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cost of caring for orphans is greater than putting in
place initiatives to prevent their deaths. If we don’t
do this on humanitarian grounds, we must do it
on economic grounds. The world cannot afford to
continue losing mothers in such numbers.
Why is this appalling situation still continuing? In my
view, there is not a single cause, but here are a few,
based on my 12 years of experience.
x There is a lack of political will to address the issues
around maternal mortality.
x In some cultures, women are valued by the
number of children they produce, but of course
the more babies they have, the greater the risk of
complications and death.
x The desire for baby boys is leading to pressure on
women to give birth more frequently, yet many
still do not realise that it is the father of a baby who
determines whether the child will be a boy or a girl.
x Lack of free healthcare is preventing women from
accessing hospital or health centre services. They have to
travel long distances (I have witnessed a woman being
transported in a wheelbarrow and another on a door.)
x The roads/infrastructure in some countries make it
impossible for women to be transported safely.
x Poverty. Western companies pay their workers a
pittance. I spoke to a man who was going down a
diamond mine for $5 a day. We quite rightly fight
for fair pay in the west, but what is fair about large
companies exploiting poverty stricken communities
by significantly underpaying them.
x When disasters, such as Ebola, strike Africa there is
often little or no response from the west until the
situation has drastically escalated. We are global
citizens with a responsibility to the most vulnerable
on this planet. If we enrich these countries by
supporting their citizens, they will need goods and
services from the west.
x There is a lack of empowered women who can make
decisions over their own lives and fertility.
So why am I, a retired Senior Nurse concerned about
the situation…
In 2005, I happened to see a PANORAMA programme
about maternal mortality in Chad, Central Africa. The
country’s largest hospital was losing at least one mother
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every single day and around a quarter of the newborn
babies were dying. It was clear that poverty was the cause.
I contacted the BBC and helped to set up our organisation
which would support that hospital and its inspirational
Head of Obstetrics, Dr Grace Kodindo. We raised funds
and shipped the medications needed to save the women’s
lives. Soon, Dr Grace was reporting to us that around 25
women per month were surviving who would have died
without our medications. In 2007, we were asked by the
UNFPA to help Sierra Leone and Liberia. We responded and
are now providing midwifery skill sharing opportunities for
UK midwives to travel to these two wonderful countries.
So, to return to 1915 and Hannah who died in childbirth
having her 11 th child; this might hold the key to why I
responded to that programme as I did. Hannah was a real
person; she was my grand-mother. My father was 3yrs old
and grew up without a mother. He was the youngest of
seven surviving children. So I grew up, hearing first-hand
from my father what it was like not having a mother in the
home and wondered why she had died. In 2015 I made
it my mission to get a copy of her death certificate. The
cause of her death was recorded as follows:
Catastrophic Haemorrhage following premature delivery.
So, without ever realising it, I have been heading up a small
organisation which is providing the medication to women,
who in the 21 st century are dying from the catastrophic
condition, which killed my grand-mother over 100yrs ago.
The cost of that medication you ask? Just around 50p per
woman…less than the cost of a 1 st Class Stamp.
ANGELA GORMAN.
www.lifeforafricanmothers.org
FaceBook: Life for African Mothers.
Twitter: @Life4AM