This video is called Every half-hour a woman dies during childbirth in Afghanistan.
From the New York Times in the USA:
Pregnancy and childbirth kill more than 536,000 women a year, more than half of them in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Most of the deaths are preventable, with basic obstetrical care. Tanzania, with roughly 13,000 deaths annually, has neither the best nor the worst record in Africa. …
Women in Africa have some of the world’s highest death rates in pregnancy and during childbirth. For each woman who dies, 20 others suffer from serious complications, according to the W.H.O. “Maternal deaths have remained stubbornly intractable” for two decades, Unicef reported last year. In 2000, the United Nations set a goal to reduce the deaths by 75 percent by 2015. It is a goal that few poor countries are expected to reach.
The article does not mention the rate of women dying in Afghanistan. As could be read in an earlier entry of this blog:
After Sierra Leone, Afghanistan has the highest maternal mortality rate in the world with at least 1,600 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to UNFPA and the UN Children`s Fund (UNICEF).
The “new” Afghanistan of George W. Bush, who claimed to wage his destructive war to liberate Afghan women. And, since this year, the Afghanistan where Barack Obama is escalating the war, instead of breaking with the disastrous legacy of his predecessor.
By the way, Sierra Leone, the only country above Afghanistan on this tragic list, has also been on the receiving end of “humanitarian” Western military intervention.
Health researchers released a study on Tuesday which found that over two million babies and mothers die worldwide each year from childbirth complications, outnumbering child deaths from malaria and HIV/Aids: here.
Human rights activists staged a die-in at a busy London station on Saturday to highlight the number of women who die in childbirth around the world each year: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
AAPSO STATEMENT
25 MAY – AFRICA DAY
Forty-six years have elapsed since designating 25 MAY as AFRICA DAY, along with the birth of the Organization of African Unity, which later transformed into African Union, is a landmark in the history of Africa after the completion of the decolonisation proceess in the1960s.
The Afro-Asian Peoples’ Solidarity Organization – AAPSO – together with the African people, commemorates this Day with full hopes and expectations about the future of the continent.
Within the framework of globalization, a number of political, economic and social problems in Africa still remained unresolved. As a result of devastating effects of the structural adjustment policies imposed by international financial institutions, the consequences of which continue to be felt as evidenced by low economic growth, mounting external debt, widespread unemployment., poor conditions of health and education, misery, starvation, and poverty. Sadly enough, further deterioration of these socio-economic indicators is likely to happen, soon or later, due to the current global multidimensional crisis which undoubtedly have its impacts on the daily life of any African people.. Consequently, reaching the Millennium Development Goals remains a far cry and dream for Africa.
Today, Africa is facing huge challenges within the global system of financing for economic development. The decline in growth, which has been successfully sustained at a respectable rate during the previous years (roughly 5%), is likely to be gravely affected by the same decline in African exports, in internal and external investments, in foreign aid on which many Africa countries depend, in employment and job opportunities, even in the sphere of health and education. Poverty is looming deeply.
In the context of current global situation, Africa needs to see some changes in mentality and behavior as far as corruption is concerned. According to reliable sources, corruption costs Africa $150 billion each year. It is essential that money deposited in foreign banks should be brought back to fruitful investment (until now, 80% of such money did not return to Africa). International financial institutions like IMF, are widely believed to fuel corruption in Africa. Africa has suffered much from the policies of these institutions. Africa demands new international financial institutions with human face, democratically managed, instead of outdated ones, yet endowed with immense resources at hands. After much broken promises before, will Africa get a slice from the huge money pledged recently by the G20?
All these challenges are actually being burdened by the continuation of conflicts, wars and other humanitarian crises in many parts of Africa. Remember Darfur in Sudan (country, the sovereignty of which had been violated by Israel when it bombed a convoy alledgedly carrying arms for Gaza, Palestine), violence-ridden Somalia, (country which breeds pirates causing international concerns), the Democratic Republic of Congo (country of internal and external covetousness), as well as other political turmoils in terms of democracy, human rights, which negatively influence the process of development.
All these problems need to be addressed in a rational way, objectively, within the context for far -reaching perspective, in order to meet the very aspirations of the African people. Accordingly, for the AFRICA DAY to be a thought-provoking motive leading to sustained action, not a mere commemoration, AAPSO calls on the Africa Union to persevere in its efforts to address issues pertaining to the problems of poverty, diseases, development, peace, stability and security in the continent.
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