Rome (Fides Service) - Lack of infrastructures, almost non existent roads, poor economy, low literacy rate, make northern Mali one of the poorest regions of one of the poorest countries in the world. The country has 8 regions and 3 Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu are in this northern area which covers two thirds of Mali’s entire territory. These factors are a serious obstacle to starting any sort of health programme. Medical care must be paid for and it is based on self-funded health centres which to stay open have to charge patients for all treatment.
In Mali the average birth rate is 6.3 children per mother and the maternal mortality rate is 0.6 for every 100 children born alive. The 22% mortality rate of children under 5 is the world’s highest.
Hardly any of the provincial health centres in these three northern regions have midwives or doctors able to perform a caesarean, pregnant mothers in difficulty are sent to regional hospitals at Gao and Timbuktu hundreds of kilometres away. This delay is one of the causes of the increase of the already high maternal and infant mortality rate in hospitals and why women die on the streets.
The situation is even more precarious because of an illiteracy rate among women of 87%, distance and difficult access to health centres and people’s lack of financial resources. (AP) (28/4/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:22; Parole:263)