Contact Person:
Subrata Dhar (202) 458-8345
Sdhar4@worldbank.org
Christopher Walsh (202) 458-2710
Cwalsh@worldbank.org
M. Ibrahim Labbassi, Director, Press Centre
Ministry of Health, Republic of Tunisia
01 564 253
Mr. Tim Thomas
Safe Motherhood Inter-Agency Group
01 912 000 (until 18 November) TUNIS, November 13, 2000 -Senior government officials from 11 countries, and representatives from the United Nations and non-governmental organizations gathered today to devise national strategies to reduce the number of women who die in pregnancy and childbirth.
The conference, "Saving Lives: Skilled Attendance at Childbirth," is sponsored by the Tunisian Ministry of Health and convened by the Safe Motherhood Inter-Agency Group, a consortium of international and national organizations, including the World Bank and Family Care International, dedicated to implementing the Safe Motherhood Initiative throughout the developing world. The conference opened today and closes 15 November with announcements of the national strategies.
Skilled attendance - having a clinician present during childbirth - has been demonstrated to be one of the most effective means of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. Increasing skilled attendance at birth was a key factor of Tunisia's success in reducing maternal deaths by 80 percent in just 23 years (1971-1994).
"It is likely that the pace will be accelerated," said Hedi M'henni, the Tunisian Minister of Health in his keynote address to the conference. M'henni noted that "the President of the Republic has issued clear instructions that appropriate actions be taken to reduce the maternal mortality rate in Tunisia to less than 50 per 100,000 live births before the end of 2001."
Forty percent of all pregnant women experience complications before, during or soon after childbirth. Only about half of deliveries in the developing world receive care by skilled attendants and in some countries this figure is as low as 20 percent. Skilled attendants play a crucial role in protecting the life of mother and infant by:
- Ensuring clean and medically sound delivery procedures;
- Identifying and managing any complications promptly; and
- Providing high-quality, culturally appropriate, and considerate care.
Complications from pregnancy and childbirth account for more than 514,000 deaths per year, or one woman dying every minute. Nearly 99 percent of maternal deaths occur in the developing world, where almost one in 20 women dies from a pregnancy-related cause.
The financial cost of basic maternal and child health services that could prevent these problems is, on average, only US$3 per person per year in developing countries and the cost of maternal health services alone can be as little as $2 per person per year. Finding and using such resources to fight maternal mortality is an essential element to poverty reduction.
"Increasing attendance at births by skilled health care workers is crucial to reducing maternal mortality, World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn said. "The World Bank strongly supports ensuring safe motherhood world-wide through consultation and lending. We urge government authorities, the private sector and our partner institutions to act quickly and decisively to end the needless, preventable deaths of our world's mothers."
With their participation in the Safe Motherhood Initiative and their representation at this conference, 11 governments (Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, Bangladesh, Nepal, Botswana, Malaysia, Tunisia and Sri Lanka) have demonstrated a high level of commitment to strengthening their societies by promoting and implementing skilled attendance during childbirth.
Teams from these 11 countries are gathering in this unique forum to share strategies and learn from their counterparts in other developing countries. Through this south-to-south exchange of expertise and experiences, national action plans will be devised that will enable policymakers and advocates to push for increases in resources and expansion of programs for skilled care at childbirth.
Fred Sai, President of the Ghana Institute of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the conference said in his welcoming remarks, "Maternal and child health is at the root of the vicious cycle of poverty that restrains our communities from realizing their potential. We must never forget that women are the backbones of our communities and that our children are our future."
The conference was organized by the Safe Motherhood Inter-Agency Group (IAG). The IAG is a consortium of international and national organizations that implement the Safe Motherhood Initiative and includes UNICEF, UNFPA, the World Health Organization, The World Bank, International Planned Parenthood Federation, the Population Council, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, the International Confederation of Midwives, the Safe Motherhood Network of Nepal, and the Regional Prevention of Maternal Mortality Programme (Africa). Family Care International, an international NGO based in New York, serves as secretariat for the IAG. As a group and as individual organizations these agencies raise international awareness about safe motherhood, set goals and programmatic priorities for the Initiative, support national programs, conduct research, share information and mobilize resources. The IAG was founded in 1987.
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