Mothers in the mountain kingdom

Imagine you are nine months pregnant and ready to give birth. You feel your contractions start. You are excited and afraid, but mostly you are in pain and praying that everything will go well. Now imagine that it will take more than four hours to reach the nearest health facility where you can get an assisted delivery. Imagine a journey mostly on foot over mountainous terrain. This is the reality for many women in Lesotho. Mantebaleng Ntelekoa, a young mother from a rural area in the mountains, remembers: “For all of my three deliveries, I walked two hours to the main road and then continued by minibus to the hospital. “I usually started walking when my contractions started and it took a long time, because I had to sit down every time I had a contraction. One of my children was born premature at seven months, so I am glad I made it to the hospital.” Lesotho 2013 © Yasmin Rabiyan/MSFMantebaleng Ntelekoa, a young mother from a rural area in the Lesotho mountains. Not everyone is as lucky as Mantebaleng. High HIV prevalence and poor access to maternity services have led Lesotho to one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, at 620 deaths per 100,000 live births. That’s about twice the global average. More than 50 per cent of those deaths are attributed to HIV-related complications. The government of Lesotho wants to reduce maternal deaths to 300 per 100,000 live births by 2015. Yet the health situation for many expectant mothers in the small mounta...
Source: MSF News - Category: Global & Universal Tags: Lesotho NEWS Frontpage Maternal Health HIV / AIDS Source Type: news