Global Childbirth Educator Network

 

From Every Mother Counts:

 

The targets for improving maternal health globally include reducing by three-fourths the maternal mortality ratio and achieving universal access to reproductive health. What does this mean in Laos when...

• The maternal mortality ratio is one of the highest in Southeast Asia at 410-470 per 100,000 live births?
• Only 20% of births are attended by a medical professional?  
• Facility-based deliveries are so low at 17%?
• Safe-delivery rate in urban areas is six times higher than in remote rural areas? 

I first came to Laos 1.5 years ago with my husband and twin children who were 2.5years old at the time. I had known that Laos was a mountainous off-the-beaten-path adventure travel destination and a developing country governed by one of the last remaining communist regimes in the world. Pre-kids, I might have prodded little more knowledge than this prior to our arrival in country knowing that my career in humanitarian aid and development would be well placed amongst the myriad of poverty reduction work being done in the country. With kids, however, my maternal lens was struck by the alarming statistics of what is considered to be preventable deaths for expectant mothers and their children.With little public health background, I knew that I would be stopped short in my tracks in finding a job directly related to a problem that I had committed to in my heart, but not in formal training. But the more I learned about preventing maternal deaths, the more I continued to look for ways of doing something, with pay or no pay. That’s when I came across Cleanbirth.org and their work in delivering Clean Birth Kits and Safe Birth Training in southern Laos.I immediately volunteered my time to Cleanbirth.org, working closely with founder, also a World Moms Blog writer, Ms. Kristyn Zalota. Together we brainstormed and planned her annual trip to Laos from her home base in Connecticut, USA. By the time she arrived in August, I had won a $2,000 grant from the J. Kirby Simon Foreign Service Trust grant for Cleanbirth.org. During her visit to Vientiane, we held a fundraiser and informational gathering event attended by many people including the then Ambassador of the United States to Laos, Ms. Karen B. Stewart, who is a big advocate for maternal child health. Those in attendance not only made donations, but had contributed time, event facilities, and food. We were all impressed by Kristyn’s drive, commitment, and sound approach to working with local health workers, and the rural community where Cleanbirth.org distributes clean birth kits, and offers safe birth guidance. It is inspirational to see how very little money can go a long way towards a great cause.Since then, my current job working on U.S. government development assistance in Laos has give me an even broader picture of what can and is being done by the international donor community and the Lao government to improve maternal health in Laos at the policy and grassroots levels:

• The Lao Ministry of Health Decree on Health Care for Mother and Child seeks to expand the provision of services to women during pregnancy, delivery, and post delivery at almost no cost to the patient.
• The Lao government launched a Skilled Birth Attendant Development Plan to train 1,500 midwives by 2015, with a focus on meeting needs in rural areas.
• Development organizations are addressing the problem in rural areas through mobilizing teams of village health volunteers and midwives to educate villagers on safer birth spacing, offering antenatal and postnatal care, and encouraging expectant mothers to give birth in a health facility rather than birthing at home or sometimes alone in the forest due to cultural beliefs.
• And for those who must deliver outside of a health facility, organizations like Cleanbirth.org is provide Clean Birth Kits to help prevent sometimes deadly infections to mothers and babies. 
• While the goals of MDG5 are not insurmountable and positive integrated collaboration is able to achieve effective results that will benefit many, we should not stop at the MDG targets. We need to aim even higher for achievements beyond the MDG goals. Why? Well, because Every Mother Counts, that’s why! Meeting the MDG target still means that mothers in the remaining one fourth of the maternal mortality ratio still die, needlessly.
• So join me in this global effort to improve maternal health worldwide, anywhere that you are in the world you can make a difference. Your voice matters in spreading the message and raising awareness; your ideas count towards finding better solutions; our collective efforts can help improve maternal health around the world.