War puts pregnant women at risk

Dire straits: A woman sitting next to a cat in front of her damaged house following fighting between Myanmar’s military and the Kachin Independence Army in Nam Hpat Kar, Kutkai township in the country’s northern Shan State. Myanmar’s maternal healthcare conditions took a turn for the worse after the coup, when medical staff in the public service left junta-run facilities across Myanmar for private medical outlets or volunteer outfits not controlled by the military regime. — AFP

Ma Hla May, a farmer in northern Sagaing region, gave birth to her fourth child in January.

Unlike her first three children who were delivered in a public hospital in Pale township, her youngest child was born at home in Kyaung Than village with the help of a midwife.