After independence, South Sudan battles maternal mortality
By Elisha Yoon
Traditional birth attendant holds a newborn in Kajo Keji, South Sudan. (Photo credit: Roza Freriks/UNFPA)
12 August 2011 [MediaGlobal]: For South Sudanese, surges of hope are being met with sobering realities in the wake of independence. The maternal mortality rate in the newest African nation is estimated at more than 2,000 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 births, the highest in the world.
“In South Sudan, a woman has a bigger chance of dying during childbirth than to go to high school,” Jane Coyne, Program Manager from Medicins Sans Frontieres, toldMediaGlobal. “When you look at the rates, we’re not talking about rates of maternal mortality that are sustainable for a population.”
For famed Sudanese fashion model and member of the U.S. Committee for Refugees’ Advisory Council Alek Wek, the dismal prospects for women during childbirth are echoed in her own experiences growing up in the southern city of Wau.
Wek’s aunt was one of the hundreds of thousands of women in southern Sudan without proper emergency obstetrics care who died during delivery. “There was no hospital. There was nothing. Either the mother died, or [the baby] died,” Wek told MediaGlobal. “It’s very sad when you are there to see it, but you can’t do anything.”
Emerging from decades of civil war, South Sudan lacks vital infrastructure and health services, including comprehensive maternal care, according to Martin Wani Kenyi, the Health Project Manager in South Sudan for CARE, one of the world’s largest private international humanitarian organizations.
Poorly equipped and under-staffed, most health clinics in South Sudan are unable to handle even the most common and easily preventable pregnancy complications, including hemorrhaging, obstructed labor, infection, and malnutrition.
Kenyi recalled one woman’s death at a clinic recently.
“A mother came in with severe anemia and she was bleeding after delivery,” said Kenyi. “Death would have been avoided if this woman had proper antenatal care, received iron supplements, and been advised to come early to the hospital.”
In the vast rural areas of South Sudan, where more than 90 percent of births occur, the lack of basic infrastructure and human resources poses a special threat to women’s lives, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). During the rainy season, for example, heavy floods can block roads, rendering access to proper medical care impossible.
Moreover, the poor quality of midwifery care is another problem in rural areas. “Most people are not educated, and there are no trained personnel. Simple deliveries are managed by people who cannot read or write,” said Kenyi.
A recent UNFPA report cited the absolute lack of qualified health professionals, especially midwives, as an area of grave concern in developing countries. It also reported that Sudan would need to increase its current number of midwives by a factor of between six and 15 to save mother’s lives.
Coyne said that Medecins Sans Frontiere counts only 23 training centers for health professionals operating in South Sudan, none of which are for doctors. There are no medical schools for a country of more than 8 million people.
In order to build functioning facilities, train health professionals, and provide quality services, South Sudan needs financial resources that do not come easily for one of the world’s poorest countries where, despite its rich oil reserves, most of the population lives on less than one dollar per day.
The country’s Ministry of Health receives more than two-thirds of its funding from the international community, but even with extensive external backing, South Sudan is not expected to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, namely reducing child death and maternal mortality, by 2015.
Nevertheless, many see cause for hope in South Sudan’s newfound independence.
“There is enormous will, positive energy, and excitement, and I believe that the country is on the right track to start handling one issue after the next,” Claudia Futterknecht, CARE Country Director for South Sudan, told MediaGlobal.
While realizing that high maternal mortality rate will not be reduced overnight, Futterknecht stressed that a holistic approach focusing on nutrition, food security, economic development, and education will gradually empower South Sudanese women.
“There is an urgent need to make lives of women and their families safer, and to strengthen the role of women and mothers in the South Sudanese society,” said Futterknecht.
http://mediaglobal.org/article/2011-08-11/after_independence_south_sudan_battles_maternal_mortality
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