maternity

The White Ribbon Alliance

Published July 18, 2011 | By Rosie

The White Ribbon Alliance

You might think that Maternal Mortality is not a major issue in the 21st century.
Surely this would have been a problem in the 19th or early 20th Century but not in the modern world ?

Well I’m afraid you’d be mistaken.

Statistics show that women in countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone and Afghanistan are dying in childbirth at a rate of almost one per minute.

Image Courtesy of WRA

In Malawai, from 2006 to 2009 for every 100,000 live births, 1440 mothers die.

Even in developed countries such as the USA. Between 2003 and 2007 the average maternal mortality rate is 13 deaths per 100,000 live births.

One woman every 15 minutes has complications so severe that she nearly dies.

358,000 women in the world and 3.6 million newborns die each year due to largely preventable complications in pregnancy, childbirth and early postpartum.
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Posted in Global Issues, Women & Children | Tagged maternal mortality, maternity | Leave a comment

Women & Children

Published June 5, 2011 | By Rosie

This is where we will be discussing issues dealing with women and children.

The first topic to be discussed is the shortage of Midwives we have in the UK and around the world.First we have a report from the UK :

Staff shortage shuts Bishop Auckland maternity unit

The maternity unit deals with 350 births a year

A hospital maternity unit in County Durham is to temporarily shut because of a shortage of midwives.

The unit at Bishop Auckland General Hospital will close for two months from July while more staff are taken on.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust said the shortage meant it could not guarantee the safety of patients.

The unit, which caters for about 350 women a year, will shut from 2 July until 5 September.

Director of Nursing Laura Robson said: “The unit operates with a small group of staff. Some have left and although we are recruiting replacements, these will not be in post until the beginning of September. Continue reading →