The Department of Making Pregnancy Safer (MPS) at WHO says every birth should be attended by a skilled health worker if the terrible toll of maternal deaths is to be reduced. The paper says many of the deaths could be avoided if all women had the assistance of a skilled health worker before, during and after pregnancy including access to emergency medical care if complications should arise.

"A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy or childbirth. This compares with a 1 in 2 800 risk for a woman from a developed country" said Dr Monir Islam, Director, MPS.

The paper shows that more than 70% of maternal deaths are due to haemorrhage, obstructed labour, eclampsia, sepsis and unsafe abortion. Of the estimated 529 000 maternal deaths, 527 000 are from the developing world. 2.7 million newborns are born dead each year and 3 million will not survive the first week of life. This brings the total to an astonishing 5.7 million.

Read more here ...

http://www.who.int/making_pregnancy_.../en/index.html

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