Mothers and babies dying in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone, which has one of the highest death rates of mothers and children in the world, is facing a "human rights emergency,” an aid agency warns today. One in eight women in the west African country risk dying during pregnancy or childbirth, says a report out today by Amnesty International. That statistic becomes all the more shocking when compared with the one in 4,500 mums who die in pregnancy or childbirth in the in the developed world. Cost is a major barrier, the report says as many women and girls are too poor to pay for lifesaving treatment. Thousands bleed to death after giving birth. Most die in their homes. Some die on the way to hospital – in taxis, on motorbikes or walking. Less than half of deliveries are attended by a trained healthworker and fewer than one in five are take place in health facilities. "These grim statistics reveal maternal deaths are a human rights emergency in Sierra Leone," said Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary general, launching the report in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. "Women and girls are dying in their thousands because they are routinely denied their right to life and health, in spite of promises from the government to provide free healthcare to all pregnant women."

Most vulnerable are women living in poor countryside areas because of a lack of transport and infrastructure. Campaigners say that the issue is partly a result of the country's 11-year civil war. "We are a post-war country,” said Abigail Renner, of Women in Peace Building in Sierra Leone. “The cost of living is very high, the roads are bad, drugs are very expensive and we don't have enough hospitals." She added: "Before the war, women were not afraid to have children. Now they are." Yerie Marah is one of the statistics. She was 22 when she died in November 2008, the day after giving birth to a baby girl. The baby, Mariama, was just 40 days old when she, too, died. Yerie Marah’s husband, Mahmoud, told researchers, “It is because of poverty that these things are happening.”

The report, Out of Reach: The Cost of Maternal Health in Sierra Leone comes out the day before Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to announce finance to improve healthcare in the developing world at the United Nations in New York.

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children