News - Political Leaders Urged to Promote Safe Motherhood in India

Political Leaders Urged to Promote Safe Motherhood in India

April 11, 2006—Political leaders joined health experts and advocates in Delhi April 10 to call for stepped up efforts to save mother’s lives.

A national forum with parliamentarians was held on the eve of India’s National Safe Motherhood Day, April 11. The day commemorates the more than 100,000 women in India who die in pregnancy and childbirth each year. It calls attention to simple, cost-effective health interventions that could improve maternal health and promotes actions to make motherhood safer.

Speakers at the parliamentary forum included Mr. P.K. Hota, Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, who urged elected officials to “act as advocates for safe motherhood and ensure that at least one hospital in their constituency is working well.”

Hota pushed for elected officials to enact policies and legislation to stem India’s maternal mortality rate.

“India today has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of maternal deaths anywhere in the world,” said Dr. Aparajita Gogoi, National Coordinator of the White Ribbon Alliance India Chapter and a CEDPA/India Senior Advisor. “What compounds the tragedy is that almost all these deaths are entirely preventable.”

The forum was sponsored by the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood/India, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and the Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, with support from the MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Dr. Bulbul Sood, CEDPA/India Country Director, explained that one of the biggest challenges India faces is reducing the maternal mortality rate from the current level of 407 per 100,000 live births to the national goal of 100 per 100,000 by 2010.

To spur parliamentary action, the White Ribbon Alliance and UNICEF released an advocacy kit specifically for elected leaders at the April 10 forum. It includes suggested actions to promote maternal health, including fostering progressive policies and facilitating support through public statements and speeches.

The alliance, with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, also released two new guidelines for health practitioners to improve delivery and newborn care, and manage common obstetric complications.

The White Ribbon Alliance is a global coalition of individuals, organizations and communities committed to increasing public awareness and enacting policies to prevent maternal death and promote safe motherhood. The India chapter was founded in 1999 by CEDPA and many partner organizations.

To date, the White Ribbon Alliance’s grassroots and media campaigns have reached hundreds of millions throughout India with messages on preventing maternal deaths. As the alliance secretariat in India, CEDPA provides technical assistance and leads advocacy and communications strategies.