Maternal mortality is a global problem. It’s a problem that impacts us all.
The FACTS
Every year, more than half a million women die from pregnancy or birth-related complications.
Maternal mortality is higher in rural areas and among poorer and less educated communities.
A woman in a developing country is 97 times more likely to die as a result of pregnancy than a woman in a developed country.
Most deaths occur following birth by postpartum bleeding, infection, eclampsia, obstructed labor, unsafe abortion, or other direct causes.
When Birth is Taken for Granted
I think that the most unfortunate part of living in a developed nation is that you sometimes take for granted things that should not be taken for granted. How you give birth, i.e., natural, with epidural, via c-section becomes a rallying cry here and in other developed nations to begin conversations on the criteria for being a good mom, but forgotten is the fact that it’s a blessing that you even gave birth, that you lived, that your children lived.
I have birthed two babies. With both children, I never thought for a second, while pushing, that the forceful breath used to create a push to give life could be my last. I never thought about the possibility that our sisters in other countries must think about, about how childbirth can be very beautiful or very tragic. Between life and death is sometimes how childbirth is described. But, sometimes, we forget this.
This Mother’s Day, let’s not forget.
Let’s remember to be thankful and grateful to have given birth and support moms who should have the right to do the same. A good blogging friend of mine, Adriel of the Mommyhood Memos, started Bloggers for Birth Kits last year to connect blogging moms to moms of Papua New Guinea, where the maternal mortality rate is 1 in 7 women.
For the price of a bad-tasting cheeseburger from a fast food restaurant, you can help a mom in Papua New Guinea avoid one of the easiest preventable causes of maternal death, infection. You can do this by giving her a kit containing everyday household items that she can use to at least ensure a clean birth.
To make a donation to go towards a kit, please visit Adriel’s blog.
Even if you can’t help out financially, you can do so much by reblogging this post on tumblr, tweeting or sharing a link to her blog on your blog or Facebook page. Or, in the very least, you can educate yourself on maternal mortality and spread the word to other men and women in your life.
Thank you for reading this. I hope you visit Adriel’s blog, learn more, start talking, and get involved.
Thank you.
About Jessica Jessica (@jessicafhinton)
Jessica F. Hinton is a writer, blogger, and hobbyist photographer living in the DC metropolitan area with her husband and two children. Her writings have appeared in various places on- and off-line, such as The Huffington Post, Babble, BlogHer, The African American Review, Early Mama, Tots 2 Tweens, and Baltimore's Child. She is a senior editor at Baby Gizmo and writes unedited at her other blog, http://shortlittlebits.com.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Such a fantastic cause to get mom bloggers and other bloggers in general to get involve with! Thank you for sharing this, Jessica. I’ll be on my way to check it out
Thank you, Maureen! Thank you for reading and learning more about this great cause!
“How you give birth, i.e., natural, with epidural, via c-section becomes a rallying cry here and in other developed nations to begin conversations on the criteria for being a good mom, but forgotten is the fact that it’s a blessing that you even gave birth, that you lived, that your children lived.” Oh, I’ve been guilty of this (internally, at least) AND I really do know better!!! It’s so hard. But there’s grace. And yes, we have so, so much to be thankful for.
Thanks so much for writing this post and sharing from your heart Jessica. I so appreciate you lending your voice to this issue. it’s so important! You’ll be pleased to know that as of today we are up to 828 kits donated and promised. Amazing!!
Yay! That’s so awesome! (re: the many birth kits)
And we do have so much to be thankful for. Thank you for making the issue of maternal mortality in Papua New Guinea something that we all as bloggers and moms can relate to and feel like we can truly make a difference. 
Great cause!
It is! I hope you do learn more and get involved in whatever way you can!
I’m amazed by this over and over. Living in a third world country is one thing. I did it for a year. But giving birth and protecting the lives of all involved on limited resources is something else. And something so many of us don’t even have to think about!
Thank you, Andie. Thank you for this and for reading. It’s humbling, isn’t it? After writing this post, I learned that a woman in my husband’s family died, along with her baby, during childbirth. (She lives in a third world county). I don’t know the details of her or her baby’s death, but that alone really hit home for me, bringing this issue far closer to me than I ever imagined it would be. So sad.