An international group of midwives is calling for a dramatic increase in midwifery services especially in remote poor areas, so the lives of many more women and their babies can be saved. The World Health Organization says more than two million women and infants die during pregnancy or childbirth every year, and a large number of those deaths occur in developing countries. The goal is to hire and train at least 300,000 more midwives by the year 2015.
The numbers sound staggering: Two million preventable maternal deaths, stillbirths and newborn deaths every year.
And a new report called “Countdown to 2015” says the cure is more midwives. Almost half of the women living in 68 countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia give birth without a midwife, doctor or a skilled birth attendant.
A multitude of experts from the World Health Organization, Aga Khan University and other groups compiled the report.
via voanews.com.
Ismailimail 