/pregnancy/en/

Maternal and newborn health
http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/MNBH/index.htm

Sent by

Madeleine Anne Decker
Documentation Officer
WHO Mozambique
mailto:omsdoc@oms-mz.org