HEALTH & SCIENCE SUNDAY, JUNE 29, 2014 High-birth Niger strives to lower maternal mortality Results not good enough TAHOUA, Niger: With the world’s highest birth rate in a country when 648 women died for every 100,000 births, according to where first-time mothers are often barely past puberty, having a Niger’s health ministry. baby in impoverished Niger can be tantamount to a death sen- During the same period, contraceptive use has gone from five tence. The West African state and humanitarian groups have to 12 percent, the ministry said. worked to slash both birth and maternal mortality rates, but A tradition of early marriage has not helped. Nearly 80 percent despite strides results are not good enough, the UN warned this of Niger women are wed by the time they reach 18 and 40 percent week. “Every two hours, a Niger woman dies from complications before the age of 15, making complications frequent. linked to pregnancy or childbirth,” deplored Monique Clesca, the “At this age, the body is still fragile and not ready for maternity,” UN Population Fund (UNFPA) representative in the country. said Yahaya Mani, a doctor working in the Niger countryside. Some 3,000 people, mainly women, gathered in the western Official records bear this out, according to the UN which said a city of Tahoua as part of a new push to rein in the birth rate and third of maternal deaths are among girls 15 to 19. CAPE CANAVERAL: This undated product image made from a video provided by Lavazza, shows a reduce maternal mortality. “The parents know the risks. But they prefer to marry their girls prototype of Lavazza’s and Argotec’s “ISSpresso” machine. The final version of the coffee machine “Dying while giving life is a social injustice,” railed Malika off early rather than risking a pregnancy outside marriage, which will be the first real Italian espresso machine on The International Space Station, and will coincide Issoufou, wife of Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou, while vis- would damage the family’s honour,” said Clesca. with a six-month mission by Italy’s first Italian female astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti. — AP iting women suffering from gynaecological complications in the After the first baby others follow quickly, giving Niger one of Tahoua hospital. The trend has not been easy to buck in a culture the world’s top population growth rates at 3.9 percent per year, that encourages early marriage, big families and pregnancies in according to official figures. Young mothers often have “one baby Cosmic caffeine: Astronauts quick succession, and where some clerics in mainly Muslim Niger on the breast, one on their back and another at their feet,” which have blasted contraception as against Islam and “dictated by white can leave them weak, said a humanitarian source. getting espresso maker people from the West”. High-risk pregnancies among older women are also abundant, “The more kids you have, the more you’re worth,” said Clesca, along with a shortage of proper birthing facilities. CAPE CANAVERAL: Talk about a cosmic caffeine jolt. Donald Pettit actually offered some ideas for describing traditional views. “When girls marry, they’re under pres- The International Space Station is getting a real ISSpresso during its design phase. He’s a two-time sure to prove they’re fertile within the first year.” Home births Italian espresso machine. Astronauts of all nationali- space station resident who invented and even This has left landlocked Niger, where more than 60 percent live “The closest centre is often five kilometres (three miles) away. ties - but especially the Italians - have long grumbled patented a zero-gravity cup for sipping his orbital joe below the poverty line, with the highest birth rate in the world, an And by the time they find a cart to get there, it’s often too late,” about the tepid instant coffee served in pouches and versus sucking it with a straw. average of 7.6 children per woman, official figures show. said Doctor Mani. Health ministry official Gali Asma said 80 percent drunk with straws 418.41 km above Earth. The No question, an espresso machine will be “a wel- In 2006, Niger made all pre-natal care free of charge, as well as of Niger’s maternal deaths occur outside proper health facilities, pouches and straws aren’t going away, but at least come addition” to space station life, Pettit said birth by Caesarian, which up to then was prohibitively expensive. and yet 70 percent of Niger women give birth at home with tradi- the brew will pack some zero-gravity punch. Wednesday from Johnson Space Center in Houston. Contraceptive products are also distributed at no charge. tional midwives. The specially-designed-for-space espresso The pre-measured bags of freeze-dried coffee served “Ten years ago, no one dared broach demographic questions. Some men still oppose their wives receiving prenatal care, and machine is dubbed ISSpresso - ISS for International in orbit taste good - when you’re up there on the Now, everyone is talking about them, starting with the govern- national family planning campaigns have particularly annoyed Space Station. Its launch early next year from frontier, he said. On Earth, any coffee lover would go ment, the president,” said Isselmou Boukhary, Niger’s deputy repre- Islamic radicals and fundamentalists, whose numbers have grown Wallops Island, Virginia, is timed to coincide with the “Yeeck.” Argotec spokesman Antonio Pilello has sam- sentative for the UN children’s fund, UNICEF. in this country bordering Mali and Nigeria where Islamic militant six-month mission of Italy’s first female astronaut, pled the ISSpresso espresso and gives it a thumbs- activity has intensified. They say it goes against the teachings of Samantha Cristoforetti. The 37-year-old fighter pilot up. The space machine is designed to operate at the Early marriage Allah and is part of a “Western attempt to stop births” in Niger. The and Italian Air Force captain will fly to the space sta- same temperature and pressure as Earthly espresso Even if the situation remains “quite worrisome”, it’s slowly government, however, defends the drive as critical for Niger’s tion in November aboard a Russian capsule. makers, according to the company, to guarantee improving, Boukhary said. With 535 mothers dying for every future. From three million in 1980, the population has hit more She’ll be the first out-of-this-world barista. taste and flavor. 100,000 live births-meaning one woman for every 186 viable than 17 million today and, if nothing is done, could soar to 40 mil- “How cool is that?” she said in a tweet earlier this births, Niger is among the world’s top 15 countries with the worst lion by 2050, officials say, a level a country subject to drought, food month. “I’ll get to operate the first space espresso Coffee capsules maternal mortality. Yet the situation has improved since 2006, shortages and malnutrition could never sustain. — AFP machine!” Italy’s century-old coffee maestro Lavazza “You know, coffee is very important for Italian teamed up with a Turin-based engineering company, people. We are really hard to please about it!” Pilello Argotec, and the Italian Space Agency to improve wrote in an email. coffee conditions aboard the orbiting outpost. Certified for safety and approved by NASA, Besides espresso, ISSpresso is capable of whipping ISSpresso initially will fly with 20 coffee capsules. up tea and consomme. Extra packets will follow for the six-member crew, if What more could an astronaut want? the trial run goes well. The 44-pound machine - a compact 14 inches by 17 inches - will be housed in Zero-gravity cup the US laboratory, Destiny. It resembles a microwave During his 51/2-month stay on the space station oven, with all the action occurring inside. Engineers last year, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano repeatedly replaced the typical plastic tubing in an espresso talked about missing espresso. (This is the cool-as-ice machine with steel for robustness. They also used test pilot who nearly drowned during a spacewalk buttons and switches similar to those already on the last July when his helmet filled with water from his space station, so the astronauts would be familiar suit’s cooling system.) with the design. Astronaut Pettit points out that the Argotec already was working on a space espresso lack of gravity will prevent the bubbly foam from ris- machine. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia will make ing to the top. Yet even if the space espresso falls the delivery on its Cygnus cargo ship; the launch is short by connoisseur standards, “it would be the best targeted for January. NASA’s coffee-loving astronaut coffee that we’ve ever had in space.” —- AP Sodexo cafeteria workers to regain health benefits WASHINGTON: Many employees who already have Unite Here, a labor union trying to organize Sodexo health insurance worry they’ll pay a price for President workers, said the company’s initial cutback was facilitated Barack Obama’s overhaul. But for workers at one major by what it calls a loophole in federal regulations carrying company those fears appear to be easing. Food service out the health law’s employer coverage requirement. giant Sodexo unexpectedly reversed course Thursday The Obama administration says any fault is with the after bumping thousands of college cafeteria workers employer, not the health care law. from its health plan earlier this year and casting blame on French-owned Sodexo is a multinational service com- the health care law. pany with U.S. headquarters in Maryland. It operates Julie Peterson, Sodexo’s vice president for benefits, many college cafeterias and also provides other campus said the company will make changes for next year to services.