International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Thousands of expectant mothers in Haiti are being provided with medical kits by the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA).

The kits are being given to pregnant women in case they are not able to get medical attention and have to give birth at home or on the streets if they have been made homeless by the earthquake, the UN News Centre reported.

Wilma Doedens, technical adviser on reproductive health at UNFPA, said that there is not a lot of access to medical care for pregnant women.

"Most medical facilities are focused on those seriously injured during the earthquake. We are hearing more and more about women delivering at home. We want to make sure that they have the basic equipment they need," she told UN News.

Birthing tents at field hospitals have also had more advanced kits containing emergency Caesarean section equipment such as intravenous fluid.

This week the Irish Times reported that Afghan MP Dr Shinkai Zahin Karokhail had compared the death rate among women and girls in Afghanistan due to pregnancy and childbirth to a "silent tsunami".

While addressed the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs, he also urged members to press the government and the European Union to direct aid towards non-military and women's organisations in Afghanistan.

Posted by Paul Robertson