Poor maternity care poses threat to women

Concerns are growing about the poor level of maternity care for Nepalese women. "Despite decades of efforts to improve the reproductive health situation, thousands of Nepalese women still die while giving birth," said Mahendra Bista, director general of the government's Department of Health (DOH) in the capital, Kathmandu, on Thursday. The Ministry of Health said just 13 percent of deliveries were attended by skilled birth attendants in rural areas and there was a severe lack of emergency obstetric care. Around 6,000 women in the impoverished Himalayan kingdom die every year due to pregnancy-related complications, according to the United Nations Fund for Population Agency (UNFPA). Nepal has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates (MMR) of 740 per 100,000 births. "Reproductive health is not just the Nepalese women's concern but is a major development issue," said Safieh Anderson, UNFPA’s deputy representative. The UN agency has organised several reproductive health camps and provided help to women in rural areas during Nepal's armed conflict. The lack of basic health care in rural areas, where 80 percent of the population lives, has been exacerbated by the decade-long conflict between Maoist rebels and the Nepalese state. As a consequence, maternal illnesses - which are estimated to grow by 100,000 new cases every year - remain unattended, UNFPA experts said. Since April, the Maoists have been involved in a peace process with the interim government formed by the country's seven national parties after protests ended King Gyanendra’s direct rule. Nepalese health professionals have urged the government to start prioritising maternity care by expanding safe motherhood programmes around the country before the peace process is completed. Supported by the European Commission (EC), UNFPA recently launched a one-year project to organise mobile reproductive health camps in six hill and mountain districts in west Nepal. It aims to provide diagnosis, counselling, treatment and vital surgery for prolapsed uterus correction cases. However, reproductive health activists claim that the government and the national media have ignored the issue. "You find that a large number of Nepalese women in the rural areas are not even aware of the basic knowledge on safe motherhood practices," said Urmila Aryal, the minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare. Women from the poorest households suffered the most due to their low income, as they could not afford to travel to urban areas to get emergency treatment, she said. "There is a crucial need to strengthen our health services. No matter how effective [the] programmes we introduce [are], they will not last until we have a good health service and enough skilled health providers in place," Aryal said.