Transcriber: Capa Girl Reviewer: Fran Ontanaya
Good afternoon.
I am here to talk about the maternal mortality campaign.
I first got realized that I was gonna get
as involved as I became few years ago,
at the end of 2007. I went on the trip to Uganda.
I was actually there as the part of the delegation
for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.
I went on a visit that I'd arranged on a big maternity hospital.
And, as I was going around,
what was obviously a overstretched, you know,
hardworking teams of doctors, nurses and midwifes with poor resources.
Seeing them as stretched as they were.
We went past a small room, with a window,
and there were eight little cots there, with little babies there,
all who had been born that day.
But, of course all them on their own
because their mothers has died in child birth.
Just on that one day, and that one hospital.
So, for me, I felt moved to get involved more actively
by those little ones there recognizing
that their chances of survival or future opportunities in their lives
was so, so meager for them --
But I was speaking later to a woman called Aparajita Gogoi
who runs The White Ribbons Alliance in India
and she talked to me from a different perspective.
She said it was not uncommon in India for mothers to go around
when they were coming up near for their time for labour
and say "good bye" to their family,
because they knew they that there was a very high possibility
that they might not see their family again.
Also, the story, you know he story she told me, of --
a wife who were in labour in country with huge difficulties
it was not uncommon to, in some states for the husband to take the decision
to not take his wife to hospital so that she could receive the care
and have a safe delivery.
Instead it was literally cheaper for him to loose his wife
and in time to get a new one.
That brought home to me, the fact that this isn't just an issue around children's health
and their futures, it's also an issue around women and their rights
and how much we value them.
Now, in India of course, in the last few years
some things have changed, new laws have came in,
which mean that women, there have to be a 7 percentage of women on the council
taking part in local government decisions,
who participate fully in big village meetings,
where people are bringing much more to the surface what’s happening,
rooting out things that ain't working,
identifying areas where there's local corruption,
and calling people to have tasks on that.
There's also changes where now a mother in some states
will actually be paid for turning up at the health center when she's there,
in order to give birth to her baby
with a skilled health worker in attendance.
That of course makes the greatest difference to that decision
that that family might have made in other circumstances.
But, as we look at it -- we've been in a situation where
huge amount of progress has been made
with the maternal mortality campaign in recent years.
It's raising up political agendas,
it's been taking forward with great vigour by many international leaders,
pledging funds for it, pledging --
taking away the charges for delivery in health centers
and national governments taking -- putting higher priority on their list
where they know that they have issues with mothers' survival.
But we still -- our great 21st century truth
is that we have millions of women
who are lost in slavery, who are treated as sex objects,
who are raped with no redress.
We have a huge amount to tackle with
how we are addressing woman’s right in this century,
and at the heart of that is how we treat our mothers
how we treat those mothers,
who may lose their lives unnecessarily,
because simple interventions, health interventions
are not made available to them.
Given that we are equipped to know exactly what to do to address this,
that we know we need skilled health workers,
we know we need the equipment and supplies available,
that we know we need the cultural shifts that we need --
All of this therefore is within our grasp,
and as well all signed up to the Millennium Development Goals,
and many countries have said that by 2015
we will hit very specific poverty reduction targets
and have a target to reduce by three-quarters
the number of mothers who die in pregnancy and child birth.
This has to be a gap that we need to narrow
no matter the progress that we've made just in recent years.
Where we are now is looking at what the reasons that are standing in our way.
The issues around woman’s emancipation,
the issues around women empowerment,
must be at the heart of this.
The grassroots movements --
It's coming down to those networks of women all around the world,
networks of men and women all around the world
The White Ribbon Alliance membership stretches from governments,
stretches from business, stretches through individual groups of midwifes concerned
and active individuals in about a 154 countries.
Their energy, their inspiration, their marches,
their music events, that they organize,
their -- people are doing all kinds of things,
we've had cake bake sales, we've had big, big movements.
In India they had a march of thousands of women on to the Taj Mahal,
which is of course a monument created
by a wealthy husband to his much loved wife who died in child birth.
In Tanzania they organized so that they were concerned that -- you would see on the ground that
the politicians were saying that money was coming through.
The ministers were allocating it in their budgets.
But, people weren't seeing it on the ground.
So, they handed out cameras to the activists.
Who went around and filmed the health centers.
Who went around and said,
"Right, you say that there is a couple of midwifes here
and you say there supposed to be some equipment here,
but we filmed this health center and there's a janitor
and not much more."
Taking those film bits back, showing them to the local officials,
showing them to the ministers, managed to get it all the way up to the health
officials at the top made a huge difference.
It also made it's way on Tanzanian television.
And due course, of course --
when it came around the presidential elections for president Kikwete --
You can see him standing on his platform for his election addresses,
wearing the White Ribbon Alliance cap,
and at the forefront of the maternal health campaign.
He understands, through his country, what that means to address it.
But, also what it's means to --
The feedback that he will get
and it is actually right at the core
of how he sees himself being reelected as president.
Just recently a letter was sent to him,
organized by about 16 million health workers:
the nurses, midwifes, pediatricians, obstetricians and gynecologists from the world,
from the international councils, were able to put together a letter
with a petition with 16 million signatures,
calling on those next round of changes,
calling for that improvement and the empowerment of women
and calling also for the health workers that are needed.
There's very straightforward numbers:
3.5 million health workers and 2 million teachers,
because of what's going on in education
is critical to the future of those girls and boys as they come through,
you know -- the age when they marry, the age when they have children,
the likelihood of their own children
being able to go on into education and succeed.
2 million teachers, 3.5 million health workers
and countless entrepreneurs that should be supported too with many enterprises
across Sub-Saharan Africa, across Southeast Asia,
those areas we need to place most effort in to address
the issues to the greatest poverty.
This is where women empowerment can come together.
There must be many, many women there too
who would engage in training
as a nurse, as a midwife, becoming involved.
Our efforts now must be to create a very serious plan that says:
Let's create those training schools,
let's work out how people can train their community,
how they can access the internet for more information,
how they sort out the distribution lines for the equipment and supplies, for transport.
That plan is needed.
Tthe sticking point sometimes says,
"Where is the government in this system?"
We can all put the money in the top, but are we really sure it gets there?
This is often heard from the critics.
Well, this is where our grassroots networks come into play as well.
They are the governments in this system.
If you think of those midwifes, with the cameras filming health centers in Tanzania --
There are many ways that can be replicated around the world.
If you think of the local councilors in India as they hold their meetings,
and come together and discuss what's going on the area,
sometimes with 2 000 people present.
These are the ways forward.
The grass-roots network is where we will get the activism,
where we will get the push for the cultural change that we need.
And also where we can keep the governance in the system
that would help all of the politicians at the top know
that what's coming down can actually be put into action.
All women should have access to high quality professional care
without the barrier of cost.
The activists, the grassroots members will all keep working until it happens.
I hope we can find the way to all play our part,
so that we change those results,
have fewer mothers and children die by 2015.
Thank you.
(Applause)