Latest update January 13th, 2025 3:10 AM
Latest News
- Oil deal requires Govt. to formally write Exxon to request renegotiation – Dr. Adams
- Govt. eyeing another US$1.5B loan from US EXIM Bank
- Israeli siege of north Gaza leaves 5,000 dead, missing after 100 days
- More traffic cops using bodycams after Hicken’s warning
- Second terminal for CJIA on govt’s 2025 agenda
Ministry of Health, PAHO/WHO open Safe Motherhood photography exhibition
Yesterday Minister of Health, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, officially opened the Safe Motherhood Photography exhibition at the National Library.
During a simple opening ceremony at the National Library the winner of the Safe Motherhood Photography contest, Amanda Richards, was presented with a US$1,000 cheque.
The contest was designed to put the issue of maternal health and neonatal health on the political and public agenda in the region.
Apart from the local contest, there was one held regionally. The best picture was judged based on its illustration of promotion and protection of the right to the enjoyment of highest attainable standard for women, mothers and newborns.
Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy and other officials during the ribbon cutting ceremony at the opening of the exhibition.
In an overview of the programme, Director, Maternal and Child Health, Dr. Janice Woolford, said that this year will mark 24 years since the launch of the Safe Motherhood Initiative (SMI). According to Dr. Woolford the initiative is an international effort to raise awareness of the scope and dimensions of maternal mortality and to galvanise commitment among governments, donors, United Nations (UN) agencies, and other relevant stakeholders to take steps to address this public health tragedy.
Giving a brief history of the initiative Dr. Woolford said that in 1987, when health experts, development professionals, and policymakers gathered in Nairobi to inaugurate the global initiative, maternal mortality was not a major national or international priority.
“At the Nairobi meeting, a group of international agencies launched a global movement, the Safe Motherhood Initiative, whose aim was to reduce the burden of maternal death and ill health in developing countries”.
She added that later that year the Safe Motherhood Inter-Agency Group was established to realise the initiative’s goals. Dr. Woolford added that records will show that from 1990 to 2008, the Latin America and Caribbean region reduced its maternal mortality rate by nearly 41 per cent.
She noted that there still is a long way to go to meet the objective of obtaining a 75 per cent reduction by 2015, the commitment made by 189 countries around the world to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Studies estimate that one million pregnant women give birth unattended by skilled personnel and that 744,000 women do not receive any prenatal care. According to these studies, 9,200 women die each year in Latin America and the Caribbean from complications of pregnancy.
Yesterday’s event was endorsed by Dr. Beverley Barnett of the World Health Organisation and the Pan American Health Organisation, and Mr. Derven Patrick, Public Health Specialist, United Nations Population Funds (UNFPA).
Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy stated that his Ministry has committed to health for all. “As part of that commitment we had promised that basic antenatal care and the continued care from pre-conception to post natal care would be available to every family.”
The minister pointed to the fact that while the Health Ministry is closer to achieving the Millennium Development Goal there still is a lot to achieve as it relates to maternal health.
“We made a promise that health for all will allow us to bring better health care for women, enable women to have safe pregnancy and the delivery of our babies safely and eventually have them live safely into adulthood”.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Social media reporting is a double-edged sword
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Social media has undoubtedly changed how we share and receive information. It has made... more
Clarifying misconceptions about the Panama Canal
Sir Ronald Sanders (Antigua and Barbuda’s Ambassador to the US and the OAS) By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News–... more
Weekend Cartoon
