Improving Maternal Health
Millennium Development Goal number five (MDG 5) aims at improving maternal health. This is to be done by minimising mortalities that result from complications, associated with pregnancy and childbirth.
MDG 5 aims firstly to reduce the maternal mortality rate between 1990 and 2015 by three quarters, and secondly to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. The UN has identified 68 priority countries where maternal health standards are the lowest. These 68 priority countries, account for 98 per cent of all maternal mortality.
Family Planning and Antenatal Care
Family planning improves maternal health through increased education and access to contraception. It is estimated that family planning is one of the most effective ways of decreasing maternal mortality. Unfortunately there has been little progress in this area. During the 1990’s the use of contraceptives did increase, however since 2000 very little change has occurred. A major setback for the development of family planning has been insufficient funding. Since 2001 the percentage of aid going towards family planning has decreased.
Access to antenatal care has progressed. Between 1990 and 2008 Northern Africa, Southern Asia and Western Asia saw significant increases in the number of women who received at least one antenatal visit. Promisingly 67 per cent of women in the developing world attended the recommended four antenatal visits. While there is still global disparity in terms of antenatal care, progress since 1990 has been encouraging.
Two worlds
Alarmingly, most maternal deaths which occur could be easily avoided with modern medicines and education. The disparity which exists between maternal health in the developed and the developing worlds, is phenomenal. MDG 5 aims at closing this gap by creating universal access to healthcare and education to women, not only during pregnancy and childbirth but also pre-conception.
Preventable Deaths
Deaths occurring during childbirth are unacceptably high in the developing world. Haemorrhaging, for instance, accounts for more than thirty per cent of annual maternal mortality. This is despite the fact that it can most often be overcome if a health care professional is present during childbirth.
While it remains that there is an insufficient number of supervised births in the developing world, progress has occurred. The number of attended births has increased by over 60 per cent in both North Africa and South-Eastern Asia. The 2010 MDG’s report, states that since 1990, the number of births attended by trained personnel in developing countries rose by 10 per cent. Despite these achievements, improvement is essential in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where less than half of all births are assisted.
While the world has seen some progress over the past ten years, extreme inequity still exists. In order to reach MDG 5 targets, rapid change must occur over the next five years with the instigation of further strategies.
A Maternal Health Programme in Action:ow
For refugee women, pregnancy and childbirth can be fraught with risk. Those living in impoverished and isolated settlements may have no access to basic antenatal services or emergency obstetric care.
Our target is $10,000
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Overview:
For refugee women, pregnancy and childbirth can be fraught with risk. Those living in impoverished and isolated settlements may have no access to basic antenatal services or emergency obstetric care. Refugee mothers are more likely to be poorly nourished and suffer from debilitating conditions like malaria-induced anaemia, a blood disorder which greatly increases the risk of miscarriage and post-natal haemorrhage. Even those with a tradition of homebirth may lack the simple means to make their birth environment clean, exposing themselves and their newborns to the risk of post-natal infection.
How We Help:
UNHCR oversees the operation of maternity clinics in refugee camps and encourages women to access these services before, during and after childbirth. We train and equip midwives and, where possible, provide all pregnant and breastfeeding mothers with extra nutrition and anti-malarial medication.
Where home birth is the norm and sanitation is poor, we distribute our Clean Delivery Kit - a plastic bag containing a clean blade, a plastic sheet, soap, string for the baby's cord, a swaddling cloth and information using simple pictures. These simple kits have dramatically reduced birth-related deaths and infections in a number of impoverished refugee communities.
Donate now to save the life of a refugee mother and her baby.
News from UNHCR:
Sarah-Jane Clarke announced as Ambassador
28 April 2010
sass & bide co-founder joins Australia for UNHCR to raise awareness of refugee mother and child health needs and other global refugee relief efforts
Australia for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency's charity in Australia, today announced that noted co-founder of sass & bide, Sarah-Jane Clarke, had come on board as an ambassador to help raise awareness of the plight of refugees around the world.
Sarah-Jane Clarke commences her role in support of the charity's Safe Mother & Baby Appeal, which is raising funds to send hygienic baby delivery packs to refugees in some of the world's poorest countries including Chad, Nepal, Bangladesh and Somalia in an effort to reduce high maternal and infant mortality rates.
Coinciding with Mother's Day, these special lifesaving gift packages can be purchased for $26 for a pack of 10, to be sent on behalf of Australian mothers at www.worldsbiggestpackage.com. The Safe Mother & Baby appeal will be officially launched at the annual Australia for UNHCR Mother's Day Lunch, which is being held at Sydney's Ivy Ballroom on Friday, 7th May, and is being attended by special guests, Sarah-Jane Clarke, and Julie McCrossin as MC.
Commenting on her support of the charity, Sarah-Jane said, "Like any mother, a campaign like the Safe Mother & Baby Appeal is close to my heart. Knowing that $2.70 is the difference between life and death for a mother and her child makes this an extremely important message to send. A safe and healthy birth is a basic human right, and this kit will make that possible for refugee women around the world.
"Australia for UNHCR is an inspiring organisation that I strongly believe in and feel honoured to be an Ambassador for," she said.
National Director of Australia for UNHCR, Naomi Steer, said, "We're delighted to have SarahJane on board. Her passion for the issues will help make a real difference to raise awareness and funds to help refugees across the globe, 80% of whom are women and children."
Ms Steer recently returned from a charity trek up Mt Kenya and visit to Nakivale refugee camp in Uganda.
"My visit to Nakivale once again brought home the issues facing female refugees in the world's poorest countries, where maternal and infant mortality is 155 times higher than in Australia. While I was encouraged to see the amazing difference that funding from Australia for UNHCR has made, the trip has also made me very aware of how much work remains to be done.
"The Safe Mother & Baby Appeal will go a long way towards improving the lives of refugee women and children around the globe, so I really hope that our Australian supporters dig deep," she said.
About Australia for UNHCR
Australia for UNHCR was established in 2000 as part of UNHCR's global fundraising network. Its mission is to provide life changing humanitarian support to refugees and other displaced and stateless people who come under the care and protection of the UN Refugee Agency.
More than 42 million people are forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution worldwide with 80 per cent of these being women and children. Globally, UNHCR provides and coordinates international relief for these people, offering them protection and assistance at every stage of their ordeal.
As well as providing emergency shelter, food, water and medical care, UNHCR strives to improve refugees' quality of life and future opportunities, providing infrastructure, schools and income generating projects in established refugee camps and communities.
About the Safe Mother & Baby appeal: the issues:
- Globally, an estimated 529,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth from preventable causes every year
- One in 12 Somali mothers will die in childbirth in their lifetime
- Only 9% of all births in Somalia are attended by skilled health personnel A woman in Somalia is 155 times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in Australia.
