Delivering the Promise of Safe Birth Delivery

June 12, 2008
No. 19/08

The Ministry of Health, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Save the Children, UNICEF, WHO and other partners called on donors, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and citizens across Ethiopia to “deliver the promise – for safe pregnancy, child birth and post natal care” as they marched in Addis on Thursday, June 5 to kick off the first-ever celebration of safe motherhood that was held on Friday, June 6.

In Ethiopia 26,000 women die annually of complications in pregnancy.  The majority of deaths occur at home. According to the Countdown to 2015; tracking progress in maternal, newborn & child survival 2008 Report, the number one cause of maternal death in Ethiopia is hemorrhage; only 12 percent of women have 4 or more antenatal visits – while only 5 percent of babies receive postnatal care.  Less than half of the mothers are breastfeeding exclusively (without adding other foods) for the recommended for six months. 
According to Save the Children’s recent State of the World’s Mothers Report, almost all births in Ethiopia take place at home (94 percent), one child in eight dies before reaching age five, and most mothers and children who need care live too far from a road, let alone a health facility.

According to USAID Mission Director, Glenn Anders, “The good news is that Ethiopia has made remarkable progress in improving health care for children and has cut its under-five mortality rate by 40% since 1990.  Much of this success is due to the September 2005 Government of Ethiopia launch of the health extension worker program – focused on building health centers, and promoting linkages from households to health centers by employing 30,000 health extension workers by 2010.  The U.S. Agency for International Development is happy to be a partner in these activities to improve the promise of safe delivery to the women of Ethiopia.” 

According to Dr. Shiferaw, the State Minister of Health, “Currently 24,000 of the 30,000 Health Extension Workers have been deployed.  From Oromia 350 health extension workers have just received training from ACCESS Program and Save the Children in clean and safe delivery.  We will now scale up the training to ensure all health extensions workers will develop skills in clean and safe delivery and newborn care.”  He added, ‘With the ability to reach 85% of the population in rural areas, we have faith that these newly trained health extension workers will contribute to our success in achieving the MDG goals 4 and 5.”

“It is very clear that there is an essential link between safe motherhood, child survival – and in particular newborn survival,” stated Dr. Tedbabe Degefie, the Head of Health and Nutrition for Save the Children USA.   She added, “We believe the best way to promote and strengthen the partnership for maternal, newborn, and child health is by ensuring the implementation and harmonization of interventions included in the Health Sector Development Program (HSDP).  Dr. Tedbabe continued, “As a member of the Safe Motherhood Technical Working Group, Save the Children is working in partnership with the Ministry of Health to ensure that safe delivery and post natal care will guarantee that both mothers and their newborns survive and thrive.”

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