AS reported on Thursday, a study by a trusted medical journal has shown that Pakistani women suffer the second highest number of stillbirths in the world. An even more alarming statistic is that they top the list in terms of stillbirth rate — 47 per 1,000 births, the highest of the 193 countries studied. According to a Pakistani doctor who helped author the report, this rate has only improved by six per cent since 1995. An important caveat is that data was not easily obtainable everywhere, so countries like Somalia and Afghanistan, for example, may have higher rates than the existing data shows. Even with that qualification, however, Pakistan's rate — compared to 19 per 1,000 births globally — is an alarming comment on the quality of maternal health in the country.

These statistics point to a serious lack of access to prenatal care as well as trained medical practitioners and clean, well-equipped facilities at the time of childbirth. This need is especially dire in rural areas, where the time taken to reach these resources can result in serious complications. To address the issue, many more trained community midwives, if not nurses and doctors as well, would be needed in rural and in low-income urban areas, along with training centres and qualified faculty that can churn out midwives in adequate numbers. Such an effort would also require sufficient benefits for these workers; as recent complications with the otherwise successful lady health worker programme have shown, these employees must be provided with enough compensation and job security to motivate them to work under inhospitable conditions in some remote areas. While it remains true that the government is facing severe economic pressures, addressing the currently appalling state of healthcare for women should be near the top of any list of development priorities.