DYING FOR TREATMENT - part I : ongoing project

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The Sub-Saharan African region is the poorest on Earth. More than 600,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth every year due to lack of proper care, only 30 per cent of the population has access to health care, and often counterfeit medicines - trafficked by international criminal networks - contribute to kill thousands of people.

International policies to assist these Countries are extremely weak; bureaucracy often hinders NGOs to save lives despite available intervention.more »

The Sub-Saharan African region is the poorest on Earth. More than 600,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth every year due to lack of proper care, only 30 per cent of the population has access to health care, and often counterfeit medicines - trafficked by international criminal networks - contribute to kill thousands of people.

International policies to assist these Countries are extremely weak; bureaucracy often hinders NGOs to save lives despite available intervention.

The situation in Guinea-Bissau is the worst in the region. In the Capital Bissau there's just one working but unequipped surgery room. One in 8 women die giving birth, and babies often don't survive the first two days due to a total lack of care and trained personnel.

Despite the urgent need to reduce the death rate of women in childbirth and supply these people with better health care, the UN's ability to raise the billions of dollars needed is limited by the impact of the global financial meltdown.

A new trend marked by the presence of terrorist networks -- which are profiting the situation to develop a series of illegal trades -- raise further concern.
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