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.

I'm watching. That baby and that poor poor mother

for overseas MNetters details of where to watch.

If you are on Twitter follow @askwhypoverty

They have said all docs will be available online after the global broadcasts

I saw the program and this has helped re-confirm how utterly selfish and self centred many of us are in this country.

There are so many people in true poverty around the world with no help whatsoever yet not long ago many MNs were getting into a hissy fit because the goverment were thinking of capping the number of children they pay benefits for.

I think it's also so eye opening when the UK mother could choose 'not to work' but yet could still have a comfortable lifestyle courtesy of the state. Yet at the opposite end of the spectrum you have women who take responsibility and bust their guts for peanuts just to feed themselves and their children and they do it without complaining because they know no one is going to hand it to them on a plate. If you asked people in this country to take responsibility many would start waiving their human rights!!

I don't think poverty in other countries justifies a race to the bottom in ours.

I don't think just because things are terrible elsewhere it means we should let our NHS fall apart and be grateful.

(a) I have just increased my DD to them

however I turned over, was so harrowed I could not even watch it

it was that way to lifeless little body was just chucked into a sheet...

anyway, if you feel strongly ladies donate here

www.secureweb-services.com/msf/?type=dd&source=7001&country=000&__utma=1.1128910193.1353407579.1353407579.1353407579.1&__utmb=1.1.10.1353407579&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1353407579.1.1.utmgclid=CMfj0Y-s3bMCFebLtAod0V0AoA|utmccn=(not%20set)|utmcmd=(not%20set)|utmctr=medecin%20sans&__utmv=-&__utmk=49846310

For me it just reinforces that the NHS is one of the greatest assets this country has and that the current 'free for everyone' system should be maintained at all costs.

I agree with mum.

Yes the NHS should be maintained at all costs for everybody but really the comparison between the lady in Cambodia and the UK was shocking and mumwith summed it up well.

Yes, Starlight, I agree.

We should be raising their standards, not lowering ours.

Not saying that there aren't problems with the welfare state in UK, but I am very thankful that children in UK don't have to live in such terrible conditions.

Look at the comparison between the US and the UK social security support. Do we really want families living in tiny shelters, with only $460 a month (plus $460 food stamps). And little way out of that poverty trap?

To be fair, the UK mum didn't choose not to work. She would have to pay £1400 for childcare if she were to get a job.

The UK mum was trapped in the childcare cost v work trap.

She didn't strike me as greedy or grabbing, just frustrated.

Safe Haven Cambodia is also a v.good charity worth mentioning (run from UK)

I think there should be a happy medium.It doesn't have to be either or.

Paying somebody to sit on their arse all day having kids with zero limits or responsibility is wrong.

Millions of women/families work for no/little financial reward.

Surely the lady in question should be looking towards her future ie working/studying for very little in the 2 or 3 early years before the 2 year old vouchers kick in/kids start school like plenty of other women have to on their own/or in a partnership.

But then said lady doesn't have to -the state will pick up the tab.

Can we not turn this into a thread bashing benefit recipients in UK?

The UK mother said that she would like to go to college. I hope that she can afford to do this.

More important is the issue of extreme poverty in the developing world, imo.

40% of maternal deaths in Sierra Leone are teenagers.

Around half of Kenyan girls stated that their first sexual contact was non-consensual.

Poverty leaves women and girls vulnerable, it means they receive little or no education. They are having babies when our girls are going to University or getting their first jobs.

But she can't work as how could she pay over a 1000 pounds for childcare with no qualifications?

I think the focus should be on free/very cheap childcare so working/studying is a viable choice for everyone.

What is the state didn't pick up the tab for those children? I felt nothing but pride at being british when I saw the healthcare and support given to mothers and babies.

I had a ruptured uterus and ruptured urinary bladder. Most do not end well. My boy survived only because I ruptured whilst being prepped for a CS in theatre. But took hours of surgery to patch me up

Polkadots, raising children is hard work and a huge responsibility. No-one doing it sits on their arse all day, and when it isn't your own kids it is considered a demanding profession.

Exactly, Honey.

Mignonette
Thank goodness you were already in theatre. I suspected that the prognosis is very bad. :(

40% of maternal deaths in Sierra Leone are teenagers

"bashing benefit recipients" errr no making some very pertinent questions which this documentary highlighted.

Sorry but there does need to be a happy medium.Cambodia and the UK are the 2 complete ends of the spectrum.The UK can't afford to carry on in the way that is and Cambodia needs to look at how it can support it's poor more.

Personally I think both could learn from each other.

One scene that they cut from the film was a 13 year old who gave birth at 27 weeks to a tiny baby that died minutes after the birth.

13 years old.

MmetLindor

emedicine.medscape.com/article/275854-overview

Most babies die. Most Mothers do. I was lucky.

emedicine.medscape.com/article/275854-overview

Sorry

However in a modern OB/GYN centre, morbidity/mortality rates can be significantly reduced. It depends upon the time between rupture and delivery.

Between and 37 mins to save the life of the baby. You were incredibly lucky, Migonette.

here is a Storify (a collection of tweets and links about the film)

As I've said on my own FB status, I struggled my way through watching it. Much of it too close to home, as my DD was born asleep in June 2010 and share the horror of being bereaved, but what I didn't share was the conditions.

Despite losing our precious baby girl, we were blessed with the conditions, facilities and level of care we had for her short time with us, and her brother after her. I'm so thankful to be giving birth in the UK.