Maternal mortality and women's condition: “The distress in being a woman”

Towards an anthropology of public health priorities: maternal mortality in four obstetric emergency services in West Africa

“…Every year, 500,000 of the world's 200 million pregnant women will die: 47.2% of these deaths occur in Sub‐Saharan Africa, which means that globally – although significant variations can be found depending on the countries, the urban or rural environments and the families’ socio‐cultural status – the risk of a woman dying of causes linked to pregnancy is around 1,000 per 100,000 live births (OMS 2004). In countries like Mali or Niger more than 3,000 maternal mortalities are expected per year (Ouédraogo and Bouvier‐Colle 2002; Des Forts 1996). In response to this situation, ‘prior’ preventive actions like family planning programmes attempt to erode the terrible ‘rule of too many’– too many children, too early, too late and too close – where mortality largely finds its origins.…”