New Childbirth Assistance Device Has Potential to Save Lives
Posted by on January 16, 2014 - 12:56pm

Every year there are roughly 137 million births globally. Of these, about 10% may result in serious complications. Tragically, approximately 5.6 million babies are stillborn or pass away soon after, and around 260,000 women pass away every year in childbirth. These situations often occur in underdeveloped countries or rural areas where women do not have access to hospitals or procedures such as a cesarean section when undergoing an obstructed or prolonged labor. Currently, when situations like this arise, options to extract the baby include using forceps or a vacuum extractor, which can twist the baby’s spine, crush its head, or cause hemorrhaging. Despite these statistics and outdated technologies, there has been little to no technological advancement in this area for years.

However, Jorge Odón, a car mechanic from Argentina, recently came up with an idea for a new type of low cost device to help extract a baby from the birth canal. It consists of a plastic bag inside of a plastic sleeve. The bag is placed gently around the baby’s head and then inflated to grip it. When the sleeve is pulled, the baby emerges with it. This device is likely safer than using forceps or a vacuum extractor to assist in a difficult labor, and as there is less contact between the baby’s head and the birth canal, the risk of passing an infection such as HIV from mother to child may be diminished.

This birthing assistance device, known as the Odón Device, has been endorsed by the World Health Organization, which plans to increase testing from 30 Argentine women to 100 more women in China, India and South Africa to further determine its effectiveness and safety. The device has also received grants from donors, and has been licensed for production by an American company. If additional tests verify the claims that some doctors are making - that the device is safe to be used by midwives with minimal training - then the device may see clinical use in two to three years.

For more information on the Odón device, visit the WHO website here.

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U.N. Looks to Ban Female Genital Mutilation
Posted by on December 22, 2012 - 10:57am

On November 28, the United Nations’ (U.N.) human rights committee approved a resolution calling for a ban of female genital mutilation (FGM) throughout the world. The human rights committee condemned the practice as “a harmful and serious threat to the psychological, sexual, and reproductive health of women and girls.” This is the first resolution regarding this topic passed in the U.N., and its Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes it is a major step forward in protecting millions of women and girls (UN News Centre).

FGM is a procedure in which a girl’s clitoris, and sometimes other genital parts, are removed during early childhood or adolescence. In 2010, the U.N. estimated that about 70 million women and girls had received the procedure and the World Health Organization reported that about 6,000 girls undergo FGM every day. Some who practice FGM believe that it is required by their religion, or that by completing the procedure they can control women’s sexuality, and perhaps increase fertility. However, it has been proven that there are no health benefits to FGM, and that it leads to painful sexual intercourse, childbirth complications, and other health issues. Despite the prevalence of FGM, reconstructive procedures are not widely available. A group of French researchers and doctors have studied the effects of a type of surgery to reconstruct the clitorises of a group of women, and found that in the long term, most of the women reported either an improvement, or no change, in the amount of pain and clitoral pleasure experienced. Beatrice Cuzin, a urologist who participated in this study states that most women who undergo FGM do not have access to reconstructive surgery, and even if they do, cost is often prohibitive (Barclay, NPR).

FGM is prevalent in many African countries, but is also common in some Middle Eastern and South American communities. However, FGM education and reform should not just be limited to these regions because it is often practiced in diaspora communities all over the world, including the United States. For more detailed information on its prevalence and on efforts to prevent it, the United Nations Population Fund offers additional resources.

It is likely that the full U.N. General Assembly, which consists of 193 member states, will take up this issue in the second half of December, and it is nearly certain that it will be passed. While an approval wouldn’t result in any legal ramifications, U.N. resolutions carry significant moral and political weight, and it would send a strong message to the international community. The resolution condemns the practice and calls for states to create and promote educational campaigns for both men and women to teach them about the negative effects of the practice in an effort to eliminate it. It also encourages countries to enact legislation that prohibits FGM and ends leniency for those who practice it (Lederer, The Associated Press).