Over 1 in 2 babies born dead in Pakistan-held Kashmir due to poor medical facilities
Fifty-four babies out of every 1,000 are stillbirths or first day deaths in remote mountainous region
“We are afraid we could die,” says Asmat Nisa, a mother-of-five set to give birth again. It is a dangerous prospect for women in the remote mountains of Pakistan-held Kashmir, where doctors are few and help is far.
“There is no hospital here and I have never seen a female doctor,” explains Nisa, who is from the village of Arang Kel in Kashmir’s Neelum Valley.
The numbers of the deaths are very high
That her doctor be a woman is important: local customs dictate that male doctors are not permitted to examine women during pregnancy or labour.
This restriction, combined with the isolation and severe weather of the plunging, remote valleys makes giving birth one of the deadliest moments in the lives of its women and newborns.
“The major reason for the deaths of mothers and newborn babies in the remote areas of Neelum Valley is unskilled and untrained midwives assisting the pregnant women during delivery,” says Farhat Shaheen, director of maternal, newborn and child health for Pakistani Kashmir.
Fifty-four babies out of every 1,000 are stillbirths or first day deaths in Kashmir, she said.