How Are Mothers Being Affected in Libya?

Maternal health in post-conflict or post-crisis settings is a topic that we’ve discussed here on the blog before. However, it is often hard to find data, or even anecdotal, that explains how mothers are impacted by an unfolding crisis. Reports from Benghazi, Libya suggest that the war there is having devastating effects on women. Problems such as a lack of supplies, increasing number of patients, pre-term deliveries, and miscarriages have seemingly increased at Al-Jamahiriya Hospital:

The exhaustion of the nurses and midwives is eclipsed by the frightful spike in caesarians, premature births, intra-uterine deaths and miscarriages the staff have witnessed since February 17, when things turned violent…The hospital has dealt with 450 miscarriages since mid-February, an average of eight a day, compared with just two previously when “bad days” registered four to five cases “at the most.” The nurses have also observed and documented an increase in pre-term deliveries..

Read the full article to find out more about the impacts of war on maternal and child health in Libya