death in childbirth

Diane Monaco dmonaco at pop3.utoledo.edu
Sat Feb 1 11:46:20 PST 2003


At 04:50 PM 1/30/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>At 07:19 PM 01/30/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>>A woman's lifetime risk of dying due to maternal causes (pregnancy,
>>delivery and related complication) is:
>>
>>in Africa, one in 19;
>>in Asia, one in 132;
>>in Latin America, one in 188;
>>in more-developed countries, only [sic] one in 2,976 (21).
>
>I wonder whether the horrific stats for Africa have anything to do with
>female circumcision and infibulation...? Anybody know?
>
>Joanna

The statistics are even more tragic -- 1 in 12 -- when we look at East and West Africa as separate from the rest of Africa. And in Ethiopia alone the maternal mortality rate is 1 in 7 where less than 10 percent of the births involve any kind of pre-during-post health care. But the reasons for the higher maternal mortality rate in Africa are mostly the same as for all poor women throughout the world...just much more of it:

1. Early marriage and childbearing that includes the under 20 and over 40 years. 2. Giving birth 4 times or more. 3. Unsafe abortions. 4. Lack of essential obstetric health care. 5. Lack of knowledge of reproduction/contraception. 6. Poor maternal health and malnutrition in general.

The above factors the result of:

Lack of education Lack of income independent of a man Lack of real decision-making at home Lack of voting rights Lack of owning land

And these factors the result of...well...[insert various oppressive forces]

Diane



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