17 February 2004 - Africa's maternal mortality is highest in the world
The number of women dying from pregnancy complications has kept rising in Africa, from 870 per 100 000 expectant women in 1990 to 1 000 in 2001, international consultant on reproductive health Joseph Kasonde said on Monday.

"The maternal mortality rate in Africa is the highest in the world," he told a United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) regional conference on maternal and new-born health in Harare.

"The risk to a woman of dying in pregnancy or labour in Africa remains unacceptably high," he said.

In Zimbabwe the number of women dying from pregnancy-related complications has nearly trebled over the past decade from 253 to more than 700 per 100 000 pregnant women, according to health and child welfare ministry secretary Elizabeth Xaba.

Most of the deaths have been due to poverty, HIV/Aids, shortages of qualified health personnel, poor health facilities, delays in reaching health facilities because of shortage of transport and lack of medical resources, she said.

04 February 2004 - Fistula makes social outcasts of child brides
Meseret, from the Lalibela district in northern Ethiopia, was only 13 when she became pregnant. Married at 12, her underdeveloped body was not ready for the stress of giving birth. After six days of gruelling labour her child was finally born, but it was dead.

As a result of the long labour, Meseret suffered crippling injuries – including the ripping of internal tissue. This created a hole between her bladder, vagina and rectum, a condition that doctors term an “obstetric fistula”. As a result, Meseret became unable to control normal excretory functions – and urine and faeces started to drip down her legs constantly.