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My Sister Myself

17 May 2004

A short film that highlights the challenges faced by women during pregnancy and giving birth in the developing world was launched at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting. The film was produced to illustrate the meetings theme: Improving Maternal Mortality from Knowledge to Action.

Skilled care for mothers and babies has improved health in a Delhi slum.

Grace sits outside her house in an African village, speaking softly about the night she nearly lost her life. Her uterus had ruptured, her unborn baby was dead, but, in the dark, the chief would not risk his bullock cart to take her across the bush. It was dawn before she made it to a hospital for an emergency operation-just in time.

Amina tells how her 15-year-old married sister laboured for five days before they put her on a camel. It was another three days before she got to a health centre - too late. 'I always remember my sister; she says, 'I really liked that sister, and she liked me...'

Mary, smiling in her crisp, white uniform, tells how she loves being a midwife. A happy mother and healthy baby are the reward for her skills. Yet she and her colleagues are often hungry, forced to leave their work to find food for their own children.

These are just some of the women who appear in the film My Sister, My Self. Shaped by testimonies from mothers, midwives and traditional birth attendants in Africa, South East Asia and the UK, the film takes its name from all those who said: 'My sister died giving birth...'

The film will open the Commonwealth Health Ministers Conference in Geneva on 18 May, the start of a two-year programme led by the Commonwealth Secretariat to support member states in reaching the Millennium Development Goals in maternal and child
health. The film will be distributed on CD to country delegations at the World Health Assembly, which convenes the following day and where a principal resolution on reproductive health is being debated.

Watch VIDEO - Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox speaks at  CHMM 2004 56K / ADSL

The British Council Commonwealth Unit and Arts Group have contributed funding and support to the project. The film and accompanying booklet have been produced in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, and with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Unicef and the White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. This is the first time that British Council Health has worked with international partner organisations to produce advocacy and teaching products.

The film maintains that it takes political will to bring about change. Women must be able to seek help instead of waiting for permission, or transport, or cash from husbands or mothers-in-law. They must also know when they are in danger. Education, information and women's empowerment are essential to health, just as good health is necessary for education and development.

At one point the film shows the floor of a hut strewn with goat droppings. Far from a road, without running water, this is where the local traditional birth attendant delivers the babies of her village. More than half of the world's mothers still give birth in places like this, without skilled care.

These powerful stories must be heard and acted upon by the rest of the world. That this hasn't happened yet is an international disgrace. It reflects the fact that almost all of those who die are poor and powerless. This film gives them a voice.

Find out more about the film and the Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting (CHMM 2004).