| Lack of skilled birth care staff coasting lives | Send to a friend |
| Saturday, 05 June 2010 09:24 |
|
A lack of skilled attendants during childbirth accounts for 2 million preventable maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths each year, according to the newly released Countdown to 2015 Decade Report. The report shows that nearly 50 per cent of women in the 68 countries carefully tracked in the Countdown report, most of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, still give birth without the aid of a trained midwife, nurse, doctor, or other skilled birth attendant. According to the report, only 10 of the 68 Countdown countries have increased the rate of skilled care at childbirth by at least 10 percent since 1990. Eleven countries made no progress, according Countdown to 2015, a global movement of academics, governments, UN agencies, foundations, health care associations and non-governmental organisations formed in 2005 to track progress made in reducing maternal and child deaths in the 68 countries where over 95 per cent of these deaths occur. “All women and their newborns need skilled care at birth and access to emergency care when complications develop,” said Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta of the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan and co-chair of Countdown to 2015. She pointed out that skilled childbirth care was one crucial element of a continuum of care for women, newborns and children that can drastically reduce the toll of death and illness in the Countdown countries. The global shortage of midwives is especially severe, with an estimated 700,000 new midwives and other trained providers needed in order to provide skilled childbirth care to all women who need it. In Africa alone, an additional 1.5 million health workers are needed, nearly doubling the current workforce of 1.6 million, according to the Global Health Workforce Alliance. But the report also paints a promising picture, noting that some countries were doing well at providing skilled birth attendants. A skilled provider attends more than 75 per cent of births in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Egypt and Indonesia. Almost 100 per cent of births are attended in Turkmenistan and China. Starting with very low skilled attendance coverage, many of the 68 Countdown countries have made major progress in providing women with a skilled attendant at birth, with Angola, Bhutan, Laos, Nepal, Peru, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, and Rwanda showing the most impressive gains. At the other extreme, 10 countries made no progress from 2000 to 2008 and several, notably Bolivia, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Somalia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, showed decreases in the use of skilled birth attendance. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
