By Marwaan Macan-Markar
KRAING KAOK, Cambodia, Apr 2, 2011 (IPS) - Death haunts women in this Cambodian village at a moment of happiness - when they give birth.
"Today, nothing frightens Cambodian women more than having to give birth," says Mu Sochuea, former minister of women’s affairs. "It is costly, risky and not safe for the mothers and the babies."
Cambodia has acquired the notoriety of having among the highest maternal mortality rates in the region. Five women die every day during childbirth, according to U.N. reports.
Public health experts attribute the high death toll to lack of sufficient midwives, limited health care centres, the cost of health services, and a bias in remote rural areas towards untrained traditional birth attendants.
Hak Sam Ath still fights back tears as she recalls how Ouch Lay, her eldest daughter, died at a health clinic that serves this fishing and trading community on the banks of the Stung Slot River. "She had high blood pressure at the time she had checked into the health clinic for her delivery," said Sam Ath. "But this was overlooked and she died on the night she was to give birth."
No comments:
Post a Comment