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Paying for babies saves lives
18 May 2007
Related pages:
Nepal country profile | Millennium Development Goal 5: Maternal
Health | Nepal Country Assistance
Plan
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The
UK Government has worked in Nepal for over 40 years and
over this time has seen some significant improvements.
However, while Nepal is on target to achieve many of the Millennium Development Goals, the goal to reduce maternal mortality is far from being met. Currently, 12 women die in Nepal every day either during pregnancy or childbirth. This is a figure that the Government of Nepal and DFID are working hard to reduce.
To improve the health of Nepal's people, DFID has provided the Government with a lump sum of £65 million to be used across the country's medical sector. A large part of this contribution (£20 million) has gone towards the National Safe Motherhood Programme, a five year initiative that began in 2004.
A desperate situation, a radical solution
The National Safe Motherhood Programme is trying to reduce the number of women dying during pregnancy and childbirth in the following ways:
- by improving health facilities;
- by training doctors and nurses;
- though the provision of equipment; and
- by educating women about pregnancy and the benefits of giving birth in a hospital.
The Programme also incorporates the innovative Maternity Incentives Scheme, which pays women to give birth in a hospital or health centre. Transport costs in Nepal are high, and there are very few good roads in the most mountainous provinces. In the past, these factors have prevented many women from travelling to a hospital or health centre to give birth.
Also, all across Nepal, women who give birth in a hospital or health centre now receive an average of 1,000 rupees (£7.50) after the birth of their first and second children. In most cases this is enough to cover transport costs and may even leave some money over to buy essential items for the new baby.
Another aspect of the scheme is the payment to health workers of 300 rupees for each birth that they attend. This includes home deliveries, and is therefore an added incentive to make the sometimes arduous journey to rural areas to attend births.
"More women coming to hospital to give birth"
Dr Ram Shankar Thakur and Dr Nuchhe Man Dangol work in the Mid-Western
Regional Hospital in Surkhet. Both men have seen the real benefits of the
Maternity Incentives Scheme.
"We are definitely seeing more women coming to hospital to give birth. Before the scheme we had five to six births a day, but now it is more like six to ten," says Dr Dangol. But there is a great deal of work still to do. "The hospital has enough staff to deal with these extra births," he adds, "but not enough beds. At busy times women may have to sleep on the floor after they have given birth."
Although the scheme is in the early stages and statistical evidence is not yet available, Dr Thakur confirms that, for him, "there is no doubt that there has been a reduction in the number of maternal deaths since the scheme started."
There can also be no doubt that, if the National Safe Motherhood Programme proves to be successful, a significant breakthrough will have been made in tackling one of the hardest-to-meet Millennium Development Goals.
Key Facts
- An estimated 539 women per 100,000 live births die as a result of complications during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period. This means that one women dies every two hours in Nepal.
- Nine out of ten mothers deliver their babies at home without skilled birth attendants and 69% of women die at home.
- The Government of Nepal increased spending on health from $50 million to $54 million between 2000/2001 and 2005/2006.