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• Health Ministers Discuss Maternal Mortality

Health Ministers Discuss Maternal Mortality

20 May 2004

Health ministers and senior officials from 44 Commonwealth countries met in Geneva on Sunday, 16 May 2004 for their annual meeting ahead of the World Health Assembly. The theme of this year's meeting was 'Improving Maternal Mortality: From Knowledge to Action'.

Key issues on the agenda included 'Political will: the role of health ministers in mobilising women's health as a priority'; 'Strengthening the National Health Information System: capacity development at national level'; and 'Socio-cultural barriers to women's health: lessons to be learned from the Commonwealth'.

Every year, more than half a million women die of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. Ninety-nine per cent of these deaths occur in developing countries. The worst hit is Sub-Saharan Africa where the lifetime risk of death from pregnancy-related complications is 1 in 16, compared with 1 in 2,800 for women in developed countries.

Dr Eddie Mhlanga, Head of Community Obstetrics of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, spoke at the opening session. He pointed out that inability and in some cases reluctance to count the number of deaths in childbirth meant that many countries did not know the number of women dying of pregnancy-related complications. He urged ministers to make reporting of maternal deaths mandatory and inquire into such deaths.

During their discussions, Commonwealth health ministers identified the need to mobilise resources and remove barriers in their countries in order to improve access to health care by underserved populations. Ministers also committed to continue to advocate maternal and child health as a public health and development priority, and to strengthen the capacity of their health systems.

Reducing the number of women dying in childbirth by 75 per cent by 2015 is one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. Ministers observed that these goals cannot be achieved without the renewed and full commitment of governments and called for the strengthening of partnerships between governments, local communities, civil society, the private sector and the international community.

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Winston Cox said, "I don't believe that any one institution is going to be able to make the breakthrough without partners. Each one of us has different strengths. Each one has different capacities which we can bring to bear on a particular problem: in the Commonwealth I think it is our power to convene Ministers and to be advocates for improvements in maternal health and improvements in reducing maternal mortality."

Ministers also requested the Commonwealth Secretariat to work with member countries to collect and share best practice on maternal and child health programmes. The Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Lee Jong-wook, and the President of the Pan-African Parliament, Gertrude Mongella, known for her role in organising the UN International Conference on Women held in Beijing, China, in 1995, also addressed the meeting.