The Reality of Pregnancy in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author Shares Truth About Pregnancy in a Region Where 1 in 16 Women Die from Complications

Pregnancy - Typically, it is an event in a woman's life that calls for happiness. There is great joy in anticipating the arrival of a new baby into the world, and it is usually an uneventful experience, especially in the Western world. When problems do happen to arise, help is readily available.

But this view of pregnancy stands in stark contrast to many of the experiences in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa, where pregnancy is a source of great pain and suffering for the vast majority of women. Dr. Benjamin Ogbonna reveals the truth about a situation where 1 in 16 women die from complications of pregnancy in his new book, "Pregnancy: A continuing source of sorrow and pain for women in Sub-Saharan Africa" (published by AuthorHouse - http://www.authorhouse.com).

Drawing upon his experiences with the subject on three continents - Africa, Europe and Asia - Dr. Ogbonna, brings maternal deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa to the front burner, sparing no detail. Written with the general public in mind, "Pregnancy" uses as little medical terminology as possible due to the importance of reaching a wide audience.

"It should make an interesting reading for people in the western world to enable them to full appreciate what is happening in other places," Dr. Ogbonna writes. "For people in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is a book that is intended to rouse them from their protracted slumber to enable them to appreciate that there is a problem that needs urgent attention."

Dr. Ogbonna discusses the various causes of maternal deaths and possible solutions to the serious problem. He seeks not only to educate the women in the region about the reasons why many of them die in pregnancy and how to avoid such deaths, but also the region's elected leaders. The book acknowledges the efforts of charitable organizations around the world who have been actively involved in reducing the pregnancy-related fatalities in the region, while calling for more help from pharmaceutical companies in order to provide affordable drugs to fight the ravages of HIV infection.

Dr. Benjamin Ogbonna earned his medical degrees from the University of Nigeria Medical School in 1975, and interned in the United Kingdom, leading to membership in the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal College in 1996 and an associate member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 1999. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.