5th March, 2010
Madam Ida Odinga calls on the media to highlight maternal health issues in Kenya ahead of International Women’s Day
Every day in Kenya, 21 women die during childbirth or pregnancy. It is a tragedy of enormous proportions, yet it receives very little public attention.
Madam Ida Odinga, patron of the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in Kenya (WRA-K), is challenging the media to highlight issues affecting the health of mothers in order for them to be addressed.
“Every single hour that we delay in taking action, a mother somewhere in Kenya is dying from complications related to pregnancy and child-birth. Yet maternal deaths can be prevented. You have a duty to actively bring the gravity of the matter to the awareness of the public and policy makers in order for it to be addressed,” she said.
Madam Odinga was speaking at a breakfast meeting at the Nairobi Sarova Stanley today, organised to bring to the media’s attention the unseen plight of thousands of mothers across the country. This is ahead of International Women’s Day to be marked on March 8, and which is set aside to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women.
“Women are at the heart of their families, communities and the country. Their health and survival has a huge impact on the economy and the environment, and on peace and stability. The death of a mother shatters her family and threatens the wellbeing of her family and her children. We all have a role to play to save their lives by advocating, among other things, increased funding for programmes to improve the health of mothers,” said Madam Odinga.
She pointed out that the solutions to improving maternal health already exist. “They include family planning, skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetric care – things that some of us take for granted, yet they are inaccessible to the majority of Kenyan women.”
The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood is an international coalition of organisations and individuals bound together by a common goal: to help ensure that safe pregnancy and childbirth are an attainable priority for all mothers and their newborns. With members in 118 countries, WRA advocates for changes to ensure every woman has access to quality health care before, during and after childbirth.
While there has been progress in some health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set in 2001, the least progress has been made towards meeting MDG 5 – reducing the deaths of mother by three quarters by 2015. Maternal mortality in Kenya has remained unchanged over the years. And for every woman that dies in childbirth, 20 others suffer long-term illness and disabilities that are devastating to the woman and a serious economic drain on families and on society.
“Maternal Mortality is the single greatest indicator of health systems that fail to meet the basic needs of the society’s poorest and most vulnerable women,” said Angela Nguku, WRA-K founder and National Coordinator.
For more information please go to www.whiteribbonalliance.org or contact Angela Nguku on Tel: + 254 20 699 3215
