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Burkina Faso President Pledges to Fight Maternal Mortality

by VR Sreeraman on Feb 13 2010 5:18 PM

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore has pledged to fight maternal mortality by lifting financial barriers to proper care during childbirth, rights group Amnesty International said Friday.

Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaore has pledged to fight maternal mortality by lifting financial barriers to proper care during childbirth, rights group Amnesty International said Friday.

Compaore met a delegation from the human rights body after they published a report detailing the problems women face in the west African country over pregnancy and childbirth.

"The lifting of financial barriers for emergency obstetric care, accompanied by improvements in the quality of care and family planning will significantly reduce the number of deaths and complications for women in child birth," said interim secretary-general Claudio Cordone.

"Every woman has the right to life and the right to health. No woman should die giving birth when her death could have been prevented."

Amnesty welcomed progress made in reducing costs related to pregnancy and childbirth in a country where women have to travel long distances for medical care and more than 2,000 women die annually during pregnancy and childbirth.

"Ultimately, in order to fully address maternal death there is a need to tackle the various forms of discrimination against women which prevent them from taking part in decisions on family planning and accessing health care," said Cordone.

Amnesty urged international donors to continue to support Burkina Faso in the long term to ensure the availability and accessibility of emergency obstetric care.

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Source-AFP
SRM


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