Up To 35,000 Pregnant Women Affected By Myanmar Cyclone In Need Of Prenatal Care, UNPFA Official Says

Main Category: Aid / Disasters
Also Included In: Nursing / Midwifery;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 16 Jun 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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Of the estimated 2.4 million survivors of last month's cyclone in Myanmar, also known as Burma, as many as 35,000 are pregnant women are in need of adequate prenatal care, William Ryan, a spokesperson for the United Nations Population Fund, said Wednesday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports.

According to Ryan, more than 100 women are giving birth daily in the affected region. There is a need for trained midwives who can provide emergency treatment, and health facilities need to be rebuilt with the capacity to handle emergency obstetrical care, he said. "The destruction of health centers and loss of midwives have greatly increased the risks" for pregnant women, Ryan said, adding, "It is clear that many pregnant women do not have anywhere to go to deliver with skilled assistance."

UNFPA last week established two mobile clinics that are staffed by physicians from the Myanmar Medical Association to provide prenatal care and delivery services to women in two affected townships. The agency has provided the country's health ministry with rubber gloves and hospital equipment to be used during deliveries for distribution in 10 townships. In addition, UNFPA has provided displaced women with so-called "dignity kits," which include soap, clothing and sanitary supplies. Volunteers are assembling more than 1,000 kits daily.

The maternal mortality rate in Myanmar was 380 deaths per 100,000 births prior to the cyclone, about four times that of Thailand and 60 times that of Japan, Ryan said (AP/International Herald Tribune, 6/11).

Myanmar Government Distributes Guidelines on Relief Efforts

In related news, Myanmar's government on Tuesday at a meeting with U.N. agencies distributed guidelines for providing assistance to cyclone survivors, the AP/Los Angeles Times reports. The guidelines require most relief activities to be approved by government officials and several other groups.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in a report said that humanitarian groups have expressed concern that "additional steps for seeking approval" to provide services might "unnecessarily delay the relief response." According to the AP/Times, foreign aid groups have faced a "series of hurdles" in providing assistance to cyclone survivors, including reluctance of the government to grant visas to foreign assistance workers. IFRC said it had been assured by the government that the guidelines would not hinder relief efforts (AP/Los Angeles Times, 6/11).

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