The niggling issue of maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

For those of you who are interested in special dates and such like, two days ago it was African Day. Should that be a course for celebration or contemplation or just plain apathy? I’ll leave that for you to decide.
What I do know is that for a lot of pregnant women in the region, a time that they should look forward to with excitement and joy is fraught with anxiety, stress and even fear. When you know that depending on where you live and your socio-economic status; that there is a high probability that you might not carry to term or you might die whilst giving birth or shortly afterwards; you are robbed of the joy of that special time.

Figures released by the UN a few days ago state that more than 56% of the world’s maternal deaths in 2010 occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa. The maternal mortality rate in the region is 1 in 39 compared to 1 in 3800 in the developed world and 1 in 290 in Asia. That puts into perspective how much work Africa needs to do to protect and look after its pregnant women. So many of the reasons for this morbid statistic are well-documented: inadequate antenatal and obstetric facilities, harmful traditional practices, poverty with all its attendant problems; the list is seemingly endless.

Beyond every statistic though there is a real woman – someone’s partner, daughter, sister, relative or mother. The extended family have to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives when one of their own dies. I personally know the value of proper antenatal care having been a recipient of it myself. 8 years ago, without the excellent care that I received, I could easily have died from pregnancy complications that I only became aware of after the event.
There has to be a shift in attitudes of people in power about the value they place on human life. The political elite in Sub-Saharan Africa are often so out of touch with the reality faced by the masses but worse still there is a cruel indifference to the tragedies they face. Until they place the proper value on human life realising that these women are more than statistics and they deserve better because they are NOT inferior human beings just because of their gender or socio-economic status; there won’t be sufficient progress made.
African women are resilient, hard-working, a-force-for-good, the glue that hold their communities and valuable; it’s time the political leaders recognise that and tailor programmes to keep them healthy and alive. The region will be a bleaker place if maternal mortality is allowed to continue on this scale.

Until the next time……………..