“Crossing the river” to a safe delivery in rural Cambodia

Kantuot Village – When Bora was pregnant with her fifth child, she prepared to “cross the river.”

In the Khmer language, “crossing the river” is a way to describe childbirth, meaning a journey that should go smoothly but could just as easily go wrong.

Today, childbirth is safer than ever before. Between 1990 and 2015, maternal deaths in Cambodia fell by more than 80 per cent, according to United Nations data. But these improvements have been uneven across the country. Access to quality maternal care remains limited in many rural areas.

In full: https://www.unfpa.org/news/crossing-river-safe-delivery-rural-cambodia

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