Written By: Nirmalya Dutta | Updated : May 8, 2014 9:43 AM IST
As urban India gears up to celebrate Mother's Day on May 11, a holiday we've borrowed from the USA, the truth is that India remains along with Nigeria, the worst place for mothers in the world. While things have improved in the last decade, according to a UN report, India remains one of the worst places for mothers. Along with Nigeria, India accounted for one-third of the global maternal deaths last year.
An estimated 289,000 women died in 2013 from complications in pregnancy and childbirth, down from 523,000 in 1990, according to World Health Organization's Trends in maternal mortality estimates 1990 to 2013. The figure represents a decrease of 45 per cent. The sub-Saharan Africa region alone accounted for 62 per cent (179,000) of global deaths followed by Southern Asia at 24 per cent (69,000), according to the report.
At the country level, the two countries that accounted for one third of all global maternal deaths in 2013 are India at 17 per cent with 50,000 maternal deaths and Nigeria at 14 per cent with 40,000 deaths. India was among the 10 countries that comprised 58 per cent of the global maternal deaths reported in 2013. The other nine nations are Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Tanzania, Kenya, China and Uganda. The report said India has been 'making progress' since its maternal mortality rate fell from 560 in 1990 to 190 in 2013, a 65 per cent drop.
Rates of maternal deaths are down, according to the United Nations figures but pre-existing medical conditions heighten the risk of death for pregnant women and require continued investment in quality care during pregnancy and childbirth. Among its findings, the report shows 11 countries that had high levels of maternal mortality in 1990 have reached the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of a 75 per cent reduction.
These include Bhutan, Cambodia, Cabo Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Maldives, Nepal, Romania, Rwanda, and Timor-Leste. 'A 15-year-old girl living in sub-Saharan Africa faces about 1 in 40 risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth during her lifetime,' said Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).
'A girl of the same age living in Europe has a lifetime risk of 1 in 3,300, underscoring how uneven progress has been around the world,' she said. Meanwhile, more than one in four maternal deaths are caused by pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, HIV, malaria and obesity, whose health impacts can be aggravated by pregnancy, according to a second WHO study.
The report highlights the need to invest in proven solutions such as quality care for all women during pregnancy and childbirth and particular care for pregnant women with existing medical conditions, Assistant Director-General for WHO's Family, Women's and Children's Health Flavia Bustreo said.
Married too soon
In India, the problem is aggravated by the fact that young girls are often married off against their will which means that according to The National Family Health Survey 3, 46% women between the ages of 18 and 49 were married off between the ages of 18. There are around 23 million child brides in the country and India accounts for 40% of underage brides and the entire South Asian region with 30 million child brides, account for 50% of underage brides around the world. The trend is even worse in rural India where up to 71% girls in rural areas were married before they turned 18. The theme of this year's World Population day was also the dangers of adolescent pregnancies, because even though the female body is capable of giving birth, it's not fully prepared for the rigours of it. (Why India is the worst place for women)
These issues are conspicuous by their absence as topic of debate during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Despite many parties pandering to minority issues, none seem to care about the biggest minority of them all women. This despite the fact that one candidate has taken to using the word 'women's empowerment' as a full stop in his sentences.
Here are some of the common issues that riddle adolescent mothers-to-be and their unborn babies:
Hypertension: They have a higher risk of suffering from hypertension during pregnancy than women in their 20s and 30s. They're also likelier to suffer from pre-eclampsia (What is preeclampsia?). In pregnant women (including teens), hypertension can lead to a serious condition called preeclampsia where women start passing protein in their urine. This leads to the disease called eclampsia which is characterised by seizures and a coma. This condition also affects other vital organs like the kidneys, liver and brain.
Anaemia: Caused due to lack of red blood cells which is usually due to nutrition deficiency like iron, vitamin B12, folic acid. The most common form is anaemia. Even women who're older experience iron deficiency during pregnancy. (What are the different causes of anaemia?)
Postpartum haemorrhage: The term refers to a haemorrhage (bleeding) after delivering and is quite common among adolescent mothers. It's caused due to the four Ts:
Premature birth:This has a host of complications including neonatal mortality (death within the first month) developmental disorders, respiratory complications, vision problems and heart-related issues. They're also likelier to have a low-birth weight which is linked to neurological problems. They also suffer from hypoglycaemia (less glucose in the bloodstream).
STDs:The chances of contracting sexually transmitted diseases including HIV is much higher in adolescent girls because they have less say in who their sexual partner is, particularly in an orthodox country like ours. Many of them are married to men who they've never met before and have no clue about their sexual history.
All in all it's a shame that so many years after Independence, we can't even provide the basic necessities to our population.
With inputs from PTI and IANS
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