MADE in Europe's board director Faaria Ahmad reflects on her experience of pregnancy living in the UK compared to the situation facing women in countries like Sudan and Afghanistan...

I just got back from my antenatal appointment which have become more regular now that I’m almost 36 weeks. Soon I’ll be having appointments every week until my baby arrives. These appointments have always reassured me that my pregnancy is going well and I’ve had the chance to see my baby through two scans - one at 12 weeks and another at 20 weeks.

You never realise what is available for pregnant women until you are going through the motions - checks on your entire family medical history, routine checkups, blood tests and even more blood tests. But, I guess you do not realise the strain of being pregnant either. I started suffering from severe breathlessness and what felt like anxiety attacks. A quick trip to the midwife helped to identify the possibility of anaemia, which after blood tests and a glucose tolerance test (as my dad is diabetic they had to check if I was too), I was provided with iron tablets and told to avoid sugary foods.

This is a luxury we have in a developed country where as soon as you find out that you are pregnant, you are given the utmost care and attention. I have been informed about all the different places I could have a baby, the various types of medication I could take to help with the pain, where I have to go when I am going into labour, who I have to call and what I have to do. However, when I read about women in Uganda, Sudan, Afghanistan and other developing countries, I wonder how women go through their pregnancy and labour with such limited facilities or even nothing at all.

For a woman in her twenties like me who lives in Afghanistan, there is a 1 in 6 chance of her dying during pregnancy or delivery.  So many factors will determine the fate of her and her baby – are there health facilities within reachable distance?  How will she travel there?  Can she afford the hospital fees?  Will her husband and family permit her to give birth outside of the home?  Will the medical staff be trained to deal with any complications?  What feels like a right for me in the UK, is the exception in these countries where mothers are dying at a rate of one every minute and little is being done to combat it.

Is it really that difficult to prescribe iron tablets or to ensure that there are facilities or trained midwives within every locality? Such small changes could save lives; ensure that a child is brought up with the love and affection of a mother; that they drink their mother’s milk before anything else.  And that a mother is able to look into the eyes of the baby she has carried for 9 months; that she enjoys the pleasure of holding this baby in her arms and bringing it up in an environment which allows for development and growth. It is heartbreaking to think that over 90% of maternal deaths are preventable, if only there was the political will and proper allocation of resources.

As I sit here writing this short blog I am reminded by the movement of my baby that soon I will have a month off work to prepare myself for the arrival of my baby, after which I can decide when I will return to work. My husband will be able to take paternity leave to help me adjust to life as a mother, and our families are ready and waiting to do all they can to welcome the baby into this world.  I look forward to building a little family with my husband and I pray that I am able to appreciate the small investments which we take for granted in this country which ensure that women are given the right to become mothers.