After 30 h of delivery pain [8], she died, despite the effort by Sati-un-Nisa, the queen’s favourite lady-in-waiting, and Wazir Khan, her beloved doctor. Shah

Jahan called a number of dais (midwives) to attend to Arjumand but all efforts were in vain. Shah Jahan was inconsolable at the untimely death of his beloved wife and announced days of state mourning. The entire kingdom was ordered into mourning for two years [6]. Distressed by the death of Mumtaz, Shah Jahan built Taj Mahal in her memory. However, on the other side of the world during the same century (17th century) in Sweden, the Queen Ulrika Eleonora, also PI3K Inhibitor Library in vitro distraught by losing people close to her, took a different approach than that of the Shah Jahan in India. She put out a mandate to her Swedish physicians to create a plan through which one or two women from each town would be required to come to Stockholm www.selleckchem.com/products/abt-199.html for midwifery training. It was a medical doctor Johan von Hoorn that started midwifery school in Stockholm in 1708. Arjumand’s death from haemorrhage could have been prevented if there was adequate and prompt replacement

of blood loss by transfusion of safe blood. According to research published in the Lancet, haemorrhage and high blood pressure are the main causes of maternal deaths in developing countries [9]. In her 19 years of marriage, Arjumand bore Shah Jahan 14 children, 7 of whom died in infancy [2] while four sons and three daughters survived [2]. Arjumand’s death was undoubtedly a maternal death2. Table 1 shows how long her fourteen children survived. Table 1 also shows that Arjumand had one child nearly every year until she died having her fourteenth child. Though one can say that family planning in the modern scientific sense of the term was probably not available during Mumtaz’s time, but the incidence of frequent pregnancies and deliveries has not changed much. Many more women are dying of maternal death because of this and host of other reasons. This case of Arjumand’s maternal death, which is 382 years old is still very relevant today and compels us to revisit

and examine several issues, to ensure that no women should die while giving birth to a life. These issues can be examined from three perspectives. First, the poor family Tolmetin planning services to women of reproductive age and, therefore, the issue of unmet need. Second, the frequency of pregnancy as a safeguard against infant mortality and child survival, especially between 0 to 5 years of age. Third, the acceptance of birth spacing. Couples who space the birth of their children 3 to 5 years apart increase their children’s chances of survival, and mothers are more likely to survive. Over the years, research has consistently demonstrated that, when mothers’ space births at least 2 years apart, their children are more likely to survive and to be healthy [10]. Researchers suggest that 2 1/2 years to 3 years between births are usually best for the wellbeing of the mother and her children.