War-torn countries get less than £1 for pregnant mums and children

Countries at war such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq get just 80p a person a year to prevent mothers dying from childbirth and children dying before they are five, a new study reveals.

Every year about 1,041 pregnant women in war-hit countries die because of complications such as bleeding, infections and obstructed labour. In non-warring countries, that figure is nine childbirth deaths for every 100,000 live births. British researchers found that a total of £13bn (US$20.8 billion) was given each year between 2003 and 2006 to 18 countries affected by war.

The 18 countries were among the least developed countries in the world and considered as being affected by war or conflict between 2003 and 2006. Out of this total, £319m, or 2.4 per cent, was allocated to reproductive health. This amounts to just US$1.30 for each person per year, said the study published in Public Library of Science. Meanwhile, developing nations which were not at war for instance, Bangladesh, Malawi and Cambodia, were getting an average of £1.50 (US$2.50) a person a year.

Women die giving birth and children die before the age of five, in these countries often because of malaria, malnutrition, measles, diarrhoea and breathing diseases, all of which are preventable. "The amount is higher for non-conflict-affected least-developed countries despite the fact that conflict-affected least-developed countries appear to have generally worse reproductive health indicators," said the researchers led by Preeti Patel of King's College London and Bayard Roberts of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

It is up to richer nations to balance this out, Paul Speigel of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, told Reuters news agency. "If the world is to meet the Millennium Development Goals, especially those related to child mortality, maternal health, and HIV/AIDS, then reproductive health issues related to conflict and post-conflict settings must be better understood and addressed in a more equitable manner than is currently the case," he said.

In Northern Sri Lanka, The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) expects 350 pregnant women to give birth in camps this month alone. The humanitarian crisis in the area, which has seen ferocious battle between government troops and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is still continuing.

The agency said that thousands of pregnant women had fled the fighting zone and it is stepping up its health and safety mechanisms to handle the influx of homeless people particularly women and pregnant mothers. "At least 3,000 pregnant women have fled the fighting in northern Sri Lanka in recent days and some 350 will give birth in the next month.It is a common trend that birth rate increases during disasters. And to complicate matters, pregnant mothers and babies are exposed to undernourishment and dehydration in the camps.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children