Burkina Faso commits to removing barriers to maternal health care

February 12, 2010 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

Burkina Faso has committed to removing financial barriers that currently prevent women in the country from receiving quality maternal health care.

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore has made a commitment to removing financial and cultural barriers that cause more than 2,000 women to die from complication of pregnancy and childbirth, according to information from Amnesty International on Friday.

The president made the commitment during a meeting with an Amnesty International delegation. The delegation, led by interim Secretary General Claudio Cordone, met with Compaore and his cabinet for several weeks, following research and discussion with those affected in the small African country.

“The lifting of financial barriers for emergency obstetric care, accompanied by improvements in the quality of care and family planning will significantly reduce the number of deaths and complications for women in child birth,” said Claudio Cordone this afternoon. “Every woman has the right to life and the right to health. No woman should die giving birth when her death could have been prevented.”

Problems like distance to adequate health care, corruption by practitioners, and a lack of a system to fight the corruption plague the country.

“Ultimately, in order to fully address maternal death there is a need to tackle the various forms of discrimination against women which prevent them from taking part in decisions on family planning and accessing health care,” said Cordone.

“Amnesty International will continue to work with civil society organizations, medical associations and government officials to address such discrimination and the poverty that fuels it.”

Amnesty has also encouraged international donors to provide further financial support for placing more emergency obstetric care units within the country.