Many women in Mongolia experience disrespectful, abusive or neglectful treatment during childbirth in health facilities. Such treatment not only violates the rights of women to respectful care, but can also threaten their rights to life, health, bodily integrity, and freedom from discrimination. This is considered obstetric violence, but this understanding or concept is somewhat “new” for Mongolians. In other words, not many people are aware that this is a form of violation, it is not reflected in the law, and the state has been completely ignorant to this issue.

While disrespectful and abusive treatment of women may occur throughout pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum period, women are particularly vulnerable during childbirth. Such practices may have direct adverse consequences for both the mother and infant.

According to Cara Terreri, community manager of Giving Birth with Confidence Lamaze, obstetric violence is the physical, sexual, or verbal abuse, bullying, coercion, humiliation, or assault that occurs to laboring and birthing people by medical staff, including nurses, doctors, and midwives. Among others, adolescents, unmarried women, women of low socioeconomic status, women from ethnic minorities, migrant women and women living with HIV are particularly likely to experience disrespectful and abusive treatment during labor and childbirth.

Abuse, neglect or disrespect during childbirth can amount to a violation of a woman’s fundamental human rights, as described in internationally adopted human rights standards and principles. In particular, pregnant women have a right to be equal in dignity, be free to seek, receive and impart information, be free from discrimination, and enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual and reproductive health, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

However, due to the lack of legal framework and policies to ensure the rights of pregnant women in Mongolia, there are still cases of loss of health and life. Nationwide, the average maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births between 2016 and 2019 was 24, according to the National Statistics Office. In 2019, infant mortality accounted for 62.2 percent of neonatal mortality, which is 1.5 percentage points higher from the average of the last 10 years. As of 2019, 1,041 cases of infant mortality were registered, of which 841 cases or 80.8 percent were hospital deaths.

In the last 10 years, infant mortality has been primarily caused by neonatal miscarriage, cerebral ischemia, and neonatal-specific infections. In 2019, 16.6 percent of infant deaths were caused by congenital malformations or chromosomal abnormalities, 10.5 percent by respiratory diseases, 6.5 percent by other external injuries, and 2.5 percent by infectious and parasitic diseases.

On average for the past decade, 190 cases or 16.4 percent of infant deaths occurred at home without medical care. In 2019, 176 cases of home deaths were registered, accounting for 16.9 percent of infant deaths. An average of 0.7 percent of all births in the last 10 years are reportedly stillbirths.

Only women who have given birth know what lies behind the door to the delivery room. They would agree that these figures do not paint the whole picture and that terrible things can occur in hospitals. Every year, 60,000 to 80,000 women give birth nationwide. Unfortunately, there are many cases of abuse in pregnant women. In Mongolia, reports of disrespectful and abusive treatment during childbirth in facilities have included outright physical abuse, profound humiliation and verbal abuse, coercive or unconsented medical procedures (including sterilization), lack of confidentiality, failure to get fully informed consent, refusal to give pain medication, gross violations of privacy, refusal of admission to health facilities, neglecting women during childbirth to suffer life-threatening and avoidable complications, and detention of women and their newborns in facilities after childbirth due to their inability to pay.

Some mothers commented on the real situation of maternity hospitals on the Facebook group “For Maternal and Child Health”. For instance, one woman wrote, “I gave birth last week. I was not examined by a doctor on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I was not in pain but on Friday, my roommate began to bleed after a vaginal exam. The doctor and nurse ignored it. It turned out that she had lost her baby while bleeding out. But she did not complain. Pregnant women are often scolded by doctors during birthing. Even when doctors make mistakes, they scold us instead and take advantage of our lack of medical knowledge.”

“One night there was no doctor in the hospital. One woman’s family demanded hospital staff to call a doctor. But the woman was ‘ousted’ from the hospital only eight hours after giving birth. Even in my case, a nurse delivered my baby,” another member of the group commented.

Another woman said that while she was in the maternity hospital, a lady lost her baby. She had apparently begged for a caesarean section, but the doctors ignored her request and couldn’t let the baby draw its first birth.

In 2015, a 38-year-old woman who was pregnant started bleeding and went to the Urgoo Maternity Hospital. However, the hospital staff did not accept her, saying, “Residents of Sukhbaatar District must go to the Khuree Maternity Hospital.” The hospital could have taken immediate action and avoided a miscarriage, but they did not. When she arrived the Khuree hospital, she was told, “Since you had a miscarriage, you should come on Monday to get an outpatient examination.”

The WHO recommends emergency surgery after a miscarriage to save a mother’s life. But the doctors of this maternity hospital appear not to have known that.

In 2013, a nurse of Bayankhongor Province’s General Hospital burned a newborn baby in boiling hot water, according to reports. Later, at the Third Maternity Hospital, doctors left a bandage about two meters long in a mother’s womb during caesarean section. In Sukhbaatar Province, a mother who was taken to the hospital to give birth was reported unable to walk again due to medical malpractice.

In November 2015, a mother who went to the Urguu Maternity Hospital to give birth died with her infant. The doctors had apparently told to her, “There is no bed, it’s not time to give birth,” before sending her back. After a forensic examination confirmed that the doctors were at fault, the hospital’s management simply apologized to the family of the deceased.

GREATER SUPPORT IS NEEDED FROM GOVERNMENT

UN special rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences Reem Alsalem, who visited Mongolia earlier this month, revealed these gaps in identifying gender-differentiated impacts of gaps in the health sector. She discovered that there are no laws or regulations that allow for the response to obstetric violence in Mongolia.

In fact, the procedure for care during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum was updated last year based on the National Maternal, Child and Reproductive Health Program. However, it does not address the issue of obstetric violence. In other words, in Mongolia, women who experienced obstetric violence cannot take any action against medical staff by law. It’s not possible for mothers to be compensated for the financial and emotional damage.

The WHO addressed this gap in a 2014 statement on mistreatment during childbirth and its associated human rights violations, calling for greater action, dialogue, research, and advocacy on this global problem. Accordingly, many governments, professional societies, researchers, international organizations, civil society groups and communities worldwide have already highlighted the need to address this problem and have begun to take action against obstetric violence.

For instance, in the US, there are rights specific to pregnant and birthing people in a document called, “The Rights of Childbearing Women,” which details 20 specific rights, including the right to accept or refuse procedures, drugs, tests, and treatments, and have those choices honored. When these rights in childbirth are ignored or forcibly denied, it is considered as obstetric violence and illegal in the country. In addition to seeking justice for mistreatment in birth, those who have experienced obstetric violence can be compensated for healing the trauma from their birth. Victims can demand monetary compensation for the harm done.

Mongolian authorities believe that only increasing salaries can contribute to improved attitudes of medical staff and elimination of ethical violations. Therefore, last year, a regulation was introduced to raise salaries of medical workers who did not commit any ethical violation. However, the current situation and international examples show that Mongolia needs tougher measures and policies to address this issue.

In fact, even local offices and authorities didn’t know what obstetric violence was when we asked them to comment and share insights into the matter. This calls for greater action to raise awareness of this form of human rights violation and support for changes in provider behavior, clinical environments and health systems to ensure that all women have access to respectful, competent and caring maternity health care services. Moreover, greater support from the government and development partners is needed for further research on defining and measuring disrespect and abuse in public and private facilities worldwide, and better understand its impact on women’s health experiences and choices.

Health systems must be accountable for the treatment of women during childbirth, ensuring clear policies on rights and ethical standards are developed and implemented. Health-care providers at all levels should require support and training to ensure that childbearing women are treated with compassion and dignity, as recommended by experts.

To achieve a high standard of respectful care during childbirth, health systems must be organized and managed in a manner that ensures respect for women’s sexual and reproductive health and human rights. Ensuring access to safe, acceptable, good quality sexual and reproductive health care, particularly contraceptive access and maternal health care, can dramatically reduce rates of maternal morbidity and mortality.

Under the ‘Vision-2050’ long-term development policy of Mongolia adopted by the 2020 Resolution No. 52 of the State Great Khural, the Government’s action program for 2020-2024, and the Cabinet’s December 15, 2021 resolution regarding the plan to develop a new free zone in Khushig Valley, a Memorandum of Understanding was established between the ‘Construction Development Center’ state-owned enterprise and the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority of the Republic of Korea on December 21.

The MoU was signed by Director of ‘Construction Development Center’ Ts.Amarsanaa and Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority’s Commissioner Lee Won-jae.

The sides will cooperate in developing general development plan, feasibility study and engineering and infrastructure plans for the free economic zone, intensifying cooperation, setting up a joint expert team, exchanging knowledge and experience by conducting studies, and upskilling employees as part of the development of a satellite city in Khushig valley.

China Minmetals Rare Earth Co said on Wednesday it would merge with two of China’s other top rare earth producers into a new company under the state assets regulator, creating a global force in the strategic industry.

China is the world’s dominant producer of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used in consumer electronics and military equipment. Moves to consolidate China’s “Big Six” state-run rare earth companies have been seen as a way to boost influence over pricing.

China’s control of 85-90% of the rare earths processing sector means an uneasy reliance on Chinese supply for the United States, especially at times of high trade tensions.

Minmetals Rare Earth, which had flagged in September that talks about such a restructuring were underway, said in a filing its parent had been notified by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (Sasac) that the merger had been approved.

Under the merger, the equity of Minmetals Rare Earth, Chinalco Rare Earth & Metals Co and China Southern Rare Earth Group Co will transfer into a new company, which was not named.

CRU Group consultant Daan de Jonge said the combined entity would be second only to China Northern Rare Earth Group in terms of overall rare earths output and account for around 70% of China’s heavy rare earths production, based on quotas for the first half of 2021.

“This will mean that the pricing power of key rare earths, such as dysprosium and terbium, will be in the hands of one ‘super group’,” he said.

Dysprosium and terbium are key inputs for rare earth magnets, used in everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines.

Prices for both are up around 50% in 2021, striking multi-year highs as demand recovers from a pandemic-driven dip, while power curbs on Chinese industry and disruption to ore supply from Myanmar have constrained production.

Jiangxi Ganzhou Rare Metal Exchange Co, a fledgling bourse for spot transactions, and Ganzhou Zhonglan Rare Earth New Material Technology Co will also be folded into the new entity.

Ganzhou, a city in southern China’s Jiangxi province, is home to Minmetals Rare Earth and China Southern Rare Earth Group. It is a hub for heavy rare earth smelting and separation – or processing into a form that can be used by manufacturers.

Outside China, most investment in separation is in the United States, Australia and Britain, but the majority is focused on light rare earths, de Jonge said. That means heavy rare earths would still need to be separated in China, he noted.

(By Tom Daly and Ella Cao; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Kirsten Donovan and Jane Merriman)

The Ministry of Health reported today that 191 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the past 24 hours. Specifically, 97 cases were confirmed in Ulaanbaatar city, with 87 cases in rural regions and seven imported cases.

In addition, one COVID-19 related death has been reported, raising the country’s death toll to 1,978. Of the 2,076 patients currently undergoing treatment at hospitals, there are 758 patients in mild, 1,017 in serious, 267 in critical, and 34 in very critical conditions.

As of today, the coverage of 1st dose is 69.6 percent (2,265,155) and 2nd dose – 66.4 percent (2,161,678) of the total population. Moreover, 876,936 people (27.0 percent) have received 3rd dose or a booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide.

With the opening of the Chinggis Khaan International Airport in the Khushig Valley, the Cabinet has decided to use the Buyant-Ukhaa Airport for civil aviation. Specifically, the airport will be used as a backup facility, reports Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia. The annual cost is estimated to be MNT 9.8 billion.

“The cost can be recouped by putting the airport into economic circulation, and turning it into a business hub. We have received to cooperation proposals from numerous organizations which operate in the field of training, business, banking and finance. We plan to cooperate with international financial institutions as part of our 'Attractive Airport' policy,” said Chief of Civil Aviation Authority of Mongolia (MCAA) S.Munkhnasan during the meeting with the staff of the Aviation Information Service and the Buyant-Ukhaa Airport.

Russia’s S7 Airlines has successfully carried out the country’s first flight on sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The A320neo – which flew from the Airbus plant in Toulouse, France to Moscow – was fueled entirely by a mixture of SAF, consisting of organic compounds and classic aviation fuel. The fuel used for the flight had 10% of biofuel in it, but “even this amount reduced CO2 emissions on this flight by 7%,” or 1.7 tons, the airline said in a statement.

According to S7, the total use of SAF in the world currently stands at 0.03%. The airline carrier recently announced plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Meanwhile, last week, several Russian airlines, including Aeroflot, announced the creation of the Eurasian SAF Alliance, which aims to start operating SAF-fueled flights in Russia on a regular basis no later than 2024.

“This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate that such flights are real and that they are the future of sustainable air transportation,” said S7 CEO Tatiana Fileva, adding that it is now up to the fuel sector to organize sufficient SAF production in the medium term.

The head of Airbus in Russia, Julien Franyatt, noted that Airbus planes are currently certified to fly on 50% of the SAF mixture, but the company plans to increase this figure to 100% by the end of the decade. Airbus has already delivered more than 75 planes using SAF, and a number of airlines around the world are already using the fuel for commercial flights. Most recently, US-based United Airlines operated the first-ever passenger flight using 100% SAF on one of its plane’s two engines on December 3.

Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia on Wednesday banned public celebrations of the traditional White Moon festival or the Lunar New Year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The government has decided not to widely celebrate the upcoming White Moon due to the pandemic," the government's press office said in a statement.

Mongolians will be allowed to celebrate the holiday with their family members, it said.

The White Moon, one of the most celebrated and important holidays in Mongolia, symbolizes the start of spring and end of winter.

As of Wednesday, Mongolia has registered a total number of 388,872 COVID-19 infections, with 1,977 related deaths.

Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN) announced on Wednesday that its Kamoa-Kakula joint venture in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has exceeded the upper end of its annual copper production guidance, with more than 100,000 tonnes of copper concentrate produced year-to-date, as of December 22.

The production figure is reported on a 100%-project basis. Ivanhoe has a 39.6% interest in the Kamoa JV and is the project operator. Zijin Mining Group (39.6%), Crystal River Global (0.8%) and the DRC government (20%) are its other stakeholders.

SIGN UP FOR THE COPPER DIGEST

Kamoa-Kakula first began producing copper concentrates from the Phase 1, 3.8mtpa capacity concentrator plant in May 2021. It subsequently reached commercial production on July 1, and is expected to produce 200,000 tonnes of copper per year.

Construction of the Phase 2 concentrator, which would be a “carbon copy” of the Phase 1 plant and double the annual production, is currently underway and is about 70% complete, according to Ivanhoe’s latest update.

Ivanhoe’s production guidance for 2021 was set at 92,500-100,000 tonnes, which was originally projected to be 80,000-95,000 tonnes. The annual production guidance was also previously increased in November, reflecting the successful completion of ramp-up of the Phase 1 concentrator.

“Kamoa Copper’s performance marks an excellent end to what has truly been a banner year for Ivanhoe Mines,” Ivanhoe’s founder and executive co-chair Robert Friedland said in a news release.

“We would like to extend heartfelt congratulations to the team at Kamoa-Kakula, who consistently exceeded expectations during the construction and development of the world’s newest world-scale copper mine, and have continued that outperformance as we have moved through ramp-up and into full production,” Friedland added.

Friedland also said the Phase 2 expansion remains “significantly ahead of schedule,” and the company is on its way to doubling annual copper production to approximately 400,000 tonnes starting early in Q2 2022.

So far in December, Ivanhoe has seen feed grades in excess of 6% copper, and recoveries have also been exceeding its design recovery of 86%, which, according to Friedland, bodes well for the company’s ability to efficiently ramp-up future expansions at Kamoa-Kakula.

The Ivanhoe management team now envisions the Phase 3 concentrator to enter production by the end of 2024.

Through planned phased expansions, the Kamoa-Kakula underground operation is positioned to become one of the largest copper producers in the world, with peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes.

The world’s two largest planemakers, Boeing and Airbus, have called on the US government to delay the rollout of new 5G cell services next month, citing an “enormous negative impact on the aviation industry.”

In a joint letter to US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the bosses of the two companies warned that “5G interference could adversely affect the ability of aircraft to safely operate.”

The letter cited research by trade group Airlines for America, which found that if the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) 5G rules had been in effect in 2019, about 345,000 passenger flights and 5,400 cargo flights would have faced delays, diversions or cancellations.

According to a new rule, announced by the FAA earlier this month, pilots are forbidden from using auto-landing and other certain flight systems at low altitudes where 5G wireless signals could interfere with onboard instruments that measure a plane’s distance to the ground.

The new rule comes as US telecom giants AT&T and Verizon are due to deploy 5G services on January 5.

Last week, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said that the FAA’s 5G directives would bar the use of radio altitude meters at about 40 of America’s biggest airports.

Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 328 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 388,872.

Among the latest confirmed cases, 125 were imported from abroad, and most of them are peacekeepers who have recently returned home from South Sudan, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, three more COVID-19 patients died in the past day, pushing the national death toll to 1,977.

So far, around 66 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 870,175 people have had a booster.