Maternal Deaths: Unacceptable, Preventable, But Far Too Frequent MSF is releasing a report, Maternal Death: The Avoidable Crisis, that details the profound, life-saving impact quality emergency obstetric #care can have for pregnant women who are trying to endure acute and chronic #humanitarian crises. The report Maternal Death: The Avoidable #Crisis details how the provision of emergency #obstetric care to pregnant #women in acute and chronic humanitarian crises can have a direct impact and save #women’s lives. It examines the circumstances for pregnant women in 12 countries where #MSF works, in settings ranging from conflict areas to countries with weak health systems, including #Pakistan, #Somalia, South #Sudan, and #Haiti. The report highlights the need for emergency medical #assistance, particularly when pregnancy complications occur. The report draws on years of MSF’s experience running and expanding programs to meet the needs of pregnant women, and seeks to draw greater attention to the dearth of #emergency obstetric care in a number of crisis areas. “We know that 15 percent of all pregnancies worldwide will experience a life-threatening complication,” said Kara Blackburn, women’s health advisor for MSF. “Women need access to quality emergency obstetric care whether they live in Sydney, Port-au-Prince, or Mogadishu. The reality is the same for women in a modern hospital in a major city, or for those living in a conflict zone, a #refugee camp, or under plastic sheeting following a devastating #earthquake.” Every day, approximately 1,000 women die in childbirth or from pregnancy-related complications – one every 90 seconds, according to the World Health Organization #WHO. However, with the help of skilled birth attendants and access to the appropriate drugs and equipment, women’s lives—and the lives of their babies—can be saved. Delivery is the most critical moment for saving women’s and babies’ lives, with most maternal deaths occurring just before, during, or immediately after delivery, often from complications that cannot be predicted ahead of time. Typical—and deadly—complications include hemorrhaging, sepsis (infection), unsafe abortions, eclampsia (hypertension), and obstructed labor, which together account for nearly three quarters of all maternal deaths worldwide. All of these conditions can be prevented or treated. The provision of emergency obstetric care is at the forefront of MSF’s work in sexual and reproductive health. Additional medical care provided to women by MSF includes antenatal and postnatal care, family planning, assistance to sexual violence survivors, fistula treatment, post-abortion care, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of #HIV. This special report details MSF’s approach to delivering quality emergency obstetric care in five different types of crises: • Conflict • Population displacement • Fragile health systems • Natural disaster • Maternal mortality emergency Conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, or the complete breakdown of a country’s health system are crises faced by MSF’s millions of patients around the world every day. But a #MaternalDeath: that’s the avoidable crisis. Download the full report here: http://bit.ly/zfxMKz Source: The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)