Abortions Kill 68.000 Women, Threaten Millions, UN Says
19 million unsafe abortions occur worldwide each year, leading to the deaths of about 68.000 women, as governments resist tackling threats to sexual and reproductive health, the World Health Organization said.
People are marrying later, increasing opportunities for premarital sex, causing higher rates of unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted diseases, the UN health agency said Wednesday. The findings, to be published in the Lancet medical journal, follow the first global study of sexual and reproductive health.
– Sexual behaviors and norms vary enormously around the world and unfortunately many people, including politicians and even health professionals, are uncomfortable dealing with such matters, Paul Van Look, WHO director of reproductive health and research, said.
Unsafe sex is the second-most important cause of illness and death in developing countries and ninth in developed countries, according to the Geneva-based agency. Between 1995 and 2003, donor support for family planning fell to 460 million US dollar from 560 million dollar, it said.
The survey was based on data from 59 countries. Its evaluation was coordinated by the WHO and showed that the level of disability and premature death due to sexual and reproductive health “is huge and increasing”.
– This survey sounds an urgent alarm that if we do not address sexual and reproductive health openly and directly, the toll of death and disability will remain with us for many years to come, Van Look said.
Childbirth Deaths
Globally, more than half a million women die as a result of complications in pregnancy and childbirth every year. While access to contraception (forebyggende midler) has increased worldwide, an estimated 120 million couples do not get the contraceptives they would like or need, the WHO said.
An estimated 80 million women have unintended or unwanted pregnancies each year. Of those, 45 million end in abortion.
– These statistics represent an appalling catalogue of human tragedy, Joy Phumaphi, WHO assistant director-general for family and community health, said.
– Far from making progress, we seem to have been going backwards since the notion of reproductive health was born in Cairo in 1994. The issue is dropping down the international agenda and governments seem to be reluctant to tackle this most fundamental threat to health and well-being, added she.
Family planning services in Africa need an extra 70 million dollar just to achieve the middle range of fertility projections recommended by the UN, the agency said.
Kilde: The Push Journal
