KARACHI, Feb 6: A four-day poster exhibition on the theme of “maternal death and maternal morbidity” got under way at the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) premises on Tuesday.

The theme for painting and poster competition selected by the PMA has been a pertinent issue in a country like Pakistan having one death for every 31 pregnancies. One out of six women in Afghanistan, one out of 370 in Iran, one out of 2,500 in America and one per 29,000 in Sweden dies due to pregnancy-related complications.

Dr Sadiqua Jaffery, president, National Committee on Maternal Health, who inaugurated the exhibition, in side lecture emphasised that deaths of expectant mothers and neo-natal took place obviously for two reasons, lack of awareness and inadequate pregnancy and delivery care at different levels.

She said that there was a dire need to increase safe-delivery interventions in Pakistan; particularly in rural areas where odds of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, haemorrhage and childbirth related infection were considerably on higher side. She urged the doctors and midwives or nurses functioning in rural areas to play their role dedicatedly towards improvement of maternal health and child survival.

Dr Shershah of the PMA informed that about 75 posters had been put on display. He said that in all 170 entries had been received, and besides first three best entries, special prizes were also announced, which were largely won by students of arts schools and varsities.

Speaking at the lecture session, largely attended by students of midwifery schools and nurses, Dr Shah said that the PMA had decided to hold a poster contest exclusively for midwives enrolled at different institutions.

Data shows that lifetime risk of maternal death for women in Pakistan was higher as one mother was destined to die in every 20 minutes, which is a high figure. One out of 10 children born in the country died before the age of five.

Artists expressed the view that the factors contributing to maternal death and infant mortality included high fertility rates, inadequate access to quality maternal and child care facilities, a low rate of skilled birth attendance, inadequate emergency obstetric and newborn care, low female literacy, poverty, and heavy burden of communicable diseases.

The first three prize winners of the competition held in collaboration with the UNEFPA were Maryam Mehmood of Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture, Intekhab Umer of Arts department, University of Balochistan, and Umayr Jhangda of Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture.

Each of the three cash prize winners has their own style, but collectively they depicted the story of obstetric fistula, a condition caused by prolonged labour leaving the women sometime unable to control her stool and urine. It was captioned in the posters that women should be given a chance to get cured and not be punished at all.