Timor has one of the highest fertility rates in the world and related deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth. The Ministry of Justice, the Office for Promotion of Equality and the Ministry of Health are concerned at the level of maternal deaths and has asked for quality data to inform their work which will benefit the women of East Timor.
Alola Foundation will collaborate with the researchers from Charles Darwin University, Melbourne University and UNFPA to implement this study during 2007 and 2008. The study will provide preliminary data on maternal deaths and women’s experience of early pregnancy loss. The third most common reason globally for women to die is from early pregnancy loss. Some possible issues to be investigated will be:
Legal or policy constraints to providing safe fertility management methods to Timorese families
Social constraints to safe fertility regulation for Timorese families
Health workers' procedures for recording maternal deaths
Social, economic and health system implications of early pregnancy loss and frequent pregnancy related deaths and illness
The research aims to reduce death and disability from unsafe practices that cause early pregnancy loss.
