Millions of women give birth without healthcare – Save the Children

Each year 40 million women give birth without trained help, according to new research published by Save the Children.

In Ethiopia only 10% of births have skilled help whereas in some areas of rural Afghanistan there is just one midwife for 10,000 people. Globally, an estimated two million women also give birth entirely alone.

Save the Children in North West Balkan Director Andrea Žeravčić says: “The first day of a child’s life is the most dangerous and too many mothers give birth alone on the floor of their home or in the bush without any life-saving help. In the past years in Bosnia and Herzegovina we heard horrific stories of pregnant women being denied medical assistance for not having medical insurance. This seriously jeopardised their health and the health and lives of their babies.”

“It’s criminal that many of these deaths could be averted simply if there was someone on hand to make sure the birth took place safely and who knew what to do in a crisis. We call on authorities at all levels in Bosnia and Herzegovina to do everything in their power to ensure that all mothers, pregnant women, newborn babies and children have free, skillful and easily accessible medical care, in order to fully eradicate tragic cases that can easily be prevented. “

In countries such as DRC or the Central African Republic some mothers have to pay for emergency maternal care, often costing as much as their monthly food bill. There have even been reports of mothers being kept under jail-like conditions for months until they have been able to pay for their emergency caesarean.

The first 24 hours of a child’s life are the most dangerous with more than one million babies dying each year on their first and only day of life.

The new report – Ending Newborn Deaths – shows one half of first day deaths around the world could be prevented if the mother and baby had access to free health care and a skilled midwife.

The Children’s aid agency says the deaths happen because of premature birth and complications during birth – such as prolonged labour, pre-eclampsia and infection – which can be avoided if quality health experts are present.

The research also found an additional 1.2 million babies are stillborn each year, their heartbeats stopping during labour because of childbirth complications, maternal infections and hypertension.

In a bid to save millions of newborn lives, Save the Children has called on world leaders to commit in 2014 to a blueprint for change– The Five Point Newborn Promise –which focuses on training and equipping enough skilled health workers to make sure no baby is born without proper help, and removing fees for all pregnancy and birth services.

The world has made amazing progress in reducing child mortality during the past decade – nearly halved from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million today – thanks to global political action on immunisation, treatment of pneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria, family planning and nutrition.

But this progress could stall without urgent action to tackle scandalously high numbers of newborns dying. This report warns that newborn deaths now account for nearly half of all under-five deaths

Žeravčić added:  “These new statistics reveal – for the first time ever – the true scale of the newborn crisis.  The solutions are well-known but need greater political will to give babies a fighting chance of reaching their second day of life.  Without targeted action now, progress made in cutting child mortality through vaccines and tackling malnutrition will stall.”

Save the Children is calling on world leaders, philanthropists and the private sector to meet and commit to the Five Point Newborn Promise in 2014: 

• Issue a defining and accountable declaration to end all preventable newborn mortality, saving 2 million newborn lives a year and stopping the 1.2 million stillbirths during labour
• Ensure that by 2025 every birth is attended by trained and equipped health workers who can deliver essential newborn health interventions
• Increase expenditure on health to at least the WHO minimum of US$60 per person to pay for the training, equipping and support of health worker
• Remove user fees for all maternal, newborn and child health services, including emergency obstetric care
• The private sector, including pharmaceutical companies, should help address unmet needs by developing innovative solutions and increasing availability for the poorest to new and existing products for maternal, newborn and child health.

You can view full report Ending Newborn Deaths here.