WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. East Timor is a lower-middle-income economy.^[5] It continues to suffer the aftereffects of a decades-long independence struggle against Indonesia, which damaged infrastructure and displaced thousands of civilians. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor

______________________________________________________________________

Link to Full Article: Timor-Leste: Lifesaving Lessons in Childbirth

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85967

Timor-Leste also has one of the highest fertility rates in the world - an average of 7.8 children per woman and a population of about 1.1 million - and yet according to government statistics, only 37.3 percent of births in 2007 were attended by skilled midwives. Furthermore, about 80 percent of women deliver at home.......

Lifesaving services provided by a trained health professional in a well-equipped facility, is vital to Timor-Leste, where maternal deaths number about 380 per 100,000 live births, according to the latest UN and World Bank estimates........ 

________________________________________________________________

http://www.cdu.edu.au:80/gshp/EastTimor.htm

Maternal Mortality, Unplanned Pregnancy and Unsafe Abortion in Timor-Leste: A Situational Analysis

Direct Link to Full 80-Page Report: http://www.cdu.edu.au/gshp/documents/MaternalMortalityFinalReport2009.pdf

Timor has one of the highest fertility rates in the world and related deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth. The law regulating termination of pregnancy in Timor-Leste is highly restrictive and women cannot request elective abortion for any reason – not even to preserve their health or save their life. There has been no research conducted on unsafe abortion since Timor-Leste's independence from Indonesia. The Ministry of Justice and the Office for Promotion of Equality is concerned at the level of maternal deaths and requires quality data from which to promulgate law and policy which will benefit the women of East Timor. This study describes the context of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy and fertility management, as well as investigating and canvassing a way forward.

Research areas investigated:

• Legal constraints to providing safe, reliable, low-cost modern contraceptives to Timorese families
• Social constraints to safe fertility regulation for Timorese families
• Health workers' current procedures for recording maternal deaths
• Social, economic and health system implications of early pregnancy loss and frequent maternal deaths
• An examination of the personal and institutional supports for a larger study to assess maternal mortality

Research methods for collating data included:

• Maternal death audit
• Monitoring service provisions
• Reproductive health indicators
• Interviews with doctors, midwives and women recovering from early pregnancy losses

Key findings of the study in relation to induced abortion:

• Abortion continues to be performed in a secret manner, with 40 per cent of all emergency obstetric care given to managing and treating complications from early pregnancy losses.
• Doctors and midwives continue to find it difficult to speak with women about induced abortion.
• The legal situation is complex and confusing for health professionals and the new Penal Code will hopefully consider public health outcomes that could reduce the burden of illness and death for women.
• Access to family planning information, education and supplies is limited and in three of the four health facilities investigated, evidence-based protocols in the provision of post-abortion care were not used.

Research Team:

Belton, S., Whittaker, A., Barclay, L.

The East Timorese women’s NGO, Alola Foundation, collaborated with the researchers to implement this study.

================================================================
To contact the list administrator, or to leave the list, send an email to: wunrn_listserve-request@lists.wunrn.com. Thank you.