News flash

Records of 3 million Canadian hospital births between 1991 and 2002 were reviewed to assess whether a connection exists between medical induction of labor and incidence of amniotic-fluid embolism (AFE). Researchers found that AFE occurred nearly twice as often in women who had medical induction of labor than in women who did not. Fatal cases occurred 3.5 times more often. AFE, which is considered a rare and sometimes fatal maternal complication of delivery, is an obstetric emergency in which amniotic fluid, fetal cells, hair, or other debris enter the maternal circulation, causing cardiorespiratory collapse. The population-based study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health. — The Lancet, October 21, 2006

Posted: December 17, 2006 Tellings (1)

From Women’s E News

Irene Lew is editorial intern and Nouhad Moawad is Arabic intern at Women’s eNews.

Half of the world’s pregnant women still lack access to skilled care at childbirth, contributing to a high number of women and infants who continue to die every day, according to the United Nations Population Fund. There are 529,000 maternal deaths in the world annually.

Large numbers of poor Nigerian women are giving birth without the help of trained medical professionals, and only 12 percent of the poorest 20 percent have access to skilled medical care during childbirth, according to the United Nations Development Program’s 2006 report. Rather than going to a hospital, women are giving birth in churches and in their own homes because they cannot afford medical help, the Nigerian newspaper Daily Trust reported Dec. 13.

In order to reduce maternal and newborn mortality, midwives and public health experts from 20 countries around the world have gathered in Tunisia for the first-ever International Forum on Midwifery in the Community. The World Health Organization estimates that 334,000 more midwives are needed around the globe to reduce maternal and newborn death and disability.

"A strong midwifery profession is key to achieving safer childbirth, and all pregnant women should have access to a midwife," said Thoraya Obaid, head of the U.N. Population Fund.

World Health Organization, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

Posted: Tell it like it is (0)