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.

It would be nice if mumsnet as a whole could sponsor a medical facility in Sierra leone.
Sort of , one mother to another.

HeavyWheezing- that's an idea, actually! (sponsoring a clinic or hospital). As you may have seen before, I am not 'all mums in it together' person but yes, we could do that. Esp as MN does have a certain 'profile'.

But what we need to do is to lobby our MPs and others in positions of authority to make the plight of women a top priority in the UN. We, actually, have waaaay more clout than we think, but, globally, of course, if we western women flex our muscle, our menfolk will glower and not like it and so forth (though my DH would be helping me sew the banners, tbf!)whereas the menfolk of some of these third world countries will actually kill their women for daring to disobey. (Didn't the women of Iceland go on a no-sex strike a few years ago for something and won? However, that's Iceland which either now has or recently had a female president, prime minister and chancellor simultaneously... so not Sierra Leone!). And isn't there a local bank in India which has a policy of only making small loans to women in recognition that they are the powerhouses of entrepreneurialism with far more to lose (their DCs futures) than their sometimes feckless DHs?

We need to turns our tears into action.

As an observational aside, regarding the endless reproduction of DC in order one hopes one will succeed, I watched, yesterday (recorded) the doco 'India' which is actually designed not as a 'poor us/pity us' thing, but as a 'look at us- despite real poverty and hardship, we're 'can-do''- where there were parents who in as many words said 'We favour our son 'x' (at college doing IT) as he is most likely to succeed (financially) and bring us all out of this poverty'- said in front of his brother who wants to 'make it' in acting and modelling. So it's a developing world as well as 3rd world issue.

EnthusiasticTroll
If you read the link I posted earlier to the Gates Foundation blog, you will see that there are women who have grown up children who have learned 20 years ago the value of contraception. The second woman I interviewed, Jane, was healthy and glowing. She has three kids, spaced over 10 years.

The trick is to show other women how their lives could change if they, like Jane, have fewer DC. She had a cow, and sold milk and the produce from their farm to earn a little money. School is officially free in Kenya, but the DC have to buy uniforms so some DC don't go to school if the parents can't afford uniforms.

One of the projects that we saw was creation of health centres, offering free health checks and vaccinations to children, which brought the women together. When you get them together, they chat. I compared the centre that I saw that day to a RL Mumsnet, with women comparing their DC and asking each other advice, having a giggle and letting the kids play for a while.

Giving them this place to meet, means the health workers can have a chat about contraception and give advice. When they see someone like Jane, then they are encouraged to go for it.

It does have to go hand in hand with advances in health care and sanitary conditions. The biggest killer of babies and toddlers isn't TB or HIV. It is D&V bugs. Which is why clean water is vital.

'They call to us in the evening, and in the morning they are dead', one woman said to us.

OneMoreGo
I asked MSF about that, and they said that they don't ask for donations to any particular project -- this from their website

Littentree
Yes, there are issues getting the men to accept contraception, which is why some women favour the implant. Many groups are working in communities against this.

Littentree / Heavywheezing
I am in favour of donating to a project, but I must admit that I am very cautious about which projects I donate to. We heard ridiculous stats about how many people live in one of Nairobi's slums, and how many NGOs work there. There is an old saying, 'never believe a statistic that you haven't falsified yourself'. I also saw great projects, and frankly very questionable projects, and as an outsider it is sometimes very difficult to tell the difference.

I am also very wary of the many people who see this kind of programme, and then think, 'I will set up an NGO and raise money for this project', as I believe it is much better to work with the charities who are already established in the country.

The new set up Catapult is one that I am supporting at the moment. It was funded by the Gates Foundation, and the projects are thoroughly vetted before being accepted. The focus is squarely on women and girls, be it education, maternity services, sanitation, gender based violence...

If you would like to join us on TeamMumsnet we could work together. I will start a new thread in Charities for this, I think, and leave this one for chat about the programme.

OneMore
Sorry, here is the info from MSF

"Thank you, also, for your interest in supporting our work. Contributions from private supporters allow MSF to operate independently and respond at a moment's notice to the most urgent emergencies, often in countries and regions that are otherwise forgotten, so we are truly grateful for your support of our programs.

While it is possible to have a contribution directed toward a specific purpose, we do ask that you consider allowing us to use your contribution where the needs are the greatest. By not restricting your contribution for a specific project, you will enable us to allocate our resources more efficiently to the people most in need. MSF's mission is to provide emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters, or exclusion from health care, so it is essential that we have general funds available to respond to emergencies as they arise or new projects as they become necessary."

Also, free school is no good to a child who has to either work or help with the family.

I've been looking into charities in Cambodia that help children and I really like the sound of the one I've linked to below. You can sponser a class, sponsor a particular family or child and it seems you are allowed direct contact with those you sponsor.

www.newhopecambodia.com/index.php

Thread about Catapult

Thanks for that info, I didn't open any of the links so far. I will do though.

"One in 8 women die in childbirth? that is AWFUL. this is what annoys me about alot of my friends at my breastfeeding group who all had 'natural/home/water births' who talk as though it was the best thing in the world"

The maternal mortality rates in these countries are vastly worse than ours was in the UK in the 1950's when we had a 2% c-section rate.

What kills these women in such huge numbers is poverty, lack of general health care and lack of even basically trained birth attendants.

What I find tragic and ironic is how our system in the west wastes huge sums of money on over testing and over treating healthy pregnant women, while women in developing countries are dying for want of the basic attentions of a midwife.

My cousin spent the summer volunteering with a midwifery team in Cambodia this year. I'm madly proud of her. She's worked in orphanages in Kenya and Uganda as well in the past.

Just watched the programme, and my admiration for her and all the other people who work in these countries has increased ten-fold.

And could anyone let me know if there are any good resources for our over-privileged children to access?

I want my children to understand how lucky they are and really live their lives with gratitude, and to want to help and know how best to help less fortunate people around the world. And I'd love it to not come from me ie. apart from First News (which my children read) what else is there that will inspire children to make a difference?

It's not good enough, IMO, to just shock adults into action - we need the next generation growing up understanding the injustice and knowing what to do to change things.

Mini "overtesting" saves lives and many women in the poorer countries highlighted wouldn't have arrived in such a bad way if routine "tests" as you put it were carried out beforehand.How exactly do you "overtreat"?

It's not poverty that kills these women and babies but lack of access to decent healthcare.

I don't live in poverty but if I didn't have access to decent healthcare and hadn't had half the "tests" and "treatments" I had when pg I and none of my children would be here today.

Flamingo I don't have any fancy expensive resources,my kids just know.It's how you raise them and it doesn't need to cost anything,it's values.

minifingers

you realise that giving birth at home in this country is at least as safe (and on many levels SAFER) than choosing to go to a hospital......?

because you get 2 midwifes.... and if there are problems are transfered by ambulence to hospital? (you dont just lie there and die)

That is why unassisted births are illegal in this country... but a planned homebirth is as safe for low risk mothers.....
many of whom know they are low risk because of the antenatal care they have had....

Its not about 'treasuring' the NHS, the NHS is in dire straits right now... anyone that has used it recently or works for it will know this.

Don't treasure it, fight for it, insist that it is constantly improving.

Polka - the amount of antenatal testing in the UK has gone up massively even in the past 13 years since I had my first child. Was the UK a dangerous place to have a baby 13 years ago?

And it is a lack of basic health care and poverty that is killing these women in massive numbers. Poor nutrition in childhood and pregnancy during early adolescence resulting in contracted pelves, infibulation, malaria, severe anaemia. It's not just the intrinsic danger of birth. If this was the case we would have had large numbers of women in the UK dying in the 1950's when c/s were incredibly low and most women had their babies at home.

The point I'm making is that large numbers of these deaths would be preventable without having to herd all these women into high tech hospitals.

Would also add that when someone did a thread here entitled 'would you have died in childbirth two hundred years ago?' the number of mumsnetters who believed they would have died in childbirth in the past would have suggested a maternal mortality rate among the mainly healthy and wealthy posters on this site of about 3 times that of 20th century Congo...

Flamingo
I have PMed you. It is valid question. How do we get our kids involved. Like Polka says, a part of it is being a good example. So, we often stop and give donations or put some cash into the hat of homeless people on the street.

But it is also good to get kids thinking about people in other countries. I showed my kids pics of my trip to Kenya, and will be speaking to their school class about it too.

Mini / Polka
It is poverty that kills these women, because if they had money they would pay for decent health care. There are hospitals in Nairobi where our driver said he would never take his wife to, but the poorest in the city have to go there as they have no other choice.

The lady from Cambodia must have been pre tested as she seemed to go in for a scheduled csection? The dr said to her son tell her to take the pills like last time?

Ha. Mini. Don't ever have a baby in Germany, if you think UK is bad.

I had many more tests and scans in Germany that is common here.

She would have had to stick to a strict regime when taking the pills, NotNagging, to prevent transmitting HIV to her baby. They would have tested her for HIV when her pregnancy was confirmed, I presume.

The interesting point if this documentary was that the same thing is happening to women all over the world not just 'poorer' countries. It made some important points about wealth distribution. I found it especially interesting that the USA has an increasing level of infant mortality, one if the richest nations in the world.

Polka. Sorry I have PMT and no patience, so my initial repsonse to your repky was 'no shit!'

Maybe it wasn't clear in my post, but I am a responsible parent who brings my children up with the right values. They are not spoiled. But children find it very hard to understand why their lives are so priviliged, however much you tell them. They are too young to imagine a life so vastly different to their own, and need sensitive ways to learn about it. By sensitive, I don't mean in a protective way, but in a way that makes sure not to just make them switch off, as happened to me when I heard one too many times 'don't say you're starving! You don't know the meaning of it!' Etc.

My children have parents who volunteer, who give money when we can, and who explain these things to our children. But how much more powerful it is for kids to learn these things themselves than just being spoonfed it by zealous parents?

This is maybe nit-picking but I am confused about the 1 in 8 women statistic.

Does it mean: 1 in 8 births ends in a maternal death

or: 1 in 8 women (who might have already borne 5/6/7 children) will die of a childbirth complication?

(either is horrifically high, obviously, it's just not really clear to me what that statistic really means).

One thing I thought so poignant about that documentary was the woman in Sierra Leone talking about her hope that one of her children would one day travel overseas and lift her out of poverty. It must be so rare that that happens, but those few who do must inspire so many children to be born with that hope attached to them, only to live out another life of extreme poverty and repeat the cycle. Is having children a source of optimism for these women? Is this another reason why encouraging contraception/limiting family size in these places is so difficult?

mini- of course a great many people responded yes on that thread! You don't generally get people going onto a thread of that nature to say "actually, no, I had easy births and not a hint of risk".

Also I think it's worth considering that medical intervention that doesn't kill the mother and/or baby has been available in the developed world including the UK for three generations, which might conceivably be contributing to retaining certain attributes that might otherwise be lost through "natural selection", in other words maternal and infant mortality.