Shocking Maternal death rate for women in Pakistan

October 25, 2009 by Baby Chums
Filed under: Baby Health, News, Pregnancy

Presently in Pakistan there are more than 500 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births, in Balochistan it’s 673.

30,000 women a year lose their lives during childbirth and elderly family members are often left to take care of motherless babies.

Women’s status in Pakistan is low, many are forced to marry as young as 12 or 13 and contraception is demonised by myth within the culture. Many men believe, for instance, they will become impotent if they use a condom.

Sons are desired, so families of 10 to 15 children are common and women have little say in the matter.

The vast majority of women in Pakistan - more than 80% - give birth at home. The only help many of them can afford is from one of the untrained traditional birth attendants who are called, “Dais.”

Dais have no medical training and no equipment. Learning the skills usually from their own mothers.

A BBC reporter asked a Dai why so many women died in childbirth: “There are two main reasons,

“One is transport. If there are problems and women have to go to a clinic, they go by donkey cart and the roads are bumpy. And the second reason is that some doctors tell women they have had a girl. The shock can kill them.”

Dais are reported to put fresh herbs inside the uterus after a birth. Others, are reported to insert cow dung.

45 percent of Pakistani women suffer from iron deficiency that results in stillbirths, birth defects, mental retardation and infant deaths. Haemorrhage, hypertension, unsafe abortions, infections and prolonged labour are other factors contributing to the higher mortality rate among women in rural areas on top of a dearth of doctors and midwives.

The National Health Policy aims to reduce the maternal mortality rate to 250 per 100,000 live births by 2010.