While going through various magazines in my house, I came across one of the latest issues in Time magazine. I was pleasantly surprised to find an article that centered around Sierra Leone within the magazine pages. Throughout this entire project so far, I have not yet heard any news about the country of Sierra Leone in any current news articles or on news broadcasting networks, so I was glad to find the article “Death in Birth”.
The article essentially discusses the troubles and consequences of mothers who die in birth. Annually nearly 536,000 women die while giving birth. Most of the women that contribute to that number are women from developing and third world countries such as Sierra Leone. In my past recent posts I focused on the children of Sierra Leone. However, this article opened me up to the idea of the mothers and fathers; the very people who create the future of their country. So not only does Sierra Leone have the highest infant mortality rate in the world, it is also amongst the countries with the highest maternal mortality rates. In their lifetime, a Sierra Leone woman has a one in eight chance of dying while giving birth, while in Sweden the rate is much lower with a chance of one in 17,400. To make matters worse there are only five gynecologists in the entire country. Compare that number to the over six million people who live in Sierra Leone. To combat these horrible statistics the UN has taken action and has incorporated lowering the maternal mortality rate as one of its goals in their Millennium Development goals, which they hope to achieve by the year 2015. However as studies have shown, while other countries maternal mortality rates have reduced in the last years, the rates of developing countries have barely decreased, if not staying the same.
This article definitely gave me a broader perspective on the health care system in Sierra Leone. It seems to me that although the newly elected government has tried to make reforms ever since the end of the civil war, the changes are not coming soon enough if at all. Here is an interesting quote from the article: “Emergency maternity care is supposed to be free in Sierra Leone, but in reality, patients are asked to pay for every item, including cotton swabs, gauze and syringes--this in a country where the average income is about $200 a year. If transfusions are needed, relatives have to donate blood to replace what is used.” From my perspective, the hospitals are definitely not at fault, it seems that they are trying their best with what they have, and what most hospitals in Sierra Leone have is a highly understaffed hospital with few medical supplies.
There is some good news however. Aide organizations are promoting women to give birth in clinics which are safer than at-homes births which is what many women traditionally do. A joint investment of about $262 million from the World Bank, UNICEF and the British government to aid in the Sierra Leone healthcare system. Although may not solve all of the problems in Sierra Leone’s health care system it is definitely a start.
You can find the online version of the article here:
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