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GENEVA / MATERNAL HEALTH
STORY: GENEVA / MATERNAL HEALTH
TRT: 2:28
SOURCE: WHO / FILE
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 6 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
6 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
1. Tilt down, WHO flag and Marleen Temmerman speaking to journalist
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Marleen Temmerman, Director, Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, and co-author of the study:
“So this is good news. Still a lot has to be done, because we are not really reaching the millennium development goals, so we should progress faster. And what can we do? Well, ensure access to contraceptives, and family planning to women and girls all over the world. Also to invest in better antenatal care, better health care, but mainly also a safe place to go and to deliver.”
3. Wide shot, Marleen Temmerman walking with the journalist
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Marleen Temmerman, Director, Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, and co-author of the study:
“Unfortunately, most of these maternal deaths they take place in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-east Asia. Just to give a figure. The risk for a girl, a woman, in Sub-Saharan Africa to die of maternal, or child bearing, is about 1 in 40, the risk during her life. Whereas that risk for a woman in Europe, or in a developed world is about 1 in 3300.”
FILE – WHO: 2014, HEALTH CENTRE, BRAZZAVILLE, REPUBLIC OF CONGO
5. Wide shot, women lying on beds
6 MAY 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Marleen Temmerman, Director, Reproductive Health and Research, WHO, and co-author of the study:
“Another study that was published today in Lancet Global Health also brings new information as to why women die when they are pregnant or giving child birth. 75% of these maternal deaths are due to direct causes such as bleeding, hypertension in pregnancy, infections and others…but now we have found about 25% are also due to pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, such as malaria, HIV, or even obesity. Obesity is a growing condition that more and more frequent, that has an impact on pregnancy and delivery. So there is a lot we can do. If we focus also on pre-existing conditions on the non-communicable diseases, that are gaining more and more attention globally worldwide.”
FILE – WHO: 2014, HEALTH CENTRE, BRAZZAVILLE, REPUBLIC OF CONGO
6. Med shot, mother with baby
7. Close up, baby receiving oral vaccine
8. Med shot, mothers with babies
A new World Health Organization (WHO) study shows a 45 percent reduction in maternal deaths since 1990. An estimated 289,000 women died in 2013 due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth, down from 523,000 in 1990.
In an interview in Geneva, the WHO Director of the Reproductive Health and Research and co-author of the study Marleen Temmerman said “this is good news. Still a lot has to be done, because we are not really reaching the millennium development goals, so we should progress faster. And what can we do? Well, ensure access to contraceptives, and family planning to women and girls all over the world. Also to invest in better antenatal care, better health care, but mainly also a safe place to go and to deliver.”
She also said “unfortunately, most of these maternal deaths they take place in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-east Asia. Just to give a figure. The risk for a girl, a woman, in Sub-Saharan Africa to die of maternal, or child bearing, is about 1 in 40, the risk during her life. Whereas that risk for a woman in Europe, or in a developed world is about 1 in 3300.”
Another World Health Organization (WHO) study, also published today in The Lancet Global Health, adds new knowledge about why these women are dying. Global causes of maternal death: a WHO systematic analysis, finds that more than 1 in 4 maternal deaths are caused by pre-existing medical conditions such as diabetes, HIV, malaria and obesity, whose health impacts can all be aggravated by pregnancy. This is similar to the proportion of deaths during pregnancy and childbirth from severe bleeding.
Temmerman said that that study “also brings new information as to why women die when they are pregnant or giving child birth. 75% of these maternal deaths are due to direct causes such as bleeding, hypertension in pregnancy, infections and others…but now we have found about 25% are also due to pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, such as malaria, HIV, or even obesity.”
She added “obesity is a growing condition that more and more frequent, that has an impact on pregnancy and delivery. So there is a lot we can do. If we focus also on pre-existing conditions on the non-communicable diseases, that are gaining more and more attention globally worldwide.”
WHO noted that ten countries account for about 60% of global maternal deaths: India (50,000), Nigeria (40 000), Democratic Republic of the Congo (21 000), Ethiopia (13 000), Indonesia (8800), Pakistan (7900), United Republic of Tanzania (7900), Kenya (6300), China (5900) and Uganda (5900). The highest lifetime risk of maternal death is in Somalia and Chad where women face a 1 in 18 and 1 in 15 lifetime risk respectively.
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