University of Botswana Law Journal - PULP

78 UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOURNAL DECEMBER 2010
compelled to assist them because of their commitments to the MDGs.
Calling attention to the issue of maternal death as a human rights
issue gives impetus to international efforts to help states meet their duty to
provide pregnant women with maternal health care. A recent example
illustrates this point. In April 2010, the British medical journal Lancet
published a paper that found the number of women who die in pregnancy or
childbirth had dropped by more than 35% over 28 years. 151 Lancet’s editor,
Dr. Richard Horton, wrote in an accompanying comment “that he was
pressured to delay publishing the report because of the potential damage to
maternal advocacy campaigns.” 152 While the Lancet article found that
maternal deaths had fallen to about 343,000 in 2008, another report issued
only days later by a global alliance hosted by the World Health Organization
“claimed progress in maternal health was at a standstill” and that up to
500,000 women still die in childbirth every year. 153 The WHO alliance
findings did not explain where their data came from, but in the same report
U.N. officials claimed they needed $20 billion every year to “save women and
children in developing countries.” 154 Paradoxically, good news can be bad
news when it comes to motivating states to address human rights issues; “the
more people who are dying, the more money U.N. officials can raise, making
some experts not keen to announce success or acknowledge that a problem is
not as bad as they once thought.” 155 Advocates are concerned that progress in
reducing maternal mortality – progress in meeting the duty to provide
maternal health care – “will detract from the urgency of their cause.” 156
The Lancet study cited a number of reasons for the improvement,
including “the increasing ability of ‘skilled attendants’ – people with some
medical training – to help women give birth.” 157 Dr. Horton argued that the
study’s finding would not conflict with advocacy goals, stating in a telephone
interview with the New York Times:
People who have spent many years committed to the issue of
maternal health were understandably worried that these figures
could divert attention from an issue that they care passionately
about. But my feeling is that they are misguided in their view that it
151 M. Cheng, Politics of aid seen in clash over maternal deaths, ASSOCIATED PRESS (14 April, 2010),
available at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j-phKb8xCQcxd8xanFFF
7f1IN3oAD9F2R4H00.
152 Id.
153 Id.
154 Id.
155 Id.
156 D. Grady, Maternal Deaths Decline Sharply Across the Globe, NY TIMES (13 April, 2010), available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/health/14births.html.
157 Id.