You Too Have A Role To Play In Saving The Lives Of Our Mothers

Every year an estimated 3,040 Ghanaian mothers die while fulfilling their biological responsibility of pregnancy and delivery of babies. These deaths are unacceptably high and Ghana is unlikely to meet MDG 5 to reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters to 185/100,000 live births by 2015.

Eighty percent of maternal deaths are caused by direct obstetric causes such as haemorrhage, infection, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, obstructed labour and complications of unsafe abortion. And for every woman who dies from complications related to childbirth, approximately 20 more suffer injuries, infections and disabilities such as obstetric fistula that are may often beuntreated and ignored, and that can result in life-long pain and social and economic exclusion. Women living in rural communities and women who are poor and/or with little or no education are the worst affected. Most of these complications can neither be predicted norprevented.All pregnant women are at risk and can develop complications at any time during pregnancy, delivery and after delivery.

Addressing maternal mortality has been particularly challenging for Ghana and most developing countries. As well as having a reproductive health strategy in place, the government, with support from the United Nations, has put in place an MDG5 Acceleration Framework (MAF). The MAF identifies effective evidence-based interventions for achieving success. It also identifies three key priority intervention areas: improving access to and utilisation of family planning, skilled delivery and emergency obstetric and newborn care.

During the past decade, the United Nations has also taken a holistic and rights based view of maternal health. To this end, the United Nations has been working to enhance the role of women, prevent child marriage, increase girls' access to education, educate and abolish Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), and support the development of adolescent life skills.

This in principle means that beyond the MDG5 Acceleration Framework, there are simple actions we can all take today to save the lives of our mothers. Everyone has a role to play. Fathers, sons, daughters, traditional authorities, religious leaders, teachers and neighbours.

If you are a mother-to-be, you can learn how to avoid unplanned pregnancies, and if pregnant, you can learn the importance of receiving antenatal care, how to identify danger signs of pregnancy and labour, plan for emergency referrals, and choose safe birthing options.

If you are a mother in-law, encourage your son to accompany his wife to doctor's visits and be available and proactive during delivery.

If you are a husband, be supportive of your partner including for example taking on some household chores to ease fatigue during pregnancy.

For companies and Corporate Organisations, take on the challenge of focusing your next corporate social investment to save the lives of mothers and their new borne babies by funding the training of emergency care workers in rural hospitals for example.

If you belong to a church, talk to your pastor and congregation about providing some essential supplies and equipment in a hospital near you to promote safe deliveries.

If you are a young innovator, develop some simple innovative ideas to save mothers during pregnancy and delivery. The motor cycle ambulance in Sudan is an example of a simple resource efficient solution to a community challenge. In 2006, the Sudan Health Household Survey found that only 25 per cent of the country's population had access to adequate health services, while over 80 per cent of its pregnant women delivered at home. To solve this, an idea was born, a motorbike ambulance, fitted with an attached sidecar bed in which a pregnant woman can sit comfortably and be sent to a health facility to be attended to. It has become a lifeline for Southern Sudan providing a fast, economical and efficient way to transport pregnant women to hospitals.

The biggest changes in history have been achieved through the small actions of several people. Together we can be part of the revolution to save mother's lives one mother at a time.

Author Note: The writer is the United Nations Resident Coordinator a.i.