Ethiopia: Solidifying Commitments to Ensuring Zero Maternal and Newborn Deaths

Johannesburg — Just picture yourself in one of the Ethiopian villages where someone is giving birth without a midwife, and think about possible complications in pregnancy as many women often stay in prolonged labor.

Moreover, there is no access to a health post and poor infrastructure to reach out to. On the other hand, picture yourself in a certain village where a mother is giving birth and suddenly the mother finds out that her new baby isn't breathing, moving or crying. She screams out for help and a midwife comes in to check on her. Thanks to the midwife's quick and skillful treatment, the baby starts crying. Fortunately, the baby has survived. How shocking it is to hear that there are 800 women dying daily while giving birth, and pregnancy complex across the world? The more horrifying news is that 2.9 million newborn babies (first 4 weeks) die and 2.6 million are stillborn (last 3 months of pregnancy). Globally, newborn deaths of children under 5 years now account for 44 percent. Moreover, the day of birth is the time of greatest risk of death and disability for babies and their mothers - contributing to around half of the world's 289,000 maternal deaths. And that is why Nana Taona Kuo, senior manager of Every Women Every Child in the executive office of the secretary-general said, "There is no more poignant time now for all actors to do everything they can to end the preventable deaths of women, newborns and children within the generation. The greatest wealth a nation can have is the health of its people."

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