Need #2: Prevention of Maternal Mortality
Women are extremely likely to die in childbirth when faced with the reality of birth complications, lack of hospitals, untrained midwives, and lack of concern for their health while pregnant. A woman in a developing country is more likely to have large amounts of children which means she is constantly in danger. “The immediate cause of death may be eclampsia, hemorrhage, malaria, abortion complications, obstructed labor or sepsis (Kristoff 109).” The most likely cause is of maternal mortality is hemorrhaging, but abortion complications and obstructed labor follow close behind (Meroff 13).
If a woman does not die in obstructed labor, she will have a fistula after the birth. A fistula develops when a woman is in obstructed labor for a few days or more. In developed countries, this is prevented by a cesarean section, but in areas where no medical attention is available, a hole is created between a woman's vagina and her bladder. This can also occur if an object is forced into the woman, such as a bayonet or stick. The woman is then unable to have children and her feces and blood leak through the hole and down her legs, causing a foul stench. Because of this, the woman is often abandoned by her husband or family (Fistula Foundation).
Girls who are married extremely young are at greater risk because their bodies are not formed well enough to give birth. “Because their bodies (bone structure, pelvis, reproductive organs) are not yet fully developed, girls ages 14 and younger run a very high risk of complications in pregnancy and childbirth compared with older adolescents (IWHC).”
With all of these complications, you would think that women in the developing world would be more wary about getting pregnant. Most women, however, are uneducated about birth control and family planning. Even if they are, their husbands may refuse to use condoms. Many women also do not have a choice about whether they will have sexual intercourse.
Many organizations and programs have formed to prevent maternal mortality as well. Consider the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Somaliland, built by a Somali woman to assist other women in giving birth as well as post-natal care and fistula surgery (Kristoff 123-130). An awareness is being raised by organizations like the Fistula Foundation as well. Though only ten years old, the organization has a mission to provide care for fistulas worldwide (Fistula Foundation). The biggest way that anyone can help with maternal mortality rates is to provide medical care. In close second is the importance of educating women on protecting themselves by marrying later in life and having fewer babies, if possible. The White Ribbon Alliance, an international coalition (whiteribbonalliance.org), works primarily on that side of preventing maternal mortality.
What Do You Think?
Works Cited:
Fistula Foundation, www.fistulafoundation.org
International Women's Health Coalition, www.iwhc.org
Kristof, Nicholas and Sheryl Wudunn. Half the Sky. New York: Knopf, 2009.
Meroff, Deborah. True Grit: Women Taking on the World, for Christ's Sake. City: Authentic Media, 2004.
White Ribbon Alliance, whiteribbonalliance.org
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