In the News
Giving Life is the Leading Cause of Death for Women in South Sudan
- 25 July 2012
JUBA -- South Sudan has the worst reported maternal mortality rate in the world.
"More women die in child birth, per capita, in South Sudan, than in any country in the world," says Caroline Delany, a health specialist with the Canadian International Development Agency in South Sudan which is funding a raft of maternal health programmes.
Childbirth and pregnancy, rather than conflict, are the nation's biggest killers of girls and women.
"Many deaths are not reported, in part because 90 per cent of women give birth away from formal medical facilities and without the help of professionally trained assistants," it said.
Childbirth and pregnancy, rather than conflict, are the nation's biggest killers of girls and women.
"One in seven South Sudanese women will die in pregnancy or childbirth, often because of infections (from puerperal fever and retained placenta), haemorrhaging, or obstructed births, with a lack of access to healthcare facilities playing a large role in their deaths," SAS found.
"When we talk about security in South Sudan there is a tendency to focus on issues such as guns and militia groups. But real human security means protection from anything that threatens health and wellbeing. In South Sudan there is nothing that poses greater threat to a woman's life than getting pregnant," says SAS researcher Lydia Stone.
Read the full story from IRIN
