FREETOWN, May 19, (232News) – The People’s Alliance for Reproductive Health Advocacy (PARHA) Sierra Leone Chairman and Co-founder has disclosed that up to 25 percent of maternal deaths in hospitals are caused by unsafe abortion complications.
Fodie Paul Oniel Kamara went on to disclose that abortion is among the first four leading causes of maternal death in Sierra Leone according to the Sierra Leone Demographic Health Survey.
Giving his perspective on Sierra Leone’s Status on Mortality report, PARHA Chairman stated that the 2015 UN estimates of maternal mortality in Sierra Leone indicates that each year, 1360 of 100,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes, giving it one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world.
He also submitted that according to the Survey, Sierra Leone has the highest fertility rate among adolescents in the West African Sub-region which is 125 per 1000, adding that 21 percent of girl’s age 15-19 years had begun childbearing by 2018, which according to him, 18 percent of girls age 15-19 had a live birth.
He disclosed also that the proportion of teenagers who had begun childbearing rises rapidly with age, from 4 percent at age 15 to 45 percent at age 19, underscoring that rural teenagers tend to start childbearing earlier than urban teenagers which is 29 percent versus 14 percent.
Speaking on the status of Women’s Right to Choose Abortion in Sierra Leone, he said that the country is plagued with five barriers to a woman’s choice: restrictive legal environment in respect of abortion and they are religious, moral, social, traditional and cultural.
“Many politicians, providers, parents and teachers treat young people as irresponsible or naïve- they withhold the resources and information they need to prevent or delay and that health information is variable, misinformed or often comes too late.”
He stressed that their aim is to see ‘safe abortion’ is carried out successfully, noting that as an advance advocacy network, they have had a Memorandum of Understanding with the Inter-Religious Council of Sierra Leone and also the media on how they will help them carry their plan about safe abortion, and for abortion not to be looked at the other way round.
He afterward gave some instances why abortion is good, saying that if a woman is raped and she is allowed to give birth to the child, the mother will not have love for that child because she would always think that she was raped in the process.
PARHA Chairman, Fodie Paul Oniel Kamara also revealed that there is a need to create a peaceful environment for women in the society, noting that they have had engagements with stakeholders on the issues on rape, early marriage, sexual assault and how these issues can be tackled.
