Feb.26,2014: Pakistan has world's highest stillbirth rate Pakistan has the highest
rate of stillbirths and first-day deaths in the world, according to a report by international
charity Save the Children. The report titled “Ending Newborn Deaths” was released
by the UK-based NGO in Islamabad on Tuesday. "More than 200,000 children in Pakistan
die each year during childbirth or its first day of life, which is the highest rate
globally,” the report said. It called on the government to take active steps to bring
down the child mortality rate. According to the report, half the deaths in Pakistan
and around the world could be prevented if mothers and babies had free healthcare
facilities and skilled midwives on hand to assist in child births. “The first
moments of a child’s life are the most dangerous, yet too many mothers give birth
without any skilled help,” said Ghulam Qadri, deputy country director for Save the
Children in Pakistan. “It’s criminal that many of these 200,000 deaths annually
in Pakistan can be averted simply by having someone around to make sure the birth
takes place safely and knows what to do in a crisis.” The report declared Pakistan
as one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a mother or baby. “Approximately
70,000 babies die on the day of birth,” said Dr Qudsia Uzma, a health and nutrition
specialist at Save the Children. “The government has begun deploying health community
midwives to improve skilled birth attendance in rural areas, but only 45 percent of
those have been properly trained, she said. “The root problem is the lack of skilled
health workers with the right equipment and medical supplies to support mothers, especially
in the most rural and remote areas where they are needed the most,” she added. In
a bid to save millions of newborns, Save the Children has urged world leaders to commit
this year to a blueprint for change. The plan focuses on training and equipping enough
skilled health workers to make sure that by 2025 no baby is born without proper help,
and removing fees for all pregnancy and birth services. Source: Ucan