Jarring campaign shows what it's like to become a mother during conflict

When a woman in a war-torn region is in labor, her baby doesn’t wait for the shelling to cease or the neighborhood to stop crumbling.

A newly relaunched campaign from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) called Safe Birth, Even Here hopes to shed light on that reality. The above video and a new website for the campaign aim to provide more transparency around global efforts to curb maternal and infant mortality during conflict and natural disasters.

The main takeaway: Childbirth is difficult enough without the added stress of improper birthing conditions that come along with crisis.

“Our aim is to … stop women dying giving life.”

The awareness campaign, which began in 2012 by the UNFPA and relaunched this year with fashion brand United Colors of Benetton, was announced Monday at the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit.

The two-day summit in Istanbul was convened by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to address practical solutions to the most pressing humanitarian issues, and set a global agenda toward tangible action.

And the need for improved maternal health care in developing nations is an issue in dire need of global attention. According to UNFPA, an estimated 1 in 5 women of childbearing age living through crisis are pregnant. Conflicts and natural disasters put these women at risk, disrupting often already-strained access to medical support and sanitary birthing conditions.

Those unmet needs, coupled with the realities of trauma, malnutrition and daily violence of conflict and disaster, make the path to motherhood in some regions incredibly risky — and sometimes fatal.

In regions facing instability and humanitarian disasters, an estimated 500 women die every day due to pregnancy or childbirth complications — and Safe Birth, Even Here wants to change that.

“Even in peaceful and stable times, it can be difficult to carry a baby and have a safe delivery,” said Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of UNFPA. “But inside a war zone, after a natural disaster, or in a refugee or displaced persons’ camp, being pregnant is truly daunting.

“Our aim is to raise awareness of the huge work that still needs to be done across the world to stop women dying giving life — even in emergencies — as they cannot choose when their babies are born,” he said.

The effort also aids in facilitating donations of clean delivery kits, which provide basic birthing essentials for women unable to reach a health facility during a crisis or emergency situation.

To donate clean birthing kits to women who need the support, or to keep up with global efforts to tackle maternal and infant mortality, visit the Safe Birth, Even Here website here.

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