safe motherhood

Every minute of every day a woman dies from complications in pregnancy and childbirth.  When a mother dies the impact of this loss is felt by her surviving children, family and community.  We know that infants whose mothers die are 10 times more likely to die before their second birthday. In addition for every woman that dies there are 20 or more who will suffer serious long-term, sometimes life-long, illness or injury. Of the 350,000 women that die of maternal causes every year, over 30% live in the Asia Pacific region and most die from medical complications such as severe bleeding, infections, eclampsia, obstructed labour and unsafe abortions – all of which are preventable causes.

The solutions to tackle this huge problem are simple preventative measures such as ensuring that all women have access to contraception, have skilled birth attendants present when giving birth and can access emergency care if they experience complications.  Marie Stopes believes that at the core of safe motherhood services, family planning and long-term contraceptives must be placed at the same level of importance as safe birthing services.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said, ‘The rate of death for women as they give birth remains the starkest indicator of the disparity between rich and poor. We already know what needs to be done to meet the basic health needs of women…skilled attendants at the time of birth, facilities to provide emergency obstetric care and family planning.’

Her Story

One Timorese mother we helped, Emakulada, who already has five children says, ‘Marie Stopes provides lots of benefits to all of us because we women can use contraception to help us space our children and help us do our work.   I have learnt a lot from the Marie Stopes team – they have given us great information.’