Women

The Alan Guttmacher Institute has issued a new report on global abortion rates. They found that while the total number of abortions globally fell from 45.5 million in 1995 to 41.6 million in 2003, 20 million unsafe abortions still occur every year. That’s a huge number. These 20 million unsafe abortions kill 70,000 women each year and seriously harm millions more.

A new study by the World Health Organization and the March of Dimes found that one in ten births, globally, is premature. “Around the world, about one in 10 babies are born prematurely each year, and more than one-quarter of the deaths that occur in the month after birth are the consequence of preterm birth.” The data surprised many people; premature birth is often seen as a problem of the wealthy world, and associated with fertility treatments, multiple births, and older mothers.

Hanna Ingber Win is Huffington Post's World Editor. She was recently invited by the UN Population Fund to visit its maternal health programs in Ethiopia, which has one of the world's worst health care systems. In the U.S., a woman has a 1 in 4,800 chance of dying from complications due to pregnancy or childbirth in her lifetime. In Ethiopia, a woman has a 1 in 27 chance of dying. 

This is the third installment of a five-part series on what she learned on her trip. Go to the original post for powerful photographs from the trip.  Part 1.  Part 2.

MEKELLE, Ethiopia -- Dima Yehea's two-year-old son has large brown eyes and a sweet, carefree smile. He sits on his mother's lap wearing only an old T-shirt. Dima, dressed in a loose hospital gown, looks at me with intent, studious eyes. Her baby turns towards her, grabs her left breast with both hands and nurses for a few minutes. As the baby focuses on his meal, Dima concentrates on me, a Westerner in Ethiopia.

Dima also wears a big smile on her face. Her hair has recently been styled, pulled back in tight braids, in preparation for her departure from the hospital and trip home to her rural village.

A young woman living in a country with one of the world's worst health care systems, Dima has experienced needless, preventable pain and tragedy. Yet she appears happy to share her story. To an American, it is a story of the poor state of women's health care in Ethiopia. To Dima, it is a story of triumph and hope.

Hanna Ingber Win is Huffington Post's World Editor. She was recently invited by the UN Population Fund to visit its maternal health programs in Ethiopia, which has one of the world's worst health care systems. In the U.S., a woman has a 1 in 4,800 chance of dying from complications due to pregnancy or childbirth in her lifetime. In Ethiopia, a woman has a 1 in 27 chance of dying. 

 This is the second installment of a five-part series on what she learned on her trip. Go to the original post for powerful photographs from the trip.  Part 1.

The first time Tadu Gelana's mother suggested she get married, Tadu thought she was kidding. Only 14 years old, Tadu had not yet finished school or had her first menstruation cycle. Tadu laughed at the suggestion. The second time her mother mentioned it, Tadu told her she wasn't interested.

Her mother did not relent.

Tadu's brother, who was about twice her age and had taken care of her for many years, had recently passed away. Tadu felt she should be grieving for the loss of her big brother, not preparing for a joyous wedding ceremony.

Hanna Ingber Win is Huffington Post's World Editor. She was recently invited by the UN Population Fund to visit its maternal health programs in Ethiopia, which has one of the world's worst health care systems. In the U.S., a woman has a 1 in 4,800 chance of dying from complications due to pregnancy or childbirth in her lifetime. In Ethiopia, a woman has a 1 in 27 chance of dying. 

 This is the first in a five-part series on what she learned on her trip. Go to the original post for powerful photographs from the trip. 

JIMMA, Ethiopia -- When Zemzem Moustafa went into labor with her fifth child - at age 30 - she could sense a problem. Living in a thatched-roof hut in Ilebabo, a rural village in western Ethiopia, she and her husband walked to the local health post. A health extension worker there could tell that the baby was in the wrong position, but the worker could not help Zemzem and referred her to the hospital. And so Zemzem's journey began, one that ends in tragedy for thousands of women in Ethiopia each year.

She and her husband, a poor farmer, collected 50 birr (US$4) from their neighbors for the trip to a hospital in Jimma, the closest big town. Leaving at around 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, they walked through the fields for an hour until they arrived at a road. Standing at the side of the road, they hailed a rickety old minibus packed with other villagers.