Opinion Piece Highlights Group's Efforts To Reduce Maternal Mortality In Haiti, Rwanda

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 14 May 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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The fact that 500,000 mostly low-income women worldwide die during childbirth every year is "[o]bscene," but the experiences of staff from the nongovernmental organization Partners in Health in Haiti show how a "vast improvement" can be made, PIH founder Paul Farmer and PIH Executive Director Ophelia Dahl write in a Washington Post opinion piece.

A 1985 survey found that maternal mortality in Haiti was 1,400 deaths per every 100,000 live births, compared with a rate in the U.S. of about 14 deaths per every 100,000 live births, Farmer and Dahl write. Currently in Haiti, maternal mortality is less than half what it was 25 years ago, and the rate is "well below" 100 deaths per 100,000 live births in the central part of the country where PIH's work is concentrated, according to the authors.

According to Farmer and Dahl, change occurred in Haiti because of three reasons. The first, they write, is that PIH and the Haitian Ministry of Health improved public health infrastructure, including establishing modern surgical services for obstetrical emergencies. Second, the country last year began offering obstetric care at no cost, including emergency Caesarean sections, Farmer and Dahl write. Lastly, the authors write that linking prenatal and obstetric care to primary health care has restored "faith in the health system," which has motivated people to seek "preventive interventions, such as prenatal care and family planning." The group is now working with the Rwandan government on a similar program, according to the authors.

Although the United Nations Millennium Development Goals aim to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by the year 2015, the authors write the United Nations says "we are moving too slowly to meet" the target. "Mindful of the lessons learned during two decades of work in rural Haiti," PIH has "made reducing maternal morality and improving women's health top priorities," the authors write (Farmer/Dahl, Washington Post, 5/11).

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