Maternal Mortality

Barbara Follett recently attended two lunches at No 10 Downing Street hosted by the Prime Minister’s wife, Sarah Brown. These focused on the pressing issue of maternal mortality in the developing world.

Mrs Follett said; “It disgraceful that across the world half a million mothers' lives will be lost within the next year. That is one death every minute.”

“In the developing world, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, mothers are dying needlessly at what should be a special time. Eighty percent of these deaths are easily avoidable.”

In 2000, the United Nations established the eight Millennium Development Goals setting out achievable targets. These included the objective to reduce the number of mothers dying in childbirth by 75 percent by 2015. But as yet, progress has not been made even though many of the complications that end in tragedy can be treated with basic obstetric skills.

In this country we have a health worker for about every 40 people. But the contrast between us and countries like Sierra Leone could not be more pronounced. There the figure is one for every 2,800 people, and just one nurse per 8,600 people. In areas of conflict the figures fall to almost none.

The White Ribbon Alliance is campaigning and working on this issue in 91 countries. Their work aims to empower women, enabling them to know their rights and their entitlements to decent healthcare.

I intend to do all I can to reduce maternal mortality  and make sure that it is not the forgotten Millennium Development Goal. I hope that you will join me.

Notes:

Every minute:

  • 380 women get pregnant
  • 190 face unplanned or unwanted pregnancies
  • 110 have pregnancy-related complications
  • 40 women have unsafe abortions
  • 1 woman dies

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood

The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is an international coalition of individuals and organizations formed to promote increased public awareness of the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women and newborns in the developing, as well as, developed countries.

The White Ribbon Alliance represents an opportunity for new partnerships to work together to advance women's health and women's rights everywhere. The WRA:

  • Educates its members and member organizations through seminars, working groups etc.;
  • Creates with its members educational, communication and technical materials for use by members and others;
  • Organizes policy efforts directed at national and local governments to increase funding and programs for Safe Motherhood;
  • Supports and assists countries (other than the U.S.) to create a national White Ribbon Alliance (i.e. Nepal, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, Vietnam etc.).

Since its launch in 1999, the White Ribbon Alliance has been a leader among those holding governments and institutions to account for the tragedy of maternal mortality.  With members in 91 countries and National Alliances established in 11 – Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, South Africa, Tanzania, Yemen and Zambia – WRA is amplifying the voices of people suffering from the greatest burden of morbidity and mortality of complications due to pregnancy and childbirth.

WRA has recently launched a global campaign - A Promise to Mothers Lost - to create political will to invest in maternal health as essential to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty and secure human dignity for people all over the world. 

For more information see http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/

 

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Further information
Please contact Anthony Miller via the 'Contact' page, or by fax on 020 7219 1158.

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