Maternal death risk in Africa 1:14

Despite various global initiatives to bring down the maternal mortality levels in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 250,000 women in this part of the world die each year as a result of pregnancy or child labour.

This was one of the topics discussed during the 19th World Congress of Gynaecology and Obstetrics that was organized the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). The event took place in Cape Town, South Africa, from October 4-9, 2009 and drew over 2000 of obstetricians, gyneacologists and health experts from around the world. It is estimated that half of the 529.000 women world wide that do not survive their pregnancies are from the African continent. "The average maternal death risk in Africa is one in fourteen, with Sierra Leone being the worst country. Here, mothers have a one in eight chance of dying," said FIGO president Dorothy Shaw. Referring to FIGO's 2009 world report on women's health, which was launched at the conference, Shaw said that the situation in Africa has not improved much since 1990, the year the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs) where drawn up. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals that respond to the world's main development challenges. The MDGs were signed by various heads of state and governments and include a 50 percent reduction in poverty and hunger, universal primary education, cutting back child mortality by two-thirds and reducing maternal mortality by three-quarters (MDG 5). The deadline is 2015. According to the FIGO report, the number of maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa has declined a mere 0.1 percent per year between 1990 and 2005. The global annual decline was 1 perc ent per year over this period of time. This is far below the 5.5 percent annual decline necessary to achieve MDG5. "A lot of progress has been made, but it is a sobering and shocking fact that global maternal mortality figures have not changed over the past two decades," said Professor Gamal Serour, president elect of FIGO. Africa’s high maternal mortality rates have many causes, varying from poor access to medical facilities and a shortage of skilled health care workers. “If we want women to live, we need to make sure they have access to the necessary medical services. The right to health care should apply to all women, not only to a few. These inequalities are a massive human rights violation,” Muna Abdullah of the United Nations Population Fund said.