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Maternal Mortality
STDs |
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MATERNAL MORTALITY.
Among the chief causes of death for women of childbearing age in many parts of the
developing world are complications arising from pregnancy and childbirth. About half
a million women die each year from pregnancy-related causes, 99 per cent of them in the
developing world. World health Organization (WHO) figures show that the life-time
risk of dying from pregnancy or childbirth-related causes is one in twenty in some
developing countries, compared to one in ten thousand in some industrialized countries.
About one in five of these deaths stem from unsafe abortion. Although 90 per cent of
the countries of the world now have laws that permit abortion to save the life of a woman,
a significant fraction of the abortions carried out are performed under unsafe conditions
and result in the woman's death or permanent injury. A mother's death or illness has
a tragic effect on her family, and can reduce the survival chances of any young children
she may have. The best way to prevent these avoidable tragedies is to make family
planning available to all women and men, and to treat unsafe abortion as a major public
health concern.
The Cairo Programme of Action advocates that all governments, intergovernmental
organizations and NGOs deal openly and forthrightly with unsafe abortion as a major public
health concern. It also makes it explicitly clear that women should have access to
services for the management of complications arising from unsafe abortions.
STDs.
Women are particularly vulnerable to STDs, including AIDS. They are much more likely
to be infected in sexual intercourse than men, and their partners' high-risk behaviour can
endanger them as well. Many are powerless to protect themselves. In the AIDS
population, the fastest-growing number of cases is amongst heterosexual women. Their
babies are also at risk of being infected with HIV in the womb. AIDS is already the
leading cause of death form African-American women between 20 and 40 years old in New
Jersey and New York States. It also kills the most women of that age group in
sub-Saharan Africa.
The Cairo Programme of Action states specific numerical goals to reach by the years 2000,
2005, and 2015 in promoting women's health and safe motherhood --varying from country to
country and depending on current death rates per 100,000 live births. All countries,
however, are to strive to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity to "levels where
they no longer constitute a public health problem." Disparities in maternal
illness and death rates should be narrowed, whether within or between countries, or
between socio-economic or ethnic groups. All countries need to expand the provision
of maternal health services. These can be provided by the primary health care
system, and should include good prenatal care; education on safe motherhood; good delivery
services; referral services for pregnancy, childbirth, and abortion complications; and
postnatal care and family planning.
Another need to be addressed is the need for good research into the causes of maternal
morbidity and mortality, and sound prevention strategies. Programmes will need to be
monitored to assess their effectiveness. Educational programmes that elicit men's
support for safe motherhood should be developed as well.
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