Logo
Contact Newsagent Login
Scoop Search
Articles & Opinions Cook Is Fiji FSM Hawaii Kiribati Marshall Is Nauru New Caledonia Niue NZ
Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Is Tahiti Timor Leste Tokelau Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu West Papua

Women should not die giving life

16:50 May 11, 2014Pacific Press ReleasesComments Off on Women should not die giving life

Press Release – UNFPA

UNFPA Pacific, May 11, 2014 – Whatever you’ve decided will fill your current 24 hours, 800 women will die within that same hour from pregnancy or childbirth complications; thats 33 women dying every hour from conditions that could be prevented.Women should not die giving life

UNFPA Pacific, May 11, 2014 – Whatever you’ve decided will fill your current 24 hours, 800 women will die within that same hour from pregnancy or childbirth complications; that’s 33 women dying every hour from conditions that could be prevented.

The absence of a global outcry at this aspect of maternal health or reproductive health is deafening – perhaps it is indeed one of the hazards of pregnancy but what should irk you as a fellow human being is the fact that 289,000 maternal deaths occurred in 2013, in this age of advanced technology, when it is almost the norm to conduct surgeries via the internet.

The status of maternal mortality in the 15 Pacific island countries including Papua New Guinea (PNG) is a mixed bag – most Polynesian countries will achieve MDG5a (eliminate maternal mortality) while most Melanesian countries won’t, though compared to 1990, reported skilled birth attendant rates have increased in all countries except Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), PNG and Vanuatu.

The Pacific regional review in 2013 of how countries had performed in the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA) reports that while countries have contributed in various ways towards the improved delivery of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services, no Pacific country had specifically allocated SRH in their annual national budgets and very few had opted out of donor partner support for the purchase of their contraceptives.

Contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) remained below 50 per cent, the review found and while most remained static, only the Cook Islands, FSM, Fiji and the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) would occasionally record a high of 40 per cent.

If countries were to meet unmet needs (women who desire to delay or stop childbearing but cannot access contraceptives for various reasons), this could reduce the maternal mortality ratio between 25 to 40 per cent. In the Pacific, unmet need vary from 1 per cent to 40 per cent and in most countries, unmet need rates are similar in both rural and urban areas.

“Some Pacific island nations do not record maternal mortality anymore while some are continuing to work towards its elimination, but we should join our efforts to ensure that no woman dies at the moment of delivery in the Pacific,” Dr Laurent Zessler, UNFPA Pacific Director and Representative said.

During the recent United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific Sub-Regional Office-organised regional meeting of permanent secretaries of health, the need for countries to treat reproductive health issues as development issues was reiterated. This would inevitably require introspective of (our) governance philosophies.

Maternal mortality is a personal issue as it is reflective of both our attitudes as individuals and collectively as societies towards girls and women, who aren’t usually accepted as individuals first and foremost, with inalienable human rights, before gender or any other cultural or faith-based considerations.

Maternal mortality is a development issue because it is reflective of how much the duty-bearers, our governments, are meeting their obligation in terms of health services for right-holders, we the citizens.

It is a development issue because realities that continue to neglect the good health and/or environment that does not enable girls and women to have autonomy over their own bodies eventually manifests in a country’s general progress – neglect the good reproductive health of half the populace and the country deprives itself of much-needed human resources and half its productivity potential.

Maternal mortality is a development issue because United Nations (UN) member states are signatories to the 56th Session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 2012 which adopted a resolution on “eliminating maternal mortality and morbidity through the empowerment of women…” and because it is one of the main indicators of the Millennium Development Goal 5, monitored by the UN and reported on regularly.

Ends

Content Sourced from scoop.co.nz
Original url

  • Print This Post Print This Post

 

Search Pacific.scoop.co.nz

Pacific Media Centre newsfeed

  • GLOBAL: RSF index shows Asia-Pacific threatened by China’s media control
  • WEST PAPUA: Facebook still censors photo – ‘nudity’ or politics?
  • SOLOMON IS: Watchdog role of media highlighted in USP journalism talk
  • About the Pacific Media Centre
  • FIJI: Islands Business director blasts police detention as 'intimidation'




  • Pacific Links

    • About Pacific.Scoop
    • AUT's new Pacific journalism course
    • Brown Pages
    • Knowledge Basket Pacific
    • Pacific Cooperation Foundation
    • Pacific Journalism Review
    • Pacific Media Centre – AUT University
    • Pacific Media Watch
    • Pacific Scoop Internship
    • Pasifika Foundation
    • University of the South Pacific
  • Pacific Media

    • Asia-Pacific (Al-Jazeera)
    • BBC’s Asia-Pacific
    • Cook Islands News
    • Fiji Daily Post
    • Fiji Sun
    • Fiji Times
    • Fijilive
    • Hawaiian Independent
    • Islands Business
    • Kiribati Independent
    • La Dépêche de Tahiti
    • Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes
    • Matangi Tonga
    • Māori Television
    • New Dawn FM 95.3
    • NewsWire (Whitireia)
    • Niu FM
    • Oceania Flash
    • Pacific Islands Report
    • Pacific Mini Games newspaper
    • Pacnews
    • PasiMA
    • PIMA
    • PINA
    • PMC on YouTube
    • PNG Post-Courier
    • Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat
    • Radio Djiido
    • Radio Fiji
    • Radio NZ International
    • Radio Rakambia
    • Radio Tarana
    • Radio Waatea
    • Reportage (UTS)
    • Reportage-Enviro
    • Samoa News
    • Samoa Observer
    • Samoalive Newsline
    • Solomon Star
    • Solomon Times
    • Spasifik magazine
    • Sunday Chronicle (PNG)
    • Tagata Pasifika
    • Tahiti Presse
    • Tahiti-Pacifique
    • Te Waha Nui (AUT)
    • The National (PNG)
    • TNews (NZ)
    • Vanuatu Daily Post
    • Xtra media
  • Pasifika Blogs

    • Avaiki Nius
    • Coup Four And A Half
    • Croz Walsh’s Fiji
    • David Robie’s Cafe Pacific
    • Global Voices Online
    • Grubsheet (Graham Davis)
    • Malum Nalu’s PNG
    • Nga Reo Tangata
    • Pacific Eyewitness
    • Pacific Freedom Forum
    • Pacific Media Centre Niusblog
    • Tempo Semanal
    • Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua
  • REGION-WIDE NEWS:

    Pac Scoop VideoPacific Media Centre: YouTube channel's latest videos

    Rainbow Warrior’s ‘last voyage’ to Rongelap left lasting legacy

    Alistar Kata reports for AUT’s Pacific Media Watch project.

    AUT student journalists report Rainbow Warrior special bulletin

    AUT University television and journalism students contribute to special Eyes of Fire microsite.

    • Pacific Headlines

      • PNG: Refugee health crisis looming
      • Govt drops charges against Greenpeace
      • Wellington Street Artist Announces First Gallery Exhibition
      • Pacific Economic Ministers cautioned on NZ’s PACER-Plus view
      • Multi-purpose aviation facility takes off in Christchurch
      • Reaching every child in the Pacific with vaccines vital
      • Fresh groundwater potential discovered in Cook Islands
      • Pacific Social and Environmental Responsibility Policy
      • Pacific maritime leaders see community based approach as key
      • Salvation shows the value of float-free EPIRBs
      • Disasters could cost Asia-Pacific region $160 billion a year
      • Vaccines are protecting more children, but millions miss out
      • Tabuteau attends Pacific Economic Ministers Meeting
      • ANZAC Day “Patriarchal Bollocks” work temporarily installed
      • Former All Blacks join rugby legends for Golden Oldies


    MEET THE PMC TEAM

    Introducing some of the faces and projects involved in AUT's Pacific Media Centre. Meet Josephine Latu from Pacific Media Watch, Violet Cho from Irrawaddy magazine, filmmaker Jim Marbrook and TVNZ Tagata Pasifika's John Utanga, director David Robie and others. About Pacific Scoop. – PMC

    Toktok - Feedback

    • Sickputer: "...contamination also flows f...
    • Linda Ballou: I am happy to see the cloak an...
    • PS: So. the US fleet will be fishi...
    • Alofa Tautogia: I think in the future wen stoc...
    • John Monro: I can't be anything like as en...
    • Andrew Johnson: There is no lack of trust, the...
    • Bo Lagerqvit: According to the Royal Swedish...
    • Putra Pihakunu: Thank you. God bless you all f...
    • Will Ilolahia: VakaWhenua disaster houses are...
    • George: There is a very widespread per...

    Categories

    • American Samoa
    • Asia-Pacific Journalism
    • Australia
    • Columns
    • Cook Is
    • Fiji
      • Fiji Elections 2014
    • Frontpage
    • FSM
    • Guam
    • Hawaii
    • Insert Block
    • Kiribati
    • Marshall Is
    • Nauru
    • New Caledonia
    • Niue
    • Northern Marianas
    • NZ
    • Opinions
    • Pacific Headlines
    • Pacific Islands Forum
    • Pacific Press Releases
    • Palau
    • Papua New Guinea
    • RMI
    • Samoa
    • Solomon Is
    • Tahiti
    • Timor-Leste
    • Tokelau
    • Tonga
    • Tuvalu
    • Uncategorized
    • Vanuatu
    • West Papua

    Monthly Archives

    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009

    Recently on Scoop

    • Review: Incremental Destruction - The Death of Stalin
    • Govt are repackaging National transport projects - MP
    • Fuel-car levy could subsidise electric vehicles - govt
    • On the need for immediate action on WINZ
    • SSC investigation into Thompson + Clark could include DoC
    • Govt bureaucracy needs 'political laxative' - Jones
    • Auckland airport charges 'not justified' - Comm Comm
    • 'Poor families really can't wait' for Work and Income change
    • Worst Possible Pick for U.S. Ambassador to South Korea
    • On the perils of using PPPs to meet Auckland’s roading needs

    Feeds

    • RSS Posts
    • RSS Comments
    Disclaimer
    All content is the work of the specific authors, journalists and researchers and not statements of opinion from AUT University.


    All editorial and news content is produced under the principles of Creative Commons. Permission to republish with attribution may be obtained from the Pacific Media Centre - pmc@aut.ac.nz

    Pacific.scoop.co.nz © 2018 | Powered by Scoop Media