Feminist Peace Network

September 25th, 2008

Maternal Health And Violence Against Women–Unmet And Non-Existent Goals

According to a new report from UNICEF:

“Over 500,000 women die unnecessarily every year due to complications from pregnancy and childbirth, with 99 per cent of those deaths occurring in developing countries, according to a new report released today by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

“Progress for Children: a report card on maternal mortality” shows that the worst regions in which to give birth are sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which together account for 84 per cent of maternal deaths.

In the developing world, the risk of death from complications relating to pregnancy and childbirth over the course of a woman’s lifetime is one in 76, compared with one in 8,000 in the industrialized world. The riskiest place to give birth is Niger, where that risk is estimated to be one in seven.”

“According to the report, haemorrhage is the most common cause of death, particularly in Africa and Asia. A woman’s overall health – including her nutritional level and HIV status – also influences the chances of a positive outcome to her pregnancy and childbirth.

Poverty, inequity and general attitudes towards women and their health also play a part in maternal mortality rates, as did cultural or traditional practices that often prevent women from seeking delivery or post-partum care, the report stated.

UNICEF emphasized that most maternal deaths are avoidable, especially with better health care during the critical pregnancy, delivery and post-partum periods. It noted there have been improvements in maternal health interventions in recent years. Coverage of antenatal care in the developing world has risen by 15 percentage points in the past decade, with 75 per cent of expectant mothers now receiving some antenatal care.”

““Saving mothers’ lives is not only a moral imperative, but a sound investment that benefits their children, their families, their communities and their countries,” said Tessa Wardlaw, UNICEF’s Chief of Statistics and Monitoring.

“Indeed, there is a clear connection between maternal health and other Millennium Development Goals, such as eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality, and combating HIV and AIDS and other diseases,” she added.”

Unfortunately one issue that isn’t a Millenium Development Goal and should be is eradicating violence against women. As Monika Manke writes for IPS,

“Combating violence against women is what Inés Alberdi, executive director of the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), calls the missing goal, because it is not an issue addressed by the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

But it is an issue with a lot of faces.

“Even though the problem is not explicitly addressed by the MDGs, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasised in his latest report to the General Assembly that sexual violence is a human rights issue that poses a serious obstacle to the consolidation of peace and the achievement of the broader MDGs.

“The prevalence of gender-based violence has serious repercussions, including exposure to HIV/AIDS, other sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy and the abandonment of victims by their families,” he pointed out.

With many member states starting to implement a resolution on “eliminating rape and other forms of sexual violence” that the General Assembly passed in February, the secretary-general will report on this progress at the General Assembly’s upcoming session next week.”

“”Violence against women is still an epidemic that does not confine to a specific culture or country,” UNIFEM’s Alcalá told IPS. The roots lie in historically unequal power relations between men and women.

But “culture has often been used to perpetuate violence against women and girls,” Aminata Toure, chief of the culture, gender and human rights office at UNFPA, told IPS.

“For example, female genital mutilation is practiced on adolescent girls, and in some countries, girls or women are killed in the name of honour, often without fear of impunity,” she added.

Rape is also still used as “a tactic of war”, as the U.N. Security Council declared in a resolution passed in June. Not only insurgent groups are guilty but also soldiers, police officers and even, in some instances, U.N. workers and peacekeepers. Every day, hundreds of women have been and are raped in Darfur, along with many others in conflict and post-conflict situations around the globe.”