Maternal Mortality rates in Pakistan; A Human rights Issue

Maternal Mortality in Pakistan

The death of a woman in childbirth is a tragedy, an unnecessary and wasteful event that carries with it a huge burden of grief and pain. Pregnancy is not a disease and pregnancy related morbidity and mortality are preventable. Half a million women die each year due to pregnancy related complications and 95% of them come from developing world. The lifetime risk of a woman dying of pregnancy related causes in developing countries is 1:40 as compared to 1:3600 in developed world.

The status of maternal health is poor in Pakistan. An estimated 30,000 women die each year due to pregnancy related causes. It is estimated that about 500 maternal deaths occur per 100,000 live births each year in Pakistan. Recent estimates (WHO & UNICEF) place the figures around 270/100,000 live births but in reality it may be higher because of under registration of deaths in country and absence of cause of death information.

One of the major reasons for this high maternal mortality rate is malnutrition, which affects 34 percent of pregnant women. Around 48 percent of lactating mothers have a calorie intake of 70 percent less than the recommended level. This is bad for the health of the mother as well the baby. In addition, 45 percent of Pakistani women suffer from iron deficiencies that result in stillbirths, birth defects, and mental retardation and infant deaths.

Hemorrhage, hypertension, unsafe abortion, infections and obstructed labour are other factors contributing to the higher mortality rate among women in rural areas. All of these causes are mostly preventable through proper understanding, diagnosis and management of labour complications. To reduce complications during pregnancy and labour it is essential to strengthen primary health care infrastructure. Provision of antenatal health care in the community by trained health personnel form the backbone of any such efforts.

Dawn reports that on 16th March, this year, 85 governments in a joint statement, delivered to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), reaffirmed commitment to addressing maternal mortality as a human rights issue and that the magnitude of the problem calls for the renewal of political will to address it. However, Pakistan was not one of the signatories to this document, because the government refuses to recognize the death of Pakistani mothers, as a result of medical negligence and lack of awareness, a basic human rights issue.

This alarming attitude of the government has moved the civil society and various national and international NGOs to urge the Pakistan Government to sign the upcoming resolution on maternal mortality in the coming UN Human Rights Council session scheduled for June 2-18, 2009 in Geneva. More initiatives to prevent maternal mortality would be an obligation of countries which are signatories of this resolution. The condition in Pakistan requires some serious efforts.

Image: Dawn


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9 responses to “Maternal Mortality rates in Pakistan; A Human rights Issue”

  1. dr zaib Avatar
    dr zaib

    Dear u did a great job in ur feild.i need th percentage of mmr n pakistan if u can provide I need ths for my paper.thnks

  2. Mirajuddin Avatar
    Mirajuddin

    great job. I am using this as a reference for my research study.

  3. Aamir Hussain Avatar
    Aamir Hussain

    dear writer this is very nice peace of best information for every pakistani

  4. Dr Rabel Avatar
    Dr Rabel

    Piece**

  5. Dr Rabel Avatar
    Dr Rabel

    Dear writer this is really a nice peace of work, my dissertation topic is maternal mortality ans antenatal care could you please reference it so that we may use it further
    many thanks

    Rabel

  6. dr.nadia abid Avatar
    dr.nadia abid

    dear writer, it is also important to consider that in the low socioeconomic areas of comparatively developed cities in Pakistan like karachi and lahore, DAI system is also deteriorating the the conditions and becoming the part of increasing maternal and fetal mortality rate.

  7. fareeha Avatar
    fareeha

    dear writer, it is really gud effort. m student of genderstudies and my thesies is on the effects of maternal haelth on mantel health ov women kindly gv me authaentic sourse aboutb the death number u mention n if u have any data abt pregnant imprisond women plz share wid me.
    regards
    fareeha

  8. sanum Georg Avatar

    kindly write the total number of population of women in Pakistan and total number of doctors in Pakistan. thanx!

  9. Mariam Jamal Avatar
    Mariam Jamal

    Dear writer,

    Could you please verify the source of this data particularly of 30, 000 annual number.?

    Regards,
    Mariam

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