“Countries around the world have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which include reducing maternal mortality by three quarters by 2015. One key task of the global health community is to close the gap in services for women in rich areas, and those in poor ones.” said Joy Phumaphi.
“It is the duty of all governments to lead the fight against maternal and neonatal mortality,” said First Lady of Kenya, Lucy Kibaki, who jointly chaired the Nairobi meeting. Praising the solidarity shown by the African parliamentarians present at the launch, Lady Lucy Kibaki added, “Only by joining forces can we achieve our common goals.” As part of its support, WHO is beginning world-wide training for health staff today. A new manual for health planners and providers, Beyond the numbers – Reviewing maternal deaths and complications to make pregnancy safer is also available. The manual delves into the question of why women die from complications related to childbirth, and spells out how to avoid them by using effective and affordable methods which can be implemented in even the poorest settings. Beyond the numbers is the new focus for WHO regional and country offices and partners from more than 20 regional and international agencies, including UNFPA, UNICEF and the World Bank. This programme includes the training of health planners and providers in high-risk countries and regions in the use of five methods to gather information upon which to base actions: verbal autopsies, reviewing deaths in the community, health facility-based reviews, confidential inquiries, near-miss case reviews and clinical audit.
The implementation of this initiative is urgent, but requires more resources. US$ 10 million are needed to train decision-makers, national health planners and medical service providers. This will take place in 20 high-priority countries. Funds will also be used to measure progress.
“Each time, such a gathering reminds us vividly of the loss of lives of those we cared for and our beloved ones. It is time for all of us to turn technical knowledge into action to save the lives of the women who give life,” said Dr. Luc de Bernis, one of the authors of Beyond the numbers from WHO.