Safe motherhood

Saving women’s lives by making childbirth safer is a high priority. More than 500,000 women die each year in pregnancy and 20 million suffer acute complications, according to Maternal Mortality Update 1998-1999, a UNFPA publication produced in 2001.

The vast majority of deaths and disabilities could be prevented if women had access to basic and emergency medical treatment during pregnancy, childbirth and the post-partum period.

Only 53 per cent of pregnant women in developing countries deliver with the help of a skilled attendant. And simply meeting the unmet need for contraceptives could reduce maternal mortality by 20 per cent or more.

• In Nigeria, UNFPA has implemented a model project to upgrade and equip 900 primary health facilities and train 900 midwives with life-saving skills. Activities will increase the number of births attended by skilled assistants and expand family planning services.



• A joint project of UNFPA and Columbia University’s Averting Maternal Death and Disability programme sought to upgrade obstetric care facilities, train health workers, improve health information systems, and improve communications and transportation.



• Under this project, India, Morocco and Mozambique implemented programmes to improve access to emergency obstetric care in urban and rural areas. An in-depth needs assessment of 138 health care facilities in Nicaragua was completed and an assessment of obstetric services in five countries in West Africa was carried out.



• Blood transfusion training to reduce maternal mortality was sponsored by UNFPA for 74 laboratory technicians from hospitals in Indonesia, whose improved skills will help ensure that recipients receive safe blood, free from infection.



• Maternal death declined sharply in one Bolivian municipality following the implementation of a UNFPA-supported reproductive health programme that trained health workers, followed high-risk cases, increased referrals and obtained Government assistance.



• In Mali, seven new community health centres and a new maternity unit were constructed as a result of interagency collaboration. Two-way radio communications and cars to transport women to district hospitals are improving obstetric services.

This UNFPA-trained “village motivator” from India advises men and women about genderbased violence as well as reproductive and legal rights. Photo: UNFPA/Don Hinrichsen

• Training for village midwives took place throughout Sudan as a major effort of the Ministry of Health with support from UNFPA. Training materials were provided to many village midwifery schools, and students’ costs for food and accommodations were covered. In Sudan, few births take place in hospitals and village midwives play a key role in pregnancy, delivery and post-partum care.



• In Bangladesh, where 96 per cent of women give birth at home without a trained assistant, UNFPA co-sponsored a national seminar on emergency obstetric care.



• First ladies from eight African governments participated in a regional forum in Bamako co-organized by UNFPA for Vision 2010, a partnership aimed at reducing maternal deaths in Africa.



• Surveys to establish benchmark indicators and baseline data on reproductive health, including maternal health, were carried out in Tunisia and Syria in 2001 and a third was planned for Djibouti as part of the Pan Arab Project for Family Health, which covers 16 Arab countries.