SOME dismal data should force us to question ourselves: for how long will Pakistan’s mothers die to give birth? A recent progress report published by three agencies of the UN shows Pakistan ranked third among the top 10 nations with the highest rate of maternal and neonatal mortality and stillbirths in 2020. The country’s total record was an alarming 474,000. Maternal deaths rose to 10,000, stillbirths stood at 207,000 with 257,000 neonatal fatalities. The picture turns darker with Trends in Maternal Mortality report. Released some months ago, it threw up crushing snags in the wellbeing of women; maternal deaths “either increased or stagnated” in most parts of the globe — a woman loses her life to pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes, resulting in over 280,000 casualties a year. Therefore, the organisations believe that if the world slackens, slowing progress to meet global targets to lessen maternal deaths, it will put over a million women in danger by 2030.

It has been repeatedly pointed out that the arrant imbalances in urban and rural health services, inadequate nutrition, absence of access to health needs and poor awareness are killing our women. Anaemia, haemorrhage and deficiencies are among the most common causes of deaths. And a majority of rural deliveries are carried out by unskilled midwives who must be the focus of government-led training programmes, in collaboration with health experts and aided by mass distribution of safe delivery supplies. In short, traditional birth methods should be strengthened with professional healthcare to make active use of resources, awareness and quality. The controversial area of contraception, hostage to religious politics and patriarchy, robs an uneducated woman of her reproductive rights, who then conceives more often than her body can endure. Authorities cannot shy away from false ‘taboos’; these have to be defied with forceful media campaigns and door-to-door drives by health workers to educate clans, especially men. Mothers cannot fear birth.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2023