Leadership (Abuja)
Abiodun Oluwarotimi
29 October 2009
New York — Sudan is one of the world's most dangerous places for mothers, the top United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) official there has said, calling for increased maternal care services.
Some 26,000 women in Sudan with a population of over 40 million - face death annually giving birth, UNICEF Representative Nils Kastberg said in a statement made available to UN Correspondents, compared to fewer than 10,000 maternal deaths per year in the entire Latin American and Caribbean region which is home to 550 million people. The maternal deaths in Sudan are "preventable," he stressed to reporters in the capital, Khartoum. "It is a question of stopping the bleeding in time; it is a question of having the health staff where they should be; it is a question of health staff washing their hands; it is a question of her being close to a place where she can receive care that could save her life at the moment of giving birth."
The UNICEF Representative, who took up the post last month, said that during a recent visit to a Sudanese town he saw 20 tanks but only one ambulance, which is only in operation six months out of the year due to the heavy rains. He also sounded the alarm on the deaths of 305,000 Sudanese children under the age of five every year due to preventable causes, with over one-third losing their lives in the first 28 days of life. Further, while six million children are in school, nearly three million are not, he pointed out in a statement sent from the headquarters of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). Mr. Kastberg said that he hoped that over the next three years, maternal and child mortality rates would be slashed by one-third through the provision of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and other measures, with school attendance jumping up by onethird. "Sudan, more than ever, needs peace," he underscored. With most of the world's violence caused by men and not women, "I think we need a call to all Sudanese men to assume a greater responsibility of understanding how their actions cause harm to women and children and I hope that can make a huge difference," the official said.
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