Every year, hundreds of thousands of women around the world die avoidable deaths during childbirth, for lack of skilled birth attendants and basic medications, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) said in a report on the eve of International Women’s Day.
The report Maternal Death: The Avoidable Crisis details how the provision of emergency obstetric care to pregnant women in acute and chronic humanitarian crises can have a direct impact and save women’s lives. It examines the circumstances for pregnant women in 12 countries where MSF works, in settings ranging from conflict areas to countries with weak health systems, including Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, and Haiti. The report highlights the need for emergency medical assistance, particularly when pregnancy complications occur.
The report draws on years of MSF’s experience running and expanding programs to meet the needs of pregnant women, and seeks to draw greater attention to the dearth of emergency obstetric care in a number of crisis areas
“We know that 15 per cent of all pregnancies worldwide will experience a life-threatening complication,” said Kara Blackburn, women’s health advisor for MSF. “Women need access to quality emergency obstetric care whether they live in Sydney, Port-au-Prince, or Mogadishu. The reality is the same for women in a modern hospital in a major city, or for those living in a conflict zone, a refugee camp, or under plastic sheeting following a devastating earthquake.” Every day, approximately 1,000 women die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications – one every 90 seconds, according to the World Health Organization. However, with the help of skilled birth attendants and access to the appropriate drugs and equipment, women’s lives and the lives of their babies can be saved.