Making pregnancy safer

The reproductive health needs of women in Ethiopia is an area of great concern. The country has one of the highest maternal mortality figures in the world, recently estimated to 871/100,000 live births. In recognition of the very high incidence of maternal and newborn deaths and disabilities, the Federal Government of Ethiopia has put in place the programmes of the 'Safe Motherhood Initiative' as recommended by WHO and other agencies. The initiative, which is based on the principles of equity for women, primary health care and maternal care, has four main pillars: Family Planning, Antenatal Care, Clean & Safe Delivery, and Essential Obstetrics Care.

Although the public sector has been implementing the programme of 'Daily Integrated Maternal Child Health' during the last two decades, the health system lacks the capacity to provide adequate care for mothers. Especially clear is the lack of emergency obstetrics care. All over Ethiopia, access to the health system is poor and utilization of the existing services is below the optimum level in many areas. In Ethiopia, there is evidence that more proactive measures are needed; hence the Government has endorsed WHO's latest strategy 'Making Pregnancy Safer'.

'Making Pregnancy Safer' is WHO's latest strategy aiming at strengthening the capacity of the health system to provide adequate care for an accelerated reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality. Through this approach, it is envisioned to make provision of quality care, particularly skilled attendance at birth and emergency obstetrics care through a functional referral system possible. Ethiopia is one of the ten countries globally, one of five in Africa, selected for WHO assistance for the implementation of the strategy. Since the launch in 2001, four regions have begun implementation of MPS in selected health facilities. It encompasses the training of manpower in emergency obstetrics care, provision of means of referral such as availing ambulances, availing equipment and supplies and community sensitisation to improve access and utilization of services.

Reduce/Ethiopia: An advocacy tool for 'Making Pregnancy Safer'

MPS has two important arms for its success; advocacy and partnership building. Hence, WHO/AFRO has recommended and supported the development of advocacy materials using a computer model known as 'REDUCE'.

A REDUCE/Ethiopia workshop took place on May 19-31, 2003, at Sheraton Addis with active participation of a multidisciplinary group of 20 experts supported by two consultants. The advocacy material put together during this workshop is designed to raise the awareness of policy makers and partners for increased commitment and action. The presentation shows prevalence, causes, related child mortality figures and productivity loss on one hand, and the gains to be made if interventions are adopted on the other hand. Information is compiled from current data existing in the country or as established by partners. The development of the material was financially and technically assisted by WHO/AFRO. At the end of the workshop, the material was presented to partners in a dissemination meeting.