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Maternal deaths are an outrage

… future."

Sarah Brown ( Reuters 19 May)

The justifiable outrage that pregnancy and childbirth continue to kill 529,000 women and leave 1 million children motherless worldwide every year is, naturally, focussed on developing countries where childbirth is far more dangerous than we can imagine.

However, the words of our own Prime Minister's wife and the Secretary-General of the United …

MEOWS: Recommended

… of such events combined with the normal changes in physiology associated with pregnancy and childbirth compounds the problem. Modified early warning scoring systems have been successfully introduced into other areas of clinical practice and a system which has been modified for obstetric mothers is discussed in Chapter 19, together with an example of such a chart. These should be introduced for …

'Midwife numbers to fall short'

… The fact that the government thinks that this is one of the safest countries in the world to give birth (actually, it's one of the worst in Europe) is no reason to spread maternity care too thinly.

Life saving treatment wanted asap

… from Genital tract sepsis (GTS). This would be 4.25 per 500,000, but more women than that give birth in this country each year. The average number of deaths per annum from GTS/CF is 6.

Far, far more are affected (no data is recorded, but it should be) by childbed fever than this. I continually hear tragic stories of illness from survivors.

Would any of them not have wanted to receive …

Topic for discussion

Maternal death is too uncomfortable a topic for discussion.

Please discuss in the comments. …

Mother's Day Every Day

… is an international coalition bound together by a common goal: to ensure that pregnancy and childbirth are safe for all women and newborns in every country around the world.

Let's face it, our problems pale into insignificance when compared to the developing world, and while I believe that 'Charity begins at home' also means trying to fix the problems at home, other nations really need our …

Twittering by Gently

At first I started, through curiousity, on a high protein diet of @stephenfry , but then I was reading an interview with a man who started a charity in memory of his wife. He'd been recommended Twitter(.com) as a good means of raising awareness, so I thought...

Anyway, if you tweet, follow …

She doesn’t know her mother is dead

… Karmeh, who still doesn't know her mother died of post-partum sepsis.

Developing world childbirth is far, far more dangerous than it is, for example, in this country, but I believe that charity begins at home and that means fixing the problems at home as well. The work that so many organisations - such as the White Ribbon Alliance - does is vital, but there is so far to go in ensuring …

MEOWS

Modified Early Obstetric Warning Score charts are instantly clear and they can save a life. What are they, though?

They are a single sheet chart, with time tracked across the top, where observations - pulse, blood pressure, temperature and a whole host of others - can be marked in the columns …

The reality of maternal mortality: a father's perspective

… Jessica died in June 2004 when Emily was just 6 days old, and three weeks after Harry's third birthday. She was 34.

This photograph is hanging in poster size on their bedroom wall, so that they will never forget her.

This is my family today.

Emily is a relatively carefree 4 year old still learning about who and what it is she has lost. Harry is a seven year old, unfairly burdened with …