Maternal deaths: MPs need emotional trigger, says Shabana Azmi

MPs need an emotional trigger to commit themselves to the issue of maternal health, said actor and activist Shabana Azmi. The former Parliamentarian is willing to take the responsibility to get concerned MPs on board to flag the issue of high maternal mortality in India. The fact that 60,000 to 80,000 women die in India during child birth, she said, was a matter of concern and politicians need to prioritize womens health.

More than half a million women and girls all over the world continue to die due to pregnancy related causes. In India, more women die every year during childbirth or pregnancy than in any other country in the world. A majority of these deaths are directly linked to obstetric complications such as haemorrhage, obstructed labour, or eclampsia (pregnancy-related seizures). For every woman who dies, 20 to 30 suffer from maternal morbidity.

Azmi was speaking at a panel discussion on Advocacy for reducing maternal mortality in underserved areas: an unfinished agenda organized by CHETNA (centre for health, education, training and nutrition awareness) in New Delhi. Ms Azmi as an MP had collected the signature of 200 MPs to ensure that the two child norm was not passed by Parliament in the year 2000.

Poonam Muttreja, executive director of Population Foundation of India, who chaired the discussions, said unless the focus was on underserved areas, the Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 could not be achieved. Underserved, it was spelt out, was not just the tribals and poor in remote rural areas but also the illiterate, Dalits and poor living in urban slums.

Globally, it was now accepted that the financial investment has to match the verbal commitment made by governments at international fora. A whopping $ 42 billion has been committed by international donors at a meeting organized by the WHO. This money needs to be tracked so that it reaches women in underserved areas, said Muttreja.

CHETNA, which is working with women in underserved areas, released details of the impact made by its various health interventions in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Indu Capoor, director, CHETNA, revealed that unless the community was involved and a continuum of care approach was adopted, women would continue to lack access to maternal health services.

Dr Aparajita Gogoi, national coordinator for Safe Motherhood Alliance, India , said the number of institutional deliveries had gone up by 10 times thanks to the Janani Suraksha Yojana, quality of care was still lacking. Dr Dileep Mavalankar, Dean, Institute of Public Health, Gandhi Nagar, also stressed the need for quality in health care and said the role of different health providers in different areas of the countryespecially underserved areas needs to be defined.

All panelists agreed that the status of women had to improve, the age of marriage age had to be raised and anaemia had to be tackled for improved maternal health.