Giving life should not mean risking death. – Amnesty International
The goal of the United Nations Millennium Campaign is to end global poverty by the year 2015. In 2000, 189 heads of states and national representatives signed the Declaration affirming that we have the ability to “free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected.”
The eight Millenium Development Goals (MGDs) are:
- End poverty and hunger
- Universal Education
- Gender Equality
- Child Health
- Maternal Health
- Combat HIV/AIDS
- Environmental Sustainability
- Global Partnership
A petition from Change.org is working to remind President Obama of the United State’s commitment to partner globally to end poverty and specifically make global maternity mortality a priority. According to the framers of the petition:
“Women’s health is at the heart of all MDGs.
In Africa and South Asia, complications during pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death for women of childbearing age.
New data released in September 2010, shows a 34% reduction in global maternal death rates since 1990. With just 5 years left to achieve the MDGs, we still have a long way to go to reach the global target of 75% reduction in maternal death.”
In fact, women in sub-Saharan Africa face a 1-in-22 chance of dying from complications of pregnancy or childbirth. When all developing nations are assessed together, the odds are 1 in 75. According to newly released estimates on maternal mortaility in 2005, 536,000 women in the developing world die of maternal causes each year — a death every minute. And for every woman who dies, another 35 to 40 suffer debilitating injuries.
Only one in 17 births in Ethiopia is attended by a trained professional. For the poorest fifth of the population, such assistance is even rarer; fewer than 1 in 100 births involves a doctor, nurse, or midwife. These births often take place in rural areas that lack clean water and sanitation. If labor is obstructed or another complication arises, as happens in about 15 percent of all births, little can be done to help the baby or mother.(Nova Two Worlds)
To learn more about maternity care issues in developing countries, watch the documentary “A Walk to Beautiful” viewable on PBS.org
To keep up to date with the UN Millennium Campaign, find them on Facebook and join their email list.
The solutions, according to researchers are simple. For the cases of obstetric fistula experienced by the women in A Walk to Beautiful, only $450 is needed per patient. Education for girls and women is another answer. Experts at the World Health Organization, Population Reference Bureau, and elsewhere “point to education as a key way to address the abysmal state of maternal health in many developing countries. Education can ameliorate the root causes—poverty, the low status of females, and lack of understanding and access to reproductive healthcare. And educating girls and young women does more than improve the lives of mothers; it enhances the well-being of children, entire families, and broader communities.”
Maternal mortality is not just an issue in the developing world, but also one of concern in the United States as well. In 2006, the maternal mortality rate in the United States was estimated as 17 deaths per 100,000 births, higher than most other developed countries. It is also believed that the mortality rate is severely underreported in the United States and could be much higher. There is concern over the mortality reporting system and a call for more accurate reporting measures to be in place.
WAVE readers are invited to add join with over 1,000 other concerned citizens in signing a petition to Congress to improve maternal mortality reporting and addressing the rising maternal mortality rate in the United States. Please also add your voice in support of global issues by signing the petition regarding the global maternal mortality rate and learn about ways that you can assist the UN in their goals to alleviate global poverty.
Thanks to the Church Humanitarian efforts, you can likely do this through your involvement with the LDS church and other volunteer efforts. If you are interested in joining with other Latter-day Saints to address maternal mortality, please comment below. If you are involved in or become involved in efforts to address maternal mortality on the national or global level, please share your experiences by emailing service@ldswave.org.
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