The difficult terrain and lack of awareness explains why many women do not seek antenatal care. About four out of five women still deliver at home, without professional help. As a result, the maternal mortality rate is very high. Every week one or two mothers die from complications during pregnancy or childbirth, most of them caused by haemorrhage, anaemia, infection and difficult labour. These are all preventable problems.
Bhutanese children face a difficult start.
Infant and child mortality is high, with six out of every 100 children dying before they are one. Another two do not live beyond five. Pateri is one of more than 454 outreach clinics established across rural Bhutan. The impact is enhanced by local village health workers trained to advise people on basic health and hygiene and to motivate them to take advantage of the services. A network of 145 basic health units support the clinics, each unit serving communities of 2,000 to 5,000 people.