The second part of the assignment has been enlightening in many ways. I read about countries where the father has little to nothing to do with the baby's birth, countries where giving birth at home is the preference and giving birth in water is preferred. There was one web site I found (allAfrica.com) that made me think that any kind of birth process, other than what these women have to go through, would be a joy. I am sure there are other areas of the world where things like this happen; it is just so hard to believe.
They spoke mostly of East Africa and the maternal mortality rate. The article reported that in 2008, 8,000 women died in Tanzania giving birth. This was a decrease! In 2008, a study published in The Lancet indicated, 6,200 Kenyan women died in childbirth. These figures are astounding. Most of the reasons given were due to poor medical facilities and resources for pregnant women. Infections and diseases played a part as well. One project that is being worked on is to produce a handbook to help throughout the pregnancy. This project has a goal date of 2015. And while they seem to be making strides to make these numbers go down it just doesn't seem fast enough.
Tammy, those statistics ARE alarming. It seems ludicrous that a pamphlet to help these women would take so long to produce. I can not imagine the fear they have going into labor.
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