LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A full 99 percent of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries, the risk increasing in rural areas. In Papua New Guinea, which remains largely rural, gender inequity, poor use of family planning and a decaying state rural health services have contributed to alarming maternal deaths.

According to the United Nations Development Program, the nation's maternal mortality ratio is 250 deaths per 100,000 live births. An even more sobering statistic in 2006 revealed 733 deaths per 100,000 births, the second highest after Afghanistan in the Asia Pacific region.

Health experts say that lives of expectant mothers can be saved by medical supervision of births combined with antenatal and postnatal care. The World Bank estimates 17 percent of people here do not have access to a road and two fifths of health facilities lack electricity and basic medical equipment.

The Ministerial Taskforce on Maternal Health noted back in 2009, "The decentralization of government roles, responsibilities and financing (in the 1980s) has seriously compromised the quality and functionality of health services, including maternal health."

Between 1987 and 2000, rural health staff was slashed by 25 percent.

Glen Mola, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Papua New Guinea says that "Women can deliver (by) themselves safely at home with their mothers and sisters in support, as long as nothing goes wrong, but if something does go wrong, then it can be mortal for that woman if she is in her house in the village. The (reason) why PNG has such a horribly high (maternal mortality rate) is that 67 percent of women deliver at home.

"Having a professional midwife or obstetrician present in the house is not going to make any difference to her chances of surviving a labor and delivery complication unless there is backup emergency obstetric care, drugs and facility support," he says.

Health services run by church organizations, which account for 60 percent of health facilities in Papua New Guinea, have been singled out for praise.

The Church of the Nazarene operates a district hospital in Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands Province, and rural health services in the province of Jiwaka. Medical workers visit 16 rural health clinics every month offering prenatal examinations, child health clinics, family planning and health education while referring complicated pregnancies to the hospital.

A version of this story was first published by Inter Press Service news agency.

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