tagged w/ maternal mortality
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Morocco has made great strides in improving maternal health in recent years, decreasing its maternal mortality ratio by over 60 percent since 1990. But women such as Sasbou, in remote parts of the country, can only do so much when a woman runs into serious trouble and access to life-saving care is a two-hour walk away, on a rough mountainous path sometimes blocked by snow.
"Seventy percent of mothers who die do so on the way to the hospital," said Dr. Abdelghani Drhimeur, head of communications at the Ministry of Health in Rabat. "It takes one hour to hemorrhage and die or even less."
These types of barriers have created a wide maternal health gap between city and certain rural women that Mostafa Lamqaddam, Peace Corps' health program manager in Rabat, said could curb the country's swift progress on maternal health. "The [maternal mortality] rate may stabilize. Probably the system will hit a limit."
Women's eNews managing editor, Juhie Bhatia, with support from the International Reporting Project traveled to Morocco to discover women's real experiences of maternal care in rural Morocco and to take the journey to a health clinic herself.
Read the full story and watch a video of women in the Atlas Mountains talking about the problems they face at http://womensenews.org/story/reproductive-health/120922/rougher-road-ahead-moroccos-maternal-healthMorocco has made great strides in improving maternal health in recent years,... more
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The future of pregnant women in the United States is on the threshold of dramatic change. Aug. 1 marks the day insurance providers and Medicaid will be required to cover preventative care for women.
But it doesn't stop there. By 2014, health insurance providers will be required to cover the full fee for reproductive health care--from contraception to post-natal checkups. Imagine, life without a co-pay for annual checkups, birth control visits and post-natal care.
Yet, America remains a part of an even more exclusive club. It is one of 23 countries where maternal mortality is steadily on the rise. The U.S. maternal mortality rates are higher--that is, proportionately more U.S. pregnant women or new mothers are dying--than in 49 other countries.
Final maternal mortality data for 2010 are not yet available but the numbers suggest a startling reminder that America has the highest maternal mortality rate of any industrialized country. In 2009, 16.1 women died per 100,000 lives births; two years before, 12. 7 women died per 100,000 live births, according to the federal Health and Human Services Administration.
But is anybody doing anything to change it?
Read more at http://womensenews.org/story/sisterspace/120726/lets-raise-the-volume-maternal-mortality-in-usThe future of pregnant women in the United States is on the threshold of dramatic... more
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Sookaina Boudraa had been waiting for three hours at the Alwaha health clinic in Sidi Moumen, an area in northeastern Casablanca known for its slums.
Seven months pregnant, she sat patiently, wearing a brown djellaba, a long robe with a hood, embroidered in orange and a matching orange hijab to cover her hair. About 10 other women sat alongside Boudraa in the blue and white waiting area outside the nurse's examination room. She was expecting the birth of her first child.
Across the street from the clinic lies one of the area's many slums, where Boudraa lives. That afternoon kids played in a dirt field in front of the shanty town's entrance, strewn with garbage and rocks, kicking more dirt into the already dusty air. Cows ate out of a dumpster, while donkeys and roosters roamed the field. Makeshift homes, connected with zigzagging clothes lines, were in the background. Satellite dishes protruded from many of the tin roofs.
Boudraa was at the clinic to get a vaccine, although she couldn't say for what. All she knew was that it was supposed to keep her healthy for her pregnancy, during which time she'd regularly visited a doctor. She hoped a nurse would see her in 30 minutes.
Seventeen-year-old Boudraa is among the fortunate women benefiting from her nation's commitment to lowering the number of women who die in childbirth...Read more
http://womensenews.org/story/reproductive-health/120722/moroccan-moms-benefit-maternal-health-revolutionSookaina Boudraa had been waiting for three hours at the Alwaha health clinic in Sidi... more
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The USA spends more than any other country on health care. Yet women in the USA have a higher risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications than their sisters in 49 other countries, including Kuwait, Bulgaria, and South Korea.
In fact, women in the US are four times more likely to die in childbirth than women in Italy. And twice as likely to die as women in the UK.
According to Amnesty International:
“This is not just a public health emergency - it is a human rights crisis. Women in the USA face a range of obstacles in obtaining the services they need. The health care system suffers from multiple failures: discrimination; financial, bureaucratic and language barriers to care; lack of information about maternal care and family planning options; lack of active participation in care decisions; inadequate staffing and quality protocols; and a lack of accountability and oversight.”
http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/campaigns/demand-dignity/maternal-health-is-a-human-right/maternal-health-in-the-us
There are 1200 preventable pregnancy and childbirth related deaths each year in the USA. That's 2-3 women every single day. The full report by Amnesty can be read here:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/deadlydelivery.pdf
For comparative maternal mortality rates by country, see this article in TheGuardian (useful links):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/apr/12/maternal-mortality-rates-millennium-development-goalsThe USA spends more than any other country on health care. Yet women in the USA have a... more
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India holds a dubious distinction of the highest death rate for children under five and the highest maternal deaths in the world. It has a shortage of 2.6 million health workers, according to a new report released by Save the Children, an international NGO. The report by Save the Children India said that at 900,000 a year, India has the largest number of newborn deaths and is among five countries that account for more than half of the world’s 3.3 million newborn deaths. The others are Nigeria, Pakistan, China and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This falls way below the World Health Organization health worker threshold of 2.3 health workers per 1000 people. Seven Indian states rule the charts for this unfortunate cause and...Read more here-
http://www.iblog4acause.com/2011/09/26-million-health-workers-shortage-in.htmlIndia holds a dubious distinction of the highest death rate for children under five... more
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A new report highlights a rise in pregnancy-related deaths in California.
Based on the state's maternal mortality rate, it is actually more dangerous to give birth in California than it is in Kuwait or Bosnia, according to California Watch.
"The issue is how rapidly this rate has worsened. That's what's shocking," said Debra Bingham, who serves on a task force investigating the problem.
Over the last decade, the maternal mortality rate in California has nearly tripled. The national rate in 2006 was 13.3 per 100,000 (see chart right for state numbers).
California's Maternal
Mortality Rate
Year Rate
1996 5.6
1997 9.1
1998 6.7
1999 7.7
2000 10.9
2001 9.7
2002 10.0
2003 14.6
2004 11.7
2005 11.7
2006 16.9
Out of the about 500,000 live births in California in 2006, 95 women died from causes directly related to their pregnancies, according to the report.
According to estimates, less than 30 percent of the increase is attributable to better reporting on death certificates, California Watch reported.
The official report from the state has yet to be released.
"There was no effort to hold that report back. It just needed some more revisions," said Al Lundeen of the California Department of Public Health.
More: Q&A: Pregnancy-related deaths explained
More: CHART: Tracking maternal mortality rates
First Published: Feb 3, 2010 1:21 PM PSTA new report highlights a rise in pregnancy-related deaths in California.
Based on... more
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More than half a million women die from pregnancy and child birth related complications each year.
Nearly all the fatalities happen in developing countries, and experts say the vast majority of deaths are preventable.
Many of these women lack access to health services or simply can not afford it.
The World Health Organisation says that about a third of women in developing countries do not receive care from skilled health professionals, which makes them susceptible to severe bleeding and infections - the main causes of death.More than half a million women die from pregnancy and child birth related... more
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Seven Tokyo hospitals turned away a pregnant woman who complained of headaches and vomiting, and who died three days later of a brain hemorrhage, officials say.
Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital, the first to reject the woman, admitted her an hour later, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported. When her doctor called the first time, the hospital said only one intern was on duty.
Most of the other hospitals blamed understaffing.
The woman gave birth by Caesarean section about an hour after being admitted Oct. 4. Soon afterward, she underwent brain surgery.
Metropolitan Bokuto Hospital has been an emergency care center for obstetrics since 1999. Officials say that under government standards the facility should have two obstetricians on duty round the clock, but the hospital has been unable to keep adequate staff to fulfill that requirement. Seven Tokyo hospitals turned away a pregnant woman who complained of headaches and... more
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Saio Marah, nine months pregnant and two days into labor, lay on a hospital bed and groaned loudly with each contraction.
She had arrived at the rural hospital earlier on the back of a motorcycle, about the only public transport available in this muddy little town in the distant back-country bush of one of Africa's poorest nations.
Now, in a dark and hot labor ward with rain blowing in the open windows and puddling on the floor, Marah grimaced as James Konteh slapped on rubber gloves and examined her.
Konteh, an ophthalmologist by training, is one of only two doctors who serve 300,000 people in this remote district, so he has become a de-facto obstetrician.
He placed a plastic Pinard stethoscope -- a cheaper, funnel-shaped alternative to a standard stethoscope--to Marah's massive belly and listened.
"The fetal heart rate is very rapid," he said. "The labor is obstructed. The baby is in distress so we must operate right away."
Konteh pulled out his cellphone and began dialing his four surgical nurses. It was 6:30 p.m., and they had all gone home when their 10-hour shifts ended a half-hour earlier.
Marah had waited too long to come to the hospital, and now the baby, her first, was in trouble. The surgery was urgent, but it would take time to get the operating room team back.
"What can I do?" Konteh said. "There's nobody here."
The nurses hooked up an IV to increase Marah's fluids, hoisted her onto a gurney and rolled her into an empty waiting room. She lay there naked, covered loosely by a small cloth, and waited for her caesarian section.
"I haven't been able to sleep for three days," she said. "The pain is too much."
It was a Monday evening, and her husband, Mohamed Barrie, said she had gone into labor on Saturday. Both of them were worried about the expense of going to the hospital, he said, and were sure she could deliver easily enough without assistance from hospital doctors. So they had gone to a neighborhood clinic where a nurse examined her and sent her home.
************CONTINUESSaio Marah, nine months pregnant and two days into labor, lay on a hospital bed and... more
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More than half a million women die every year of complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Most of these deaths can be avoided as the necessary medical interventions exist and are well known. The key obstacle is pregnant women's lack of access to quality care before, during and after childbirth.
Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG 5) aims to improve maternal health and reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015. But, so far progress in reducing mortality in developing countries has been too slow to achieve the target.
WHO is supporting countries in delivering integrated, evidence-based and cost-effective care for mothers and babies during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Investing in health systems -- especially in training midwives and in making emergency obstetric care available round-the-clock -- is key to reducing maternal mortality.
Read more in the fact file: http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/maternal_health/maternal_health_facts/en/index.htmlMore than half a million women die every year of complications during pregnancy or... more
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The Republic of Congo’s government has launched a nationwide weeklong campaign of action aimed at tackling the country’s high rates of infant, juvenile and maternal mortality.
“I seize this opportunity to fight maternal and infant mortality, my primary concern,” Health and Social Affairs Minister Emilienne Raoul said at the launch of the campaign in the town of Ouesso, some 800 km north of the capital, Brazzzaville.
According to a 2005 demographic and health survey, 781 of every 100,000 births resulted in the death of the mother. The same survey showed the infant and juvenile mortality rates to be 75 and 117 per thousand respectively. The survey also showed that there had been no improvement in these indicators since 1990.
Across the country during the week of action, impregnated bed nets are to be distributed, while children are to be treated for parasites, given vitamin A supplements and pregnant mothers given birth kits.
The government used the occasion of the week of action to give birth certificates to 2,012 as yet unregistered children in indigenous communities.
“Our children have this right because they are citizens just like the Bantu,” said Paul Ngama, head of one such family.
Indigenous communities, sometimes referred to as Pygmies, account for about 10 percent of Congo’s three million inhabitants. The Republic of Congo’s government has launched a nationwide weeklong campaign... more
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