Prompted by the sudden increase in the number of deaths of pregnant women, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday launched a new initiative to improve the availability and use of safe blood to save the lives of many mothers.

Warning that nearly 125,000 mothers bleed to death during childbirth each year, the WHO launched "Safe Blood for Safe Motherhood" on the occasion of World Blood Donor Day

A new study suggests that postpartum depression is as common in new dads as it is in many new mothers after there have been reports of many new fathers who have shared their experience on this front. According to researchers who examined data from more than 5,000 two-parent families, about 14 percent of mothers and 10 percent of fathers showed signs of moderate or severe postpartum depression.

The study, which first appeared in the August 2006 issue of the journal Pediatrics, said, "The long-standing belief of many people, including physicians, has been that postpartum depression is due to hormone changes in women that take place after childbirth

The efforts to stop the traditional practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) of young girls is being made by the United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) as they continue to appeal the "medical" trend being used by parents and health care workers.

On Tuesday, the UNPF observed an "International Day Against FGM" with their concerns that the trend of many parents continues to use health-care workers to perform the cutting of female genitalia, believing that this will minimize medical problems

An Australian study says that women who opt to have an epidural during childbirth are more prone to breast-feeding problems in their first week. They are also more likely to stop breast-feeding in less than six months.

The study can be read in the Dec. 11 issue of the International Breastfeeding Journal

After 32 years a Danish study found that one in every 1,000 women who gives birth suffers a mental illness. However, men did not show such an increased risk.

Danish researchers studied 2.3 million Danes to find that women with children were four times more likely than those without to have a mental disorder such as depression, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The women were most likely to suffer from these illnesses within the first year of motherhood