Manila Times

18 June 2009 -- THE number of mothers dying provides a glimpse of the wide disparity between the rich and the poor as there are almost 5,000 percent more women dying in developing countries than in more advanced economies, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said.

"No indicator distinguishes a developing country from a developed counterpart as maternal mortality ratio (MMR). The figures are a glaring proof of the huge divide or disparities between the health status of the rich and the poor," said UNFPA Representative Suneeta Mukherjee.

The 2008 State of World Population Report showed that for every 100,000 live births 450 women die from pregnancy and childbirth complications in developing regions compared with only nine deaths in developed regions.

The lifetime risk of dying from pregnancy and childbirth causes is also very remote in developed regions, with only one out of 7,300 women at risk as against one in 75 women in developing regions.

In the Philippines, around 4600 women die every year or an average of 11 everyday by UN estimates due to pregnancy and childbirth complications. The Autonomous Regions in Muslim Mindanao ARMM and other regions need more midwives if the ideal ratio of one midwife to the number of deliveries per year is to be achieved to ensure that no woman dies giving life and that lives of newboms could be saved. Local governments and the ARMM have to employ more midwives and link them to emergency obstetric care facilities, Mukherjee said.

"UNFPA, along with our partners in the joint program on safe motherhood, United Nations Children�fs Fund and World Health Organization, is willing to support the training of midwives who are underemployed to utilize their skills where they are needed. This will go a long way in saving mothers' lives."