Childbirth death risk in third world as bad as UK 100 years ago

PREGNANT women in developing countries face as great a risk of death in childbirth as British mothers-to-be 100 years ago, campaign groups today warned.

Coinciding with the 100th year of International Women's Day, a coalition of charities has called on world leaders to give greater priority to maternal and child health.

They noted that in 1910, some 355 women per 100,000 live births in England and Wales died in labour or through pregnancy-related problems.

The mortality rate for women giving birth today in the developing world is 450 women per 100,000.

However, in Chad the number of women dying in pregnancy or birth stands at 1,500 per 100,000 live births – around three times the rate for British women in 1910.

Brigid McConville, director of campaign group White Ribbon Alliance, said: "Women, and men, around the world are gathering to make their voices heard to say no more to the needless deaths which rob children of their mothers, families of their sisters and daughters, men of their wives and countries of their hardest, most productive workers.

"There still remains a long way to go for the protection and security of pregnant women and their newborn children."

Kate Allen, Amnesty International UK director, said: "It's not impossible to cut back on the rate of maternal deaths globally.

"It has clearly been possible here in the UK, we need to demonstrate that same level of commitment worldwide.

"The UK has so far shown commitment to providing adequate resources.

"However, this must be combined with greater political will not only in the UK but globally to ensure that a pregnant woman is not denied her basic right to healthcare.

"We do not want to wait another 100 years before we see significant progress here."