Hidden Suffering: Disabilities from Pregnancy and Childbirth in Less Developed Countries

For every woman who dies of maternal causes, at least another 30 women suffer serious illness or debilitating injuries, such as severe anemia, incontinence, damage to the reproductive organs, chronic pain, or infertility. These disabilities have received scant attention from policymakers, however, because of a lack of published evidence and because of cultural values that teach women to bear burdens in silence. Focussing on the magnitude of the problem, principal causes of disabilities, and steps that need to be taken to make motherhood safer, the author of this policy brief claims that maternal disabilities are almost entirely preventable. Reducing maternal disabilities, she says, is as important for alleviating poverty as it is for reducing needless suffering.