Mother’s Night a big hit

 On Saturday 12 May 2007 during the so called  Mother’s Night the room in Pakhuis De Zwijger in Amsterdam bubbled over with energy. Several experts ( for example Chantal Gill’ard (MP), Dr Barbara Kwast, Rachel Ploem (WPF) and Dr. Islam (WHO) ) were asked to explain to the audience what has to be done, according to them, to reduce Maternal Mortality. Maternal Mortality is one of the MDGs and it has to be reduced by 75% in 2015.

Every minute a woman dies of a pregnancy related illness somewhere in the world, mostly in developing countries. These women die of complications which are relatively easy to prevent or to treat. To reach MDG 5 political commitment is crucial as well as investing in women’s health according to all the experts. The status of women was also addressed, not only of mothers to be, but also the status of nurses and midwives.

On behalf of all the cooperating organisations, Liliane Ploumen, director of Cordaid, expressed these issues in a call for action for Minister Koenders. Koenders stated that Maternal Mortality is an issue high on the international political agenda, partly thanks to actions like the Mother’s night. He promised to address governments to invest in women’s health. Koenders said: “Maternal Mortality is not only a women’s issue. Men are the husbands of women, men are the children of women. They have to act opon it, too!”

At the beginning of the evening Singer Suzy Dexter performed her song ‘We’re all sisters’. Writer Lydia Rood, stated in her column that she would have died three times herself of pregnancy related illnesses if she would have lived a thousand kilometers more to the South. Cabaret artiste Jetty Mathurin (Taante) called the audience to act for safe motherhood in a more spiritual way. Singer Mathilde Santing ended the evening with a great performance of half an hour.

View the pictures

This Mother's Night was organised by WPF, Memisa Cordaid, Share-net, Amref Flying Doctors, Royal Tropical Institute and NCDO.