Will Swanson's Blog

As I write this post, my brother and sister-in-law are waiting in the Royal Brisbane Hospital to have their very first child. Thankfully they’re in the confident hands of world class physicians and midwives who have all they need at their fingertips for a successful birth. But what if things were different, if her name was Rasheeda or Miriam or Lucia and she lived in South Sudan, the deadliest place for giving birth in the world.

If she lived in South Sudan, my sister-in-law may not have even had a choice to conceive the baby because only 1% of South Sudanese have access to something as simple as contraception. She wouldn’t have been in a world class hospital, or even had a midwife as only 5% of South Sudanese women have that luxury while giving  birth.  Also for every 100 000 live births, 2 054 South Sudanese women die in the process, while many develop obstetric fistula or other long term debilitating conditions. And even if everything went well today- there’s a 25% chance that my nephew wouldn’t live to see his 5th birthday.

If she was giving birth on the dirt floor of a mud hut in South Sudan, would we still be just as excited? Or would my family be praying for her just to survive the night?

I feel incredibly priviledged to be a small part of changing the future for someone else’s sister-in-law, wife or mother by working with an aid agency that builds clinics and trains local staff to give mothers the support they need during childbirth. Good things are happening but it takes time, resources, education and empowerment of women and the political resolve of local, national and international communities.

You can be practical and support organizations that focus on this serious issue of maternal and child health in South Sudan such as Save the Children, Medair, Tearfund, Care International and Oxfam GB.

Sources: UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, Save the Children, fightfistula.org

Photo credit: Laura Fraser