Every 7 seconds a pregnant woman or a newborn baby dies in the world – breaking latest news

Advances in medicine seem to have forgotten pregnant women and newborns whose birth-related health conditions have not improved since 2015. This was confirmed by the report “Improving maternal and newborn health and survival and reducing stillbirth” signed by WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA which puts 4.5 million women and newborns who died from complications, mostly avoidable, related to pregnancy, childbirth and birth. «Pregnant women and newborns continue to die at unacceptably high rates around the world and the COVID-19 pandemic has created further hurdles in providing them with the health care they need,” said Anshu Banerjee, Director of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Aging at theWorld Health Organization (OMS).
On the bench there is a significant decrease in investment in maternal and newborn health, also due to COVID-19, the increase in poverty and the worsening of humanitarian crises especially in countries affected by conflicts, among all Africa .

Interventions: Cuamm and SIGO in Africa

«Pregnancy and childbirth are that area of ​​health where it is more difficult to generate tangible results, sustainable over time, compared to other pathologies. In Africa, assistance for safe birth and for the newborn requires a broad approach because, often, the problems begin when the woman is at home, she is in the community”, explains Giovanni Potuto, head of Programming and of the Scientific Area of Medici con l’Africa Cuamm, which continues. “We have activated the program”Mothers and children first” and we are active in sub-Saharan Africa in 10 hospitals. We work on the system: we intervene in the villages, we involve the families so that the woman is aware of the rhythms and risks of pregnancy, of the importance of prevention and prenatal visits, but also of the need for there to be adequate time between one pregnancy and another other. And then we focus on the postpartum period, on the first thousand days, which allow us to invest in the future of the newborn. If the baby is breastfed and weaned correctly, if it is adequately stimulated, that child’s intellectual, cognitive, physical, emotional and motor capital will be able to fully express itself, otherwise it risks being compromised even permanently. Like CUAMM we intervene on barriers, from cultural to geographical and financial ones by investing in local resources. To form them, alliances are needed that we have with Italian universities and, we are happy to announce, also with the SIGO, the Italian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics which will allow us to make that leap forward in the quality of the services offered to women», concludes Potuto.
In Tanzania we reach the President of SIGO, Nicola Colacurci, who is visiting a hospital in the area these days to kick off this important collaboration. «We are very happy to concretely support CUAMM by giving our trainees the opportunity to have an educational experience in a corner of the world where the right to childbirth is not guaranteed. As SIGO we will send gynecological specialists from all over Italy in an institutionalized and continuous manner, but it is necessary that organizations with CUAMM are more supported by all”, concludes Colacurci.

The most affected areas

Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South Asia are the areas most affected by neonatal and maternal deathsjust think that less than 60% of women receive at least four (out of eight) prenatal checks required by the WHO , only 1 country in 10 of these areas reported receiving enough funds to implement their prevention plans, while a quarter reported disruptions in essential care for pregnant women, post-natal care and sick children. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, about two thirds of birthing facilities are not considered fully functional, which means that essential resources such as medicines, water, electricity, medical personnel are lacking. “As is too often the case, vulnerability, fear and loss are not distributed equally across the world. Post-pandemic infants, children and women who were already exposed to threats to their well-being, especially those living in fragile countries and in emergency situations, are facing the heaviest consequences of decreased spending and actions to provide affordable, quality healthcare,” said Steven Lauwerier, Chief Medical Officer of theUNICEF .

Maternal and newborn health

To support women and children, there must be investments in quality health care, accessible to all, and that this is part of a global health care plan that also includes overcoming prejudices and gender inequalities. The report shows that s
Only about 60% of women aged 15-49 make their own sexual and reproductive health decisions. “The death of any woman or girl during pregnancy or childbirth is a gross violation of their human rights and also reflects the urgent need to increase access to quality sexual and reproductive health services as part of universal health coverage. and primary health care, especially in communities where maternal mortality rates have remained flat or even increased in recent years. We must adopt a human rights-based approach, it is essential to eliminate the factors underlying poor maternal health outcomes, such as socio-economic inequalities, discrimination, poverty and injustice,” said Julitta Onabanjo, Director of the Technical Division of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).