Focus Media (Kigali)
Sam Ruburika
21 October 2008
"Safe motherhood should not be an option but a responsibility of all people." With this admonition, First Lady Jeanette Kagame last week launched the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood-Rwandan chapter.
First Lady Jeannette Kagame: Community should stop maternal deaths. (photo Timothy Kisambira)
The White Ribbon Alliance is an international coalition of organizations formed to promote increased public awareness on the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all women. The global alliance was created in 1999 and has today over 3,000 members in 100 countries across the world.
First Lady Jeanette Kagame, who will be the patron of White Ribbon Alliance Rwandan chapter, said that the society has continued to witness mothers and infants dying during childbirth.
"The painful irony is that in the process of giving life, other lives are lost. I hope everybody is ashamed and disturbed such cases," she said.
Mrs. Kagame pointed out that there is still a long way to go despite the modest improvements that have been made over the years. She also exhorted the participants at the launch to ask themselves the question what the community could do to stop maternal deaths.
The Rwandan White Ribbon Alliance intends to create nationwide grassroots awareness on safe motherhood, as well as strengthening capacity, using evidence to influence policy, mobilizing resources and engaging with communities to inspire action and save women and new born lives. As the First Lady pointed out, the Alliance sees safe motherhood as a fundamental human right for all Rwandan women.
It will also aim at strengthening alliances aimed at saving the lives and promoting the health of women and their new-born babies through involvement of multi-sector groups including faith communities, politicians, ministries, the private sector as well as local communities and traditional leaders.
Furthermore, the Alliance will act as a catalyst for action complementing services currently offered through existing organizations, and coordinate the application of best practices learned from local, national and international experiences.
Assisted deliveries
The launch of the Rwandan chapter of the White Ribbon Alliance comes at an appropriate moment, when the country has already made significant achievements, yet still has a long way to go, as the permanent secretary in the ministry of health, Caroline Kayonga, remarked.
For instance, maternal mortality has fallen from 1,071 deaths per 100,000 women that give birth in 2000 to 750 in 2005.
Despite such progress, it was recognized that the problem is still huge, considering that 2,770 women died in childbirth in 2006-one woman every three hours.
Kayongo conceded that Rwanda still had to work hard to meet the Millennium Development Goal 5, which is a decrease in maternal mortality to 268 per 100,000 by 2015.
One way to do so is to make increase the number of assisted deliveries, so that specialized help is at hand in case of complications. There is good news in this field, since assisted deliveries have risen from 39% in 2005 to 52% this year.
Another positive point is the increased awareness among the population on the use of modern contraceptives, which has risen from 10% in 2005 to 27% this year, and is crucial in reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies.
This is all the more important given that complications from spontaneous or induced abortions account for 50% of maternal deaths. Other causes of death are hemorrhaging (14%) and prolonged and obstructed labor (12%).
"It is a major cause of concern since these deaths are preventable," Caroline Kayonga said.
Men not involved
In order to improve the situation, Kayonga said, changes should be made on the demand as well as the supply side.
On the demand side, the permanent secretary at Minisanté explained, are the ignorance of many women on the importance of checkups before giving birth; the lack of preparation for birth; the cost of giving birth; transport costs; as well as long distances to reach health facilities.
Another problem is that pregnant women often delay to seek advice when a problem arises, either because they are not aware of it or due to ignorance. The low level of involvement of men only exacerbates the problem.
Yet Caroline Kayonga recognized that health centers also bear responsibility. Often pregnant women receive less service, resources and materials are inadequate and facilities insufficient.
Therefore, she said, the ministry is taking measures on both sides. As for supply, strategies are being implemented to train more health staff, increase the number of health facilities and better equip them.
On the other hand, the government is sensitizing pregnant woman to go for four ante-natal checkups, which are free. They should also give birth in a health facility, which is equally free for women who have had at least three ante-natal checkups. Moreover, women should also go for a post-natal check up.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Focus Media. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
