| | Afghanistan: A Moment of Silence Infoshop News
01/18/2005
By
[Printer Friendly Version]
A new study by UNICEF has confirmed scientifically what was already known anecdotally: Afghan women are dying in record numbers while giving birth. The conclusions of the new survey were so grim that Feroozuddin Ferooz, Afghanistan’s deputy minister of public health, began a presentation of the report’s findings at the Ministry of Public Health by calling for a moment of silence. The study found an average of 1,600 women die in Afghanistan for every 100,000 live births -- a figure that suggests Afghanistan may be the worst place in the world for a woman to become pregnant. Afghanistan’s maternal-mortality rate is twice as bad as the African country of Niger, 12 times worse than neighboring Iran, and 130 times higher than the United States. In the most remote areas of Afghanistan it is much worse - the maternal mortality rate is 6,000 per 100,000, meaning that 6 per cent of women die during labor in these areas. Dr. Suraya Dalil, project officer for UNICEF’s Safe Motherhood program in Kabul says, "The maternal mortality ratio increased with the increasing remoteness of the study population. This ratio in Kabul is 400 [deaths per 100,000 live births]. In Laghman, it is 800. In Kandahar, it is 2,200. And in Badakshan, it is alarming. It’s 6,500 [deaths per 100,000 live births], the highest maternal-mortality ratio ever documented in the world," Dalil said. Chronic shortages of trained doctors, midwives and hospitals also mean most women who develop complications during labor are likely to die. Even if mother and baby survive, their prospects are dismal. One in four children dies before their fifth birthday; in most Western countries, the rate is fewer than 30 per 1,000 live births. Most women in Afghanistan deliver at home, often without a midwife. The study found that most deaths resulted from hemorrhaging or obstructed labor, and that almost 90 percent were preventable if the women had access to proper prenatal education, simple screening procedures for treatable complications, the opportunity for operative deliveries, or skilled birth attendants. Tajwar Kakar, the deputy minister of women’s affairs, also highlighted the role in maternal mortality of something as simple as proper nutrition. Many Afghan women survive on diets that consist mostly of bread and tea. "One of the important things that leads to maternal mortality is vitamin deficiency. Our mothers were deprived of having nutritious food and good health due to the past fighting, and so their body vitamin resources decreased. And these factors led them not to give birth to healthy children," Kakar said. The 26 million people of Afghanistan have just 900 clinics for reproductive health and childbirth. Charities and aid agencies have been frustrated that the UN’s Millennium Development Goals did not directly address the issue of reproductive health. The Millennium Development Goals, according to the UN, “commit the international community to an expanded vision of development, one that vigorously promotes human development as the key to sustaining social and economic progress in all countries, and recognizes the importance of creating a global partnership for development.” Meanwhile, the US refuses to fund organizations which provide information about abortion. Lucy Palmer, support manager for the sexual health charity Marie Stopes International in south Asia, said: "Because of the work we do on abortion, we have to rely on European partners. The Americans had committed a lot of money to a basic healthcare package in Afghanistan which would have given women better access to services, but just before the elections the cash was diverted to building roads. Contraception is not illegal in Afghanistan but women only have access to these services if there is a clinic two or three kilometers away, and for most that is not the case." The problem of maternal mortality in Afghanistan is complicated by the country’s conservative Islamic traditions and an acute shortage of doctors, especially female doctors. In many parts of the country, especially in the south, social customs dictate that women cannot leave their homes without being accompanied by male family members and pregnant women cannot be treated by male doctors. Many women are also forced to use midwives with little, if any, training. "At least as important are the social barriers, which becomes really a human rights issue within the context of the family and the community themselves, where women, particularly in recent years, have been systematically denied by their own families and communities access to health services. It’s really considered inappropriate in many areas and in many families for a woman to seek outside care, particularly if there isn’t a female service provider available," Peter Huff-Rousselle, chief of operations for the United Nations Population Fund in Afghanistan, said. UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy calls maternal mortality "arguably the most neglected health problem in the world," since the ramifications of a mother’s death affect children, fathers, families, and entire communities. The new study found that when the mother of a newborn infant dies, the child itself has only a 25 percent chance of surviving until its first birthday. At the British Labor Party conference in 2001, Tony Blair announced his famous crusade to “re-order the world” with the pledge: “To the Afghan people, we make this commitment, we will not walk away... we will work with you to make sure [a way is found] out of the poverty that is your miserable existence.” Yet, just 3% of all international aid spent in Afghanistan has been for reconstruction, 84% is for the US-led military “coalition” and the rest is crumbs for emergency aid. What is often presented as reconstruction revenue is private investment, such as the US$35 million that will finance a proposed five-star hotel, mostly for foreigners. An adviser to the minister of rural affairs in Kabul told me the government had received less than 20% of the aid promised to Afghanistan. “We don't even have enough money to pay wages, let alone plan reconstruction”, he said. But hey, how about those elections. Sources: The Independent (UK), EurasiaNet, Green Left Weekly, Afghanistan Relief Organization, UNICEF, Development Goals.org
Other Stories:
|
|