MIDIRS Calls For Urgent Action In Raising Funds For Safer Motherhood In Ethiopia

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 07 May 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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With only 8 weeks to go until the start of the SafeHands for Mothers' Pilgrims Walk for Life, MIDIRS has issued a further plea to health care professionals worldwide to lend their support to the fund-raising campaign, which aims to raise £350,000 in support of reducing maternal morbidity in Ethiopia.

Andy Fisher, MIDIRS Business Manager, who is lending his own support by participating in the 130 kilometre pilgrimage, said 'As today is International Day of the Midwife, it seemed wholly appropriate to revisit the purpose of the Walk for Life fund-raising campaign and to remind people that up to 600,000 women each year continue to die from pregnancy related causes in under-developed countries '.

'If the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the maternal mortality ratio by 75% by 2015 is to be met, then there is still a huge amount of work to be done. We are hoping that health care professionals worldwide will rise to the occasion by giving their wholehearted support to the SafeHands mission'.

Nancy Durrell McKenna, Founder Director of SafeHands for Mothers and the driving force behind the 'Walk for Life' pilgrimage added 'This pilgrimage will be a physical endurance for all and yet our exertion will pale in significance to the daily hardships endured by those women for whom life is one of daily physical endurance.'

The walk, which starts on Sunday 14th June 2009 and covers up to 130 kilometres of the famous El Camino de Santiago or Way of St James ancient pilgrim's route to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, has attracted widespread international interest.

Six Western Australian health care professionals have pledged their support by joining the walk, five of whom are indigenous Aboriginal women who wish to show their support by walking for the indigenous women of Ethiopia. In addition, two teams of Extremist Runners plan to cover the whole route in one day (equivalent to 2.5 marathons) on the 19th June 2009, in acknowledgment of Father's Day on Sunday 21st June 2009.

Journalist Caroline Phillips will also be covering the walk for the Daily Mail newspaper.

Those who wish to share their support can do so by visiting www.justgiving.com/SafeHands_trek

Reference

(1) World Health Organization (2000). Maternal mortality in 2000: estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA. Geneva: WHO

Those who wish to share their support can do so by visiting http://www.justgiving.com/SafeHands_trek

Notes

1. MIDIRS (http://www.midirs.org) is a Bristol based not-for-profit organisation offering a complete information service to all health professionals, non-statutory agencies or anyone involved in the care of women and their babies during and after pregnancy. Its organisational mission is 'to be the leading international information resource relating to childbirth and infancy, disseminating this information as widely as possible to assist in the improvement of maternity care'.

2. SafeHands for Mothers' (http://www.safehands.org) vision is to contribute to a reduction in maternal mortality and morbidity from pregnancy-related causes and to protect and promote health of the newborn in developing countries. Its aim is to achieve this through the production of high quality films and visual materials to support government and non governmental training and advocacy programmes. Portable, robust solar powered DVD players enable SafeHands to take training where it is most needed - the remote and isolated areas.

Every year between 500,000 and 600,000 women die from pregnancy-related causes; 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries.

SafeHands calls for a renewed effort to combat the unnecessarily high number of women who die during pregnancy and childbirth. A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying during pregnancy and childbirth (ref 1). An international goal has been set to achieve a 75% reduction by 2015.

3. 'El Camino de Santiago' or The Way of St. James or St. James' Way, is the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in North Western Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle, Saint James, are buried. The Way of St James has existed for over a thousand years. It was one of the most important Christian pilgrimages during medieval times, and is still undertaken by modern day pilgrims.

Source
MIDIRS