Pregnant Women in Typhoon-Hit Areas Face Enormous Risks

Some 235,000 pregnant women affected by typhoon Haiyan face heightened risks in the storm’s aftermath, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, today. They urgently need assistance, particularly the restoration of maternal and newborn health services.

Based on government estimates that between 9 and 13 million Filipinos have been affected by Haiyan, UNFPA reports that around 900 deliveries are taking place every day in the storm-hit areas, many in makeshift clinics, in the absence of functioning medical facilities and skilled birth attendants. Each day, approximately 130 of these mothers will experience potentially life-threatening complications.

There are also around 157,000 mothers who have delivered in the past six month who need care to prevent diseases that could lead to maternal or infant deaths.

“Babies continue to be born even in emergencies like this one, and women have to give birth without access to even the most basic essentials for safe delivery. In these situations, the sudden loss of medical support puts women and their newborns are at higher risk of death or injury,” said Genevieve Ah-sue, acting UNFPA Representative in the Philippines.

As part of the UN’s Humanitarian Action Plan for typhoon Haiyan launched last week, UNFPA is mobilizing PHP172 million (US$4 million) to support the restoration of health services to restore life-saving maternal and newborn care, including emergency obstetrics care to ensure safe births.

UNFPA lists the following as among its priorities to support the affected provinces:

• Provision of clinical delivery equipment, supplies and medicines for temporary birthing facilities.
• Provision of clean delivery kits for women in their last trimester of pregnancy. These kits contain supplies that allow women to deliver at home in cases where they do not have access to a clinic.
• Setting up of health centres to provide primary health care, including basic emergency obstetric care.
• Distribution of hygiene kits to women and girls of child-bearing age, with pregnant and breastfeeding mothers as priorities.

In hard-hit Eastern Samar, equipment and supplies that UNFPA prepositioned at the Provincial Health Office have been deployed to the municipality of Guiuan. These include delivery beds, midwifery kits and hospital beds. A generator set, cold storage for medicines, and hygiene kits are also on the way to the province.

More supplies are in the pipeline for distribution to other affected areas, and additional shipments will arrive in the country this week.

UNFPA staff are part of interagency teams assessing conditions in affected areas, including the health status of affected population, especially pregnant women, and living conditions of displaced people, including vulnerability to sexual violence.

“In times of crisis, the risk of maternal and infant mortality rises. The most critical interventions for safe child delivery are providing women with skilled care during childbirth and ensuring that women who experience life-threatening complications have prompt access to emergency obstetric care,” Ah-sue said.