20-hour delivery kills African woman: ‘She begged for caesarean section’ | Abroad

The tragic case has sparked outrage in Senegal for weeks. The victim, Senegalese Astou Sokhna, is a symbol of the poor health system in the West African country, according to critics.

The young woman is said to have begged several times for a cesarean section during her hour-long labor. Doctors ignored that call, as it would not have been planned in advance. They threatened to send her away if she insisted on the procedure, local media reported. Her husband was shocked by her death and took legal action against the hospital in the northern city of Louga.

The six midwives are not aware of any harm and feel they are victims, their lawyer says. Four of them are in prison, two others are out on bail. “They do not understand the facts of which they are accused,” their lawyer Abou Abdoul Daff told local media. “It is unacceptable for them to assume that no help was provided to a person in need. They did everything they could.”

In recent weeks, healthcare workers in the country have stopped working en masse in support of midwives. They demanded better working conditions and higher wages for healthcare workers during the days-long strike. Health Minister Abdoulaye Diouf Sall showed understanding for the striking healthcare workers, but also indicated that Sokhna’s death could have been prevented if the doctors had been more vigilant.

The death of Sokhna and her child has sparked a storm of criticism on social media from people who have experienced similar situations. Critics blame the concern in Senegal and say that something urgently needs to be done from the government.

President Macky Sall is shocked by the drama and opens an investigation. He assured that ‘failure will not be tolerated’.

UNICEF reported in a report two years ago that nearly 2 million babies are stillborn worldwide every year. At least 84 percent of lifeless births take place in poorer regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, largely due to poor care. There, for example, things often go wrong during childbirth, while in the West this is only the case with 6 percent of stillborn babies.

“Every 16 seconds a baby is stillborn somewhere in the world,” said Suzanne Laszlo, UNICEF Netherlands director, at the time. “While many mothers would not have had to lose their child, they would have received the proper care.” She also points out the psychological and social impact for parents when they lose a child. “Such a loss can affect your self-esteem and your own identity,” Laszlo explained. “That’s why it’s all the more important to get this topic out of the taboo.”

In the Netherlands, the number of babies that are stillborn every year has fallen sharply over the past two decades. In the year 2000 there were more than a thousand stillbirths and in 2019 there were four hundred. According to UNICEF, this is partly due to various policy measures, but also because more attention is being paid to vulnerable pregnant women and a healthy lifestyle.

Worldwide, the stillbirth rate fell by 35 percent.