Every woman counts

Pakistan loses one women every 30 minutes to preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth, while about 3,000 cases of obstetric fistula occur each year in the country. One in every eleven children born in Pakistan dies before his or her fifth birthday. It's estimated that around 52% of women in Pakistan give birth at home, usually without skilled or trained birth attendants. Heartbreakingly, most of the deaths and complications surrounding childbirth are treatable. Young women die because they have no access to sufficiently equipped medical facilities, or because the traditional midwife (dai) doesn't refer the women in time to the hospitals when complications arise and a caesarean section is needed. In a place where poverty is rife, most families can't afford the medicine or care they require.