Family planning can slash maternal deaths

By Dann Okoth

Most newborn and pregnancy-related deaths could be prevented through better family planning and delivery care, reports the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Maternal deaths in Kenya and other developing countries could be slashed by 70 per cent and newborn deaths cut nearly in half if the world doubled investment in family planning and pregnancy-related care, according to the UNFPA and Guttmacher Institute. One of four babies born in Kenya die before reaching their fifth birthday, according to Government statistics, although the ratio could be higher, especially in the slums where most die during or immediately after birth due to poor maternal health services.

More than half a million maternal and 3.5 million newborn deaths, many of them easily preventable, occur each year, in developing countries. Investing in a handful of basic health services, like family planning and routine delivery care, can save millions of women and babies," says Dr Sharon Camp, President of the Guttmacher Institute.

"It’s not rocket science. These are mostly simple services that can be provided inexpensively at the local level, supplemented by provision of urgent care when needed."

The benefits of meeting the need for both family planning and maternal, and newborn health services would be dramatic. They include preventing deaths of nearly 400,000 women and 1.6 million infants.

Two-thirds

Unintended pregnancies would decline by more than two-thirds, unsafe abortions and resulting complications would drop by about 75 per cent. Other benefits would occur including reduced poverty and increased economic development in poor countries.

The report Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health also found that investment in family planning boost the overall effectiveness of every dollar spent on the provision of pregnancy-related and newborn health care.

Simultaneously, investing in both family planning and maternal and newborn services can achieve the same dramatic outcomes for Sh118.6 billion less than investing in maternal and newborn health services alone.

The report shows that the total investment needed is Sh1.9 trillion– a little more than double the current spending.

"It is a win-win situation. We know what must be done, we know what it will cost, and we now know that the needed investment is modest in relation to the vast benefits that will follow," says Ms Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA.

Currently, the world spends nearly Sh948 billion a year on family planning and maternal health programmes in developing nations, with developing countries and families providing the bulk of the total.

Still, 215 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using effective methods of contraception, and only half of the 123 million women who give birth each year receive the antenatal, delivery and newborn care they need. Millions of those with major complications get no treatment and either die or suffer from severe and debilitating conditions such as obstetric fistula.

Investing in family planning and maternal health would have profound additional benefits the report shows, including increased condom use for pregnancy prevention that would simultaneously curb transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Preventing unwanted pregnancies would also increase women’s educational and employment opportunities, enhancing their social and economic status. Family savings and investment would rise spurring economic growth and reducing poverty. These advances would make social and economic development goals easier to achieve.

Educational opportunities

"Investing simultaneously in family planning and in maternal and newborn health is cost-effective," says Ms Obaid.

"Investing in women has enormous benefits, not just for individuals and families, but also for societies as a whole. It can truly transform the future of developing nations," says Dr Camp.

Major causes of maternal death are: abortion, ante and post partum haemorrhage (bleeding), postpartum sepsis (infection), eclampsia (hypertension during pregnancy), and ruptured uterus.