The birth of a baby, which should be a pleasurable occasion; too often brings heartbreak and agony for African families. Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death and injury for women in Africa. Yet women are key to the health and wealth of their communities. Without them, the family cannot hope to thrive.
Before I proceed, let me shed more light on the continent called Africa. Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most populous continent. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth’s total surface area and 20% of its land area. With 1.3 billion people as of 2018, it accounts for about 16% of the world’s human population.
The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the southeast and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos. It contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states (countries), nine territories and two de facto independent states with limited or no recognition.
The majority of the continent and its countries are in the Northern Hemisphere, with a good portion of countries in the Southern Hemisphere. Africa’s average population is the youngest amongst all the continents; the median age in 2012 was 19.7 when the worldwide median age was 30.4.
Algeria is Africa’s largest country by area, and Nigeria is its largest by population. (Source: Wikipedia)
An average of 250 babies are born every minute around the world. And yet, for hundreds of thousands of women, pregnancy continues to present itself as a death threat.
In Africa, a staggering one in twenty-two women dies in pregnancy or childbirth. In the UK, it is just one in 8,000. Conditions such as high blood pressure, breech births and hemorrhaging are easily treated in the UK; while African women are likely to die from them because they lack access to good quality health care or a trained midwife. Only 37% of births in the least developed countries are attended by a skilled health worker.
Many women, particularly in remote areas of Africa, have little choice but to give birth to their babies at home. With their mother or grandmother at their side, they are lucky if the birth goes smoothly and there are no complications. But if things go wrong, the nearest help can be hours away. With very few forms of transportation, this means their only option is to walk, often in the middle of labor, to get help.
Reference is commonly made to the ‘three delays’ which raise mortality rates:
Delay in seeking care: women may have to get permission from the male head of the household, may not recognize the emergency, or may fear attending a health care facility.
Delay in arriving at a health care facility: transportation may be unavailable, unaffordable or simply take too long.
Delay in receiving care once at the health care facility: health centers may lack staff, equipment or supplies; richer or male patients may be seen first, or care may be unaffordable.
These are explanations, but they are not excuses. It is still outrageous that one woman is dying every minute in pregnancy or childbirth. (Source: The Guardian UK)
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has had one of the highest rates of maternal and child mortality in the world for years. In 2014, 846 mothers died per every 100,000 births.
Often, it’s simply a matter of transportation or lack of infrastructure and bad roads. In a story Susanne Mortazavi wrote for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), she tells a sad story of a young Congolese woman.
“The woman had given birth to her baby in one of the health centers run by the Ministry of Health, but after delivery, the placenta was not expelled and the woman bled heavily. The family was told they needed to get to the hospital in Shamwana as quickly as possible,” Mortazavi wrote. “They hired a motorcycle taxi … But then the motorbike broke down, and during the hour it took the driver to repair it, the woman’s condition deteriorated.”
This new mother died just hours later. Cases like this highlight the significance of geography when it comes to health care.
“A lot of resources are invested in training traditional birth attendants to recognize the symptoms and prevent infections. But unfortunately, the lack of infrastructure in Katanga and the lack of accessible means of transportation means that people cannot access medical care in time,” Mortazavi said. (Source: Global Citizen Website)
According to the World Health Organization, six solutions to the most preventable causes of deaths during birth include:
- Immediate and exclusive breastfeeding
- Skilled attendants for antenatal, birth, and postnatal care
- Access to nutrition and micronutrients
- Family knowledge of danger signs in a child’s health
- Improved access to water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Immunizations
