Local Editor
Hundreds of pregnant women in the Yemeni city of Hodeida risk dying as the escalating conflict puts medical care out of reach in a country with one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates, the United Nations said.
The U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) said pregnant women were at “extreme risk” as it became harder to access care, with the maternal death rate likely to have doubled from its 2015 tally of 385 deaths per 100,000 live births.
The violence limits the agency’s access to Hodeida, but it estimated 90,000 women were due to give birth there in the next nine months.
The escalation in the conflict has destroyed health facilities and placed those who suffered complications like haemorrhaging or infections at heightened risk, it said.
Nadia - not her real name - fled Hodeida nearly three weeks ago, fearing for her five children and unborn baby.
“I thought me, my baby and kids would die and get sick if I stayed,” Nadia who is five months pregnant, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from the capital Sana’a.
“I was afraid of losing the baby and delivering early.”
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to reach pregnant women or those who want to avoid getting pregnant with the reproductive health services and medicines they require,” said Luay Shabaneh, UNFPA director for the Arab Region, this week.
Hodeida is the main port of the impoverished Arab country, where around 8.4 million people are believed to be on the verge of starvation, and a lifeline for millions.
“I was suffering, tired and filled with fear. There was malnourishment, there was no basic needs like electricity and medical treatment,” said Nadia of her life in Hodeida.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
