WUNRN
No Woman Should Die Giving Life, Says UNFPA
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 16 (IPS) - In this 21st century, when
medical science and gender empowerment are rising progressively, "no woman
should die giving life", declares Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director
of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).
"It is unacceptable that one woman dies every minute
during pregnancy and childbirth when proven interventions exist," she
adds. "Millions of lives are at stake, and we must act now."
Obaid will be one of the keynote speakers at a major
international conference in London that will call for increased investments for
health care for women, mothers and newborns.
The three-day conference, scheduled to take place Oct.18-20,
is expected to have more than 1,500 participants, including health care
professionals, high-level delegates and ministers from 35 developing countries
and donor nations, advocates of women's rights and senior U.N. officials.
"We will press all concerned to take unified action to
improve the lives and health of women, mothers and newborn babies all over the
world," Obaid told IPS.
"We know what is needed to save women from dying. Three
simple interventions: Skilled birth attendants, emergency obstetric care, and
family planning," she added.
Jessica Neuwirth, president of the New York-based women's
rights group Equality Now, says "the huge disparity in maternal mortality
rates gives the loss of life through childbirth a political dimension."
These deaths are preventable and the failure of governments
to prevent them is a violation of women's right to life, the most fundamental
human right, she added.
"Governments must be held accountable for their deadly
inaction in addressing maternal mortality", Neuwirth told IPS.
June Zeitlin, executive director of the New York-based
Women's Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO), says the fact that
there has been so little progress on maternal mortality is another indication
of the gap between rhetoric and reality on gender equality.
While governments and the United Nations have made many
commitments to address gender equality, including in the U.N.'s Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), they have not effectively backed up this commitment
with political will or the resources necessary to achieve this goal, she added.
"The fact that so many countries will fail to meet
either the goal on poverty reduction or on maternal mortality is a result in
part of failing to take into account the need to address gender equality,"
Zeitlin told IPS.
The persistent discrimination and inequalities faced by
women are inextricably related to their lack of resources and impede their
ability to access health services.
"Reducing maternal mortality and poverty -- in other
words, sound development policy -- requires a substantial investment in
reducing gender inequality now," she declared.
The MDGs include a 50 percent reduction in extreme poverty
and hunger; universal primary education; promotion of gender equality;
reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by
three-quarters; combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;
ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a North-South global
partnership for development.
A summit meeting of 189 world leaders in September 2000
pledged to meet all of these goals by the year 2015. But their implementation
has been thwarted primarily by lack of resources and political will.
The London conference, titled "Women Deliver",
will have as its theme: "Invest in Women -- It Pays".
In a statement issued last week, UNFPA said the world's
maternal mortality ratio (the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live
births) is declining too slowly to meet one of the eight U.N. Millennium
Development Goals (MDG 5), which aims to improve maternal health and prevent
women from dying in pregnancy and childbirth.
While an annual decline of 5.5 percent in maternal mortality
ratios between 1990 and 2015 is required to achieve MDG 5, the latest
statistics released jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the U.N.
Children's Fund, UNFPA and the World Bank show an annual decline of less than
one percent.
In 2005, 536,000 women died of maternal causes, compared to
576,000 in 1990. Ninety-nine percent of these deaths occurred in developing
countries.
The probability that a 15-year-old girl will die from a
complication related to pregnancy and childbirth during her lifetime is highest
in Africa: 1 in 26.
In the developed regions, it is one in 7,300. Of all 171
countries and territories for which estimates were made, Niger had the highest
estimated lifetime risk of one in seven.
Eleven countries accounted for almost 65 percent of global
maternal deaths in 2005. India had the largest number (117,000), followed by
Nigeria (59,000), the Democratic Republic of Congo (32,000) and Afghanistan
(26,000), according to the latest statistics released here.
At the midway point in the timeline to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals, UNFPA's Obaid said, "It is time to
accelerate investments in women's health and rights. It is time for governments
to make reproductive health a priority."
According to UNFPA, an additional estimated annual
investment of between 5.5 billion dollars and 6.1 billion dollars is required
by 2015 from domestic and international sources to meet the target of improving
maternal health.
Some additional funding will also be needed to meet the
target of universal access to reproductive health under MDG 5.
These investments would also reduce child mortality, assist
with reducing the malaria burden and mitigate HIV-AIDS through its effect on
HIV prevention and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies among HIV-positive
women, UNFPA said.
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