“Day 102" above refers to the time passed since the petrol blockade.
I always enjoy the writing of Meteor Blades, and he’s in the pantheon of diarists here on The Great Orange Satan. He wrote the following blog the other day — A wretched example of American exceptionalism: Our poor showing on maternal mortality It was excellent. As is the custom, any DailyKOS reader inspired to expound at length is gently encouraged to write their own blog in reply. So here goes…..
Nepal has peculiar issues related to maternal mortality, mostly centering around the idea that female body fluids are “unclean.” I wrote about this in my other blog Sept 2012. By this I mean, if a person of caste comes into contact with female body fluids, they should not engage in religious activity without “purification.”
Mansplaining
I don’t want to sound like I am stating the obvious, but — birth involves lots of body fluids. Until recently, the majority of women in rural Nepal would go to a nearby shed where animals were kept, and give birth there. There has been a national campaign in Nepal to entice women to go to a hospital, by paying for the care and paying the mother. If you wish to get the focus on Nepal, you need to step over the fold…..
We start with the statistics. The most recent comprehensive set is from 2013. A 36-page report from an INGO. Maternal Mortality in Nepal is roughly ten times that of the USA.
No, we don’t start with statistics! We ought to, but the best place to start is this award-winning video from five years ago:
It’s twentythree minutes long, but gives the picture and provokes further thought. She also produced one on child marriage, focusing on the Terai, the southern region where so much turmoil has taken place recently.
MIDSON
There is a Midwifery Society of Nepal, known as MIDSON. They also have a FaceBook page. The use of midwives is one model of care that is being followed. The options are:
1) Birth at home, with no attendant. Usually in a shed with a straw floor where animals are kept. Until recently, sixty percent or more of deliveries in Nepal took place this way.
2) Birth with lay midwives, as pictures in the Video above. usually the older ladies of the village.
3) Birth with a TBA — “Traditional Birth Attendant” — this has been promoted in the past few years. Click here for an excellent nineteen-minute video from USAID. MCH has been a signature project of USAID. They work in specifically-designated districts mostly in western Nepal.
4) Birth with a midwife — a trained nurse. Every licensed nurse is automatically a midwife (when I got my Nepal license, I too became legally authorized to deliver. would I? no.) On my YouTube channel is a video that shows the learning lab used to teach maternity nursing skills at a nursing school in Kathmandu. One of the better such learning labs.
5) prenatal care through a hospital clinic. When this model is followed it means that the high risk mothers get admitted to hospital in case a cesarean is needed.
6) admission to a hospital. For the past five years, the government pays for hospitalization, and gives a small payment to each mother as an incentive.
The effect of the earthquake?
Somewhere along the way, we learned that 150,000 pregnant women were in the earthquake zone. A the MIDSON FaceBook site are photos of a birthing station they set up after the quake.
Here is info
Also, if a woman is a widow, she is shunned. We saw one application of this discrimination against widows recently when the President of Nepal visited the Temple in Janakpur. Activists performed a cleansing ritual after her visit. I relayed that news here on this blog.
Now, in that case it was exaggerated, because of the politics. Other women have visited that place with no problem.
In Other news?
Loadshedding
starting tomorrow in Kathmandu there will be fifteen hours per day, of no electricity — “Loadshedding” is a rolling blackout.
Education in Nepal
Dorge Gurung is a Nepali guy who writes about corruption issues, and he often shares the details. Over the past few days I’ve written about a school that asked for Typhoid education in the village. When I saw this I thought the diary readers would dive into it. The accompanying photos speak volumes. www.dorjegurung.com/…
Conspiracy for Regime Change
The Prime Minister made a speech to his own political party in which he defended his government, and decried conspiracy to bring him down.
Two Amendments to the Constitution
Two amendments to the constitution are now being debated, at long last. These fix some of the constitutional problems that caused the protests. The two amendments are likely to pass, despite the objection (!) of the protesters. Why do the protesters object to something that is in their favor? Because they are afraid that the Indian government will use this as an excuse to lift their cooperation with the petrol obstruction, thereby removing the only tool the protesters can use to hold out for all-or-nothing.
Here is an editorial from today in which the writer is exploring hopelessness….. Giving up.
Finally, my second book is a fictional exploration of how women’s health issues impact their lives in Nepal. On my blog, I posted the most amazing book critique any author could have ever expected. It’s a truly unique critique if you ask me.