Safe motherhood in a safe country

I am sure I am not alone when I admit to being overwhelmed when I hear of the lack of safety for mothers and their little children in many of the poorest communities in this world. The tragedy of loss of the life of a baby is heartbreaking, while the loss of a mother cannot be comprehended.

Here I am, a midwife in Melbourne, Australia. Any time I am concerned about a woman in my care I can make a telephone call to a large, well equipped maternity hospital, and refer the woman for complex investigations, or for skilled management of whatever the problem is. Women can travel by car or, if needed, by ambulance, at any time of the day or night. Although there are no guarantees in this or any other life event I have no reason to fear. I can certainly find fault with the mainstream public hospital system, and I believe it could be improved particularly in providing services for well women, but it is pretty good when women or babies are ill, or develop complications. Most of the women in my care give birth to healthy babies at home, without drugs to stimulate labour or to relieve pain, and with very little or no help from me.

A story in the World section of today's newspaper describes a woman in Peru, pregnant with her seventh child, who hiked for hours through the Andes mountains to a health clinic where she gave birth. The clinic's notable difference from hospital maternity care is that women are encouraged to give birth standing up. (Sunday Age, July 13 2008, p11) The program described in this article encourages mothers who had previously given birth at home to go to the health clinics in an effort to reduce Peru's awful maternal death rate of185 per 100,000 births. This compares with around 10 women per 100,000 births in Australia (http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications).

A call has recently gone out from World Health Organisation and other leading organisations to the G8 leaders to address maternal and child health. "We don't need a new cure to save the lives of 6 million women and children. What we need is political leadership and investment. The Partnership has issued a Global Call asking G8 Leaders to fund basic health services for women, newborns and children." http://www.who.int/pmnch/en/ This call is in concert with the UN Millennium Development Goals, particularly #4 and #5 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
The Countdown to 2015 http://www.countdown2015mnch.org/ has been set up "to track progress made towards the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 1, 4 and 5 and promote evidence-based information for better health investments and decisions by policy-makers regarding health needs at the country level."

The message I have heard, and that I want to send out to any readers of this blog is that "we don't need a new cure to save the lives of 6 million women and children." We need midwives who work at the primary care or basic level in all communities. For the majority of women we need to protect normal birth. That may be, as in Peru, saying it's OK to stand up to give birth. But you can't stand up to give birth if you are loaded with narcotics or if you are numbed by epidural. You can only stand up and give birth actively, or kneel, or choose to lie down, if your mind and body are strong and working in harmony with your God-given birthing power.
For the minority of women and babies who experience complications or illness we need health clinics and referral hospitals that are accessible when they are needed.

Joy Johnston http://villagemidwife.blogspot.com/