Thursday Feb 23

At Our Mothers' Feet

“Be at your mother’s feet and there is Paradise" Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

 

Every year, around 358,000 women and girls die from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. 99% of these deaths occur in the developing world. To put this into perspective - the lifetime risk of dying in childbirth is 1 in 4700 in the UK – compared to 1 in 11 in Afghanistan.  And that’s not the full picture.  Another 7 million women are left with serious ill health or disability as a result of pregnancy and childbirth and one million children die every year as a result of the death of their mother.

The main causes of maternal mortality are severe bleeding, infections, hypertensive disorders, unsafe abortions and obstructed labour as well as diseases such as malaria, anaemia and HIV/Aids which complicate or are aggravated by pregnancy.  Yet 8 out of 10 of these deaths can be easily prevented by providing women with better access to quality healthcare facilities and trained health workers such as midwives.   

But a range of social factors may also be putting women at increased risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth. That’s why it’s also important to empower women and girls worldwide to access their rights and take the lead in making the decisions that affect their bodies, their health and their lives.   Community leaders and men have a vital role to play in supporting women in accessing quality healthcare and challenging social attitudes and practices which are damaging to women’s health and wellbeing.  

What is being done?


In 2000, world leaders agreed a number of targets for tackling global poverty by 2015 known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).   MDG 5 aims to reduce maternal mortality by ¾ between 1990 and 2015 but to date progress has been extremely slow with the annual rate of decline less than 1% - hundreds of thousands of women are still dying every year.

On 20-22 September 2010, world leaders met in New York for the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals which reviewed progress to date in achieving each of the targets.

The UK Government pressed for more resources to be put into tackling maternal mortality (MDG 4) and infant mortality (MDG 5). On the last day of the Summit, the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health was launched. This commits $40billion towards achieving the health MDGs and brings together governments, donors, NGOs, research institutions and the private sector.  This strategy is aiming to save the lives of 16 million women and children worldwide.

The Global Strategy has been welcomed by NGOs and civil society as a long overdue recognition of the need to put women and children at the top of the agenda.  However concern has been expressed about the lack of detail as well as questions raised about where the finances will come from.

The UK Department for International Development (DfID) published its Framework for Results in December 2010 which pledges to work to save the lives of 50,000 mothers and 250,000 newborn babies by 2015.

Be part of the movement for change – join us at our mothers’ feet!


MADE in Europe is running a maternal health campaign with our partner Ammalife and supported by UKaid.  The campaign aims to raise the profile of global maternal mortality amongst UK Muslim communities and increase the support available to charities working to tackle maternal deaths.

We believe that Muslim communities have the power to make a difference. Our faith inspires us to take action, and our communities and charities have strong links with many countries where maternal mortality rates are highest, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Sudan. This means that we have the opportunity to influence attitudes, share life-saving knowledge and help provide vital healthcare to women around the world.

We want to show that we are at our mothers' feet by celebrating motherhood and coming together to make our local and global communities aware of what needs to be done to prevent these needless deaths.

We want to show charities that we will support them in helping to provide the resources they need to make maternal health a priority.

Join us at our mothers’ feet...