Laos is working hard to reduce mortality rate of infants and mothers
(KPL) The Ministry of Health, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the World Health Organisation and the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) launched a nation-wide plan to reduce the mortality rate of infants, brought about by pregnancy and childbirth, by getting trained midwives to assist women who are in labour.
Such a plan is part of one of the millennium goals which Lao had pledged during the UN Congress in 2000, which is to reduce the mortality rate of infants and mothers by 2015. Working to achieve such an objective is also recognised as contributing to the reduction of poverty in the country and the removal of Laos from the list of the least developed countries by 2020.
“What is of utmost importance to us is to get the various ethnic groups or non-Lao Lom people to fully participate in this plan and there are problems: they have different beliefs, religions and customs and there is the problem of access to their villages,” said Mr. Sounthone Vangkonevilay, Head of the National Skilled Birth Attendance Plan.
“It is also necessary to get the officials in the field of infant and maternal health to be conscious of the importance of safe childbirth and raising the awareness of the public on this must be supported by the government and international organisations,” Mr. Sounthone added.
He also said that although the Ministry of Health has trained health workers to deal with the health care matters of infants and mothers and they are stationed throughout the country but there is now an increase in the demand for their services and morever there is a need to upgrade their skills.
Midwives enjoy a high social status in the European countries and they are skilled and trained. But in Laos midwives receive little training and they do not enjoy the high social status of their colleagues in Europe. In Laos their total number is not even officially documented.
It is not easy to help women who are in labour to give birth. It means that in the remote and mountainous areas the skilled services of the trained and skilled midwives are not welcomed. Many members of the various ethnic groups still believe in their age old traditional practices.
“Some tribal people don’t allow male health workers to help their wives give birth. I was once asked to help a women who was in labour although I do not have any training in midwifery and medicines,” said Mrs Souksavath Douangmisay, a reporter of the Army’s Newspaper. She said this when she was recalling her experience as a military person who was on assignment in Xaysomboune district, Vientiane province.
According to a report in 2005 an estimated 85 per cent of mothers give birth without the help of any health worker and some women still give birth on their own. The report also said that at present only 20 per cent of women gave birth with the help of health workers but the government is trying hard to increase the percentage to 80 per cent by 2015.
“In 1902 the United Kingdom laid down a law, as a result of years of debates, that midwives have to be trained and must hold certificates. The mortality rate of mothers and infants declined sharply soon after the enforcement of the law,” said Ms. Della R Sherratt, Assistant to the UNFPA representative to Laos.
Laos is listed as one of the countries with a high death rate of infants and mothers. In just one day three mothers die because of birth and pregnancy complications.
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