Amazing documentary tonight on BBC1 at 10.35pm - Four Born Every Second - a kind of global OBEM

[MmeLindor]

Here

I saw a preview today and it is both shocking and inspiring.

287,000 women die from pregnancy related causes every year, 99% of them in developing countries.

The film shows the difference between UK and US births and those in Cambodia and Sierra Leone.

It does contain quite distressing scenes of still birth, so maybe not for you if you are currently pregnant.

I blogged about it today (link on profile) to give you an idea what it is about and will be watching again tonight.

Ah, think I must have missed this, anyone know if it's being repeated at all?

Here is more info about the programme Scroll down for the Safe Delivery report.

agreed. I feel sadness, frustration and anger all at the same time...

I'll try not to moan about being an NHS midwife again.

Excellent program - I feel I need to add Medcine San Frontiers to my Xmas list. We just don't know we're born to we? $3 a day - gives some perspective doesn't it.

Whispers
I think it will be on iPlayer

The MSF programme is really very interesting, as it shows that will quite a small investment, it is possible to lower the maternity mortality rate quite dramatically.

Should be on iplayer whispers.

Here is the donation page

and here is another project that might interest you Catapult is crowd funding for projects that benefit women and girls around the world. We even have a MN [[http://www.catapult.org/team/teammumsnet team

Am off to donate in the name of MN.

Mmelindor, a good place to mention your MN catapult team, we have given to the birth waiting homes fund in Sierra Leone to try and do something about these stats.

made a mess of the links

Mumsnet Team

and Sierra Leone project

Tsk damn my slow typing.

XP :)

Must give it a plug on Twitter too.

Wow. Just watched this holding my 10 week old LO. I cried. I feel so grateful for the NHS. I feel so privileged to be a UK citizen, to have been pg, to have given birth here, to know my child will have free healthcare and free education.

this is the sort of thing i think about when people casually compare the NHS to a "3rd world health service". And given the USA's shocking record in maternal and foetal health it astounds me that well-off americans criticise our system. At least the poor in this country have equal access to healthcare.

Four born every second was such a well made programme - really effective. We are SO lucky to live in this country.

But blimey, did they have to pick someone on benefits for Britain? 'I don't live above my means... all I wanted was a roof over my head, and kids... and a job... I'll get a job when the kids are older' - well, who the hell do you think is supporting you now, you daft bint???? You DO live above your means, because you can't afford to support the 2 kids by 2 dads that you have (and not a sniff of child maintenance from either). Arghhhhh.

But the homless family in the US - who knew that maternal mortality ahs increased there over the last 20 years, or that the US is the most dangerous developed country in which to give birth?

The Doctors without Borders surgeon was fantastic. He has such a demanding job and he really cares about all the women he has to care for. Didn;t it say that 840 women in childbirth per 100,000 die in Sierre Leone? And that 1 in 8 women in Africa die in childbirth? Now THEY are sobering statistics. And this is the 21st century. I was shocked by a lot of what I saw tonight. And we think we have problems in the UK.

I think they wanted to chose someone relatively poor from each country.

yes, must agree that the single mother on benefits was a bit of a cliché.

The stats are astounding, but I was glad that they concentrated on the stories of the women.

We should all be thankful for the NHS, that is so true.

Here is an interview with the film maker, Brian Hill

Yes, suppose they wanted to show someone in relative poverty in each country. And it was interesting to see that US provide a very very basic safety net in comparison to what our welfare state provides.

I'd much rather live in a country that doesn't put a family of 5 into a room smaller than the one that my DD is sleeping in upstairs.

They only get $460 a month social security, and about the same in food stamps. Try and feed a family of 5 on that!

Can't see this (am in the USA) - can anyone summarise what was said about giving birth here (am currently 27wks...)??

The US bit was mainly about a homeless family, so perhaps not that relevant for you.

They did say that US docs tend to be more ready to intervene (cause they are scared of being sued) - not sure if that is every hospital though so worth looking into your local provision.

I really felt for the single mum in the UK, she was so lucky in so many ways with the healthcare she was given and the home she had but I couldn't help but feel maybe she was a little isolated, when the women were going washing clothes and one woman said to the other "I feel sorry for you because you are pregnant, I can do your work for you if you need me to" I felt they had a fantastic sence of community and support that maybe the UK woman was lacking.

I haven't watched the programme as not in the UK. Someone upthread referred to how birth in the US is more medicalised, which I'm aware of. But is the suggestion that the higher mortality rate in the US is connected to this?

link to article in the Independent

I haven't seen the programme as am outside UK - it may turn up on Youtube eventually...