Study: 2 million babies and mothers die at birth

[question everything]

Source: AP

More than 2 million babies and mothers die worldwide each year from childbirth complications, outnumbering child deaths from malaria and HIV/AIDS, according to a study.

The study, released Tuesday at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics world congress being held in Cape Town, also showed that such deaths could be easily avoided.


Some 1.02 million babies are stillborn and another 904,000 die soon after birth. By comparison, 820,000 children die from malaria and 208,000 die from HIV/AIDS worldwide. About 42 percent of the world's 536,000 maternal deaths also occur during childbirth, according to the study. Deaths in Africa and South Asia account for three-quarters of the maternal and infant deaths.

The research was led by Save the Children, the Gates Foundation and Johns Hopkins University with investigators from a dozen countries. It was published in the October edition of the federation's journal.




Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j0CmPa9HNAEfl8qp_o0WniD3WLeQD9B5UEOO1

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But, hey we are only "pro-life" if we force a woman to carry pregnancy to term.

[GliderGuider]

1. Considering that there were 154 million births last year

Those numbers represent an infant death rate of 1.3% and a maternal death rate is a mere 0.3%.

These seem like pretty good numbers to me. Am I missing something?

[question everything]

2. Yes, most of them could have been avoided with a better health care

but we don't provide them. And we do not provide funds for groups that help in family planning, including abortions.

"The report said that many of the deaths could be avoided with improvements in basic health care, and training for local health care workers to perform emergency cesarean sections and other lifesaving techniques."

Also

Lawn (who runs Save the Children's Saving Newborn Lives campaign) told The Associated Press that researchers were taken aback by the shocking figures and the lack of attention given to these mothers and their babies. "It is seen as women's business. Stillbirths don't count. Sometimes the deaths of women don't even count," she said.

[WriteDown]

3. Be careful....

You will offend the population control posters who think this is necessary.

[GliderGuider]

5. So could some of the other 55 million deaths per year

some of which are also doubtlessly due to poor or unavailable health care.

My point is that a certain number of deaths are inevitable in any population. Yes, we could do more to prevent infant mortality, even in the United States which has a very poor track record in this regard compared to other industrialized countries. The fact that there are infant and maternal deaths is not surprising, though. The world as a whole has done a lot to lower childbirth death rates in the last 50 years.

[InfiniteThoughts]

4. i am ashamed ... very ashamed ...

south asia - India in general has to do a lot when it comes to healthcare. while there is some progress, it is heart breaking to see 500,000 babies and 100,000 mothers die during child birth.

my family friend, a doctor - she stunned me last sunday when she said 40% of these deaths happen in the metros - not too far from hi-tech hospitals usually for want of basic healthcare items like sterilized blades for cutting umblical chord, experience nurse/doctor/mid-wife present during labor.

And even more shameful - a fifth of these deaths are intentional when poor folks kill girl children because they cannot afford to bring her up & pay dowry (money given to bridegroom) for their child's marriage ...

as a nation, we should be ashamed ...

[valerief]

6. I wonder how the fundies would increase those numbers with abortion counts. nt

[winyanstaz]

7. Step up here ladies and help kick this thread! This needs to be out there.

The time for the world wide war on women and kids has to end sometime. I say let's end it now.
If the women that had died had been allowed control over their own bodies...well lets say a lot of moms, sisters, and daughtors would still be alive today.

[question everything]

8. Kick for the dinner crowd (nt)