'One woman dies every minute in childbirth'

[Ulhas Joglekar]

The Times of India

FRIDAY, MARCH 08, 2002

'One woman dies every minute in childbirth'

AFP

UNITED NATIONS: Every minute of every day, a woman dies in pregnancy or
childbirth, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement to mark
International Women's Day, on Friday.

"It is unacceptable that in the year 2002 so many women die in the basic act
of giving life," Unicef director Carol Bellamy said.

"We must commit ourselves to addressing this fundamental aspect of the
gender gap, keeping prospective mothers healthy and alive."

The United Nations plans to mark International Women's Day with a ceremony
including Laura Bush, wife of US President George W. Bush.

There will be a panel discussion on the theme "Afghan Women Today: Realities
and Opportunities" at which ex-queen Noor, widow of Jordan's king Hussein,
will speak. Other panelists include Thoraya Obaid, director of the United
Nations Population Fund.

Bellamy said it was estimated that 515,000 women die every year in pregnancy
or childbirth, almost all of them in developing countries.

The probability of dying in childbirth in a developed country is one in
4,100, but in a developing nation it is one in 13.

"There has been no significant decline in maternal mortality since the early
1990s, and that is a tragedy," Bellamy said.

"We know how to prevent most of these deaths. Political commitment, and the
resources that follow, have just not developed on this issue. We have to see
that as part of a broader tableau of discrimination against women. And that
must end."

The low social status of many women limits their access to basic education
and healthcare and thus deprives them of information which would enable them
to make the best decisions on child-bearing, health and nutrition, she
added.

"Governments and communities must see this, not as an 'extra' but as a
fundamental component of women's health, child health and family health,"
she said.

Bellamy noted that "a child's chance of survival drops dramatically when
deprived of a mother's care."

The UN General Assembly is due to hold a special session on children from
May 8-10 to review progress since the first world summit on children in
1990.

Bellamy said she would tell the Assembly that maternal mortality is almost
the only area in which no progress has been made.

One of the most important factors in preventing deaths is access to
emergency obstetric care, but available data indicates that only 55 percent
of births worldwide are assisted by a skilled attendant, Bellamy said.

"It is simply unjust that, in a world that has entered a new millennium with
unprecedented technological breakthroughs, we allow so many women to die
such easily preventable deaths," she said.

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