Too many obstacles still stand between women and safe childbirth in Burkina Faso, with discrimination against women at the heart of the problem, Amnesty International says.
Females' low social status fuels maternal deaths, with early marriage and women's lack of control over family planning major contributors, Amnesty says in a report released on 27 January.
"Some women are prevented from using family planning by their husbands and some are deterred by lack of information," Amnesty says.
Other principal causes of maternal deaths – many linked to women's social status – are the cost of medical treatment, lack of access to health services especially in rural areas and a lack of qualified personnel and facilities, Amnesty says.
Maternal mortality in Burkina was 307 women per 100,000 live births in 2008 – down from 1,000 in 2000 (World Health Organization).
The government has set up strategies for safer childbirth, but implementation has been poor, Gaëten Mootoo, a Paris-based Amnesty researcher told reporters in the Burkina capital Ouagadougou.
“We have seen a gap between talk, policy and practices,” he said. “We are calling for a lifting of financial obstacles, an improvement in the quality of health care and punishment for [health workers] who demand payment for services that are supposed to be free.”
In 2006 the government adopted a policy to subsidize 80 percent of the cost of childbirth and provide it free to the most impoverished women. “However this policy is not well publicized, leaving it open to exploitation by corrupt medical staff,” Mootoo said.
Amnesty released its report to launch a 10-day caravan to educate about maternal health throughout Burkina Faso. Amnesty led a similar campaign in Sierra Leone last year.
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Females' low social status fuels maternal deaths, with early marriage and women's lack of control over family planning major contributors, Amnesty says in a report released on 27 January.
"Some women are prevented from using family planning by their husbands and some are deterred by lack of information," Amnesty says.
Other principal causes of maternal deaths – many linked to women's social status – are the cost of medical treatment, lack of access to health services especially in rural areas and a lack of qualified personnel and facilities, Amnesty says.
Maternal mortality in Burkina was 307 women per 100,000 live births in 2008 – down from 1,000 in 2000 (World Health Organization).
The government has set up strategies for safer childbirth, but implementation has been poor, Gaëten Mootoo, a Paris-based Amnesty researcher told reporters in the Burkina capital Ouagadougou.
“We have seen a gap between talk, policy and practices,” he said. “We are calling for a lifting of financial obstacles, an improvement in the quality of health care and punishment for [health workers] who demand payment for services that are supposed to be free.”
In 2006 the government adopted a policy to subsidize 80 percent of the cost of childbirth and provide it free to the most impoverished women. “However this policy is not well publicized, leaving it open to exploitation by corrupt medical staff,” Mootoo said.
Amnesty released its report to launch a 10-day caravan to educate about maternal health throughout Burkina Faso. Amnesty led a similar campaign in Sierra Leone last year.
bo/np/aj
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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