Improving Maternal & Newborn Health in Africa & Asia
WCF currently manages programmes in Bangladesh, India and Malawi, and has previously worked in Nepal.
Of all health statistics, those for maternal mortality show the greatest disparity between developing and developed countries: more than 99 per cent of maternal deaths occur in poor countries. The map below compares the maternal and neonatal mortality in the countries where WCF works. It shows that whilst newborns in the UK have a 99.7 per cent chance of living, for every 100 babies born in India, 4 are likely to die within their first month of life. In Malawi, for every 100 pregnant women, at least one is likely to die.
Understanding the statistics
The above statistics are based on neonatal and maternal mortality ratios. A neonatal mortality ratio shows the number of deaths in the first 28 days of life per 1,000 live births. A maternal mortality ratio shows the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. However it is difficult to collect data about when and why mothers die, partly due to problems attributing a death to pregnancy related causes, and partly due to weak information systems. Because of this, officials adjust the data to get estimates and the figures shown here are those which have been adjusted to allow for under reporting and misclassification of maternal deaths.
In actual fact, it is likely that the statistics in the communities similar to those where Women and Children First work are even more shocking than those based on country averages, as women in these communities have little, if any ,access to doctors and health facilities. It is vital that we work with the community to empower women so that they can survive pregnancy and their newborns can live on into healthy childhoods. Please click the links on the left hand column to find out more about our work in each partner country
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