Mother's Night 2008: big hit
In 2008, still, every minute a woman dies of pregnancy related complications somewhere in the world 99% of these women lives in developing countries.
May 10th 2008, the night before Mother’s day, several organisations* organised the second Mother’s Night. It was an event about Safe Motherhood with a programme filled with debate, stories of hope and special cultural performances.
Focus on Midwives
This year the focus was on the role and image of midwives. Professional midwives are crucial in the reduction of maternal mortality. Often the circumstances they have to work in are terrible. There are too few professionals and therefore complications are recognised too late and referral does not take place in time. There’s a lack of good equipment, medical instruments and medication, as well as of means of transportation and communication. And if a woman is refferred to hospital, the quality of the medical care is not good enough.
Interviews
Presenter Dieuwertje Blok interviewed several guests:
- Feddy Mwanga, midwife from Tanzania, and chair of TAMA.
- Hilde Perdok, Dutch midwife of KNOV
- Josephine Lesiamon (AMREF) from Kenya
- Agneta Bridges, executive director of ICM
Cabaret artist Sanne Wallis de Vries performed and after that a panel discussion took place about the preconditions for midwives to work. In the panel were:
- Esther Scheers (NVOG):
- Godelieve van Heteren (Cordaid)
- Chantal Gill’ard (MP of the Labour Party)
Advocacy Message
Agneta Bridges handed over an advocacy message to Minister Koenders: “We know what works. Now courage, political leadership, and funding are necessary, nationaly and internationally.”
Koenders explained that he will invest 4.95 million euros in UNFPA to strengthen the profession of midwives and the ICM. In Dutch policy for Development cooperation key elements are family planning and the distribution of contraceptives - to meet the unmet need.
Leoni Jansen and her band played until the end of the evening.
* MYBODY, Cordaid Memisa, AMREF Flying Doctors, Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, TNO, KNOV/ICM, NVOG en NCDO. Deze organisaties maken deel uit van het maatschappelijk initiatief tegen moedersterfte, onderdeel van het Akkoord van Schokland.
