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University of Botswana Law Journal - PULP

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50 UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA LAW JOURNAL DECEMBER 2010<br />

Conference launched “the global campaign to reduce maternal mortality” and<br />

had two key action messages: (1) “any pregnant woman can develop lifethreatening<br />

complications with little or no advance warning, so all women need<br />

access to quality maternal health services that can detect and manage lifethreatening<br />

complications” and (2) the presence <strong>of</strong> a health-worker with<br />

midwifery skills at every childbirth should be ensured. 44 In 1997, the focus <strong>of</strong><br />

the Safe Motherhood Initiative shifted away from encouraging mass-training<br />

programs for traditional birth attendants to prioritizing health-sector<br />

interventions, which were designed to increase women’s access to a<br />

pr<strong>of</strong>essional medical during pregnancy and childbirth, especially for lifethreatening<br />

complications. 45 The Safe Motherhood Initiative, launched by<br />

international agencies and governments, immediately found support in many<br />

other international coalitions and confederations, such as the International<br />

Confederation <strong>of</strong> Midwives (“ICM”). 46 The ICM, for example, used the Safe<br />

Motherhood Initiative to campaign for health care for pregnant woman to<br />

combat maternal mortality. 47 The “ICM’s clear message in the campaign for<br />

Safe Motherhood, which has been widely agreed [with] by other agencies, is<br />

that care during childbirth from an attendant with midwifery skills is the single<br />

most effective way to reduce maternal death.” 48<br />

The Safe Motherhood Initiative developed along with the<br />

international community policies that continued to be established in<br />

international instruments after 1994. In 2004, WHO published a joint<br />

statement with ICM called “Making Pregnancy Safer,” which again<br />

emphasized the critical role <strong>of</strong> a skilled health care attendant at a birth in<br />

reducing maternal mortality, and comprised WHO’s own then-current drive<br />

toward Safe Motherhood. 49 ICM itself today works with other “pr<strong>of</strong>essional<br />

federations,” such as the International Federation for Gynecologists and<br />

Obstetricians (“FIGO”), the International Council <strong>of</strong> Nurses (“ICN”) and<br />

partners with the Partnership for Safe Motherhood and New Born Health in<br />

advancing the goals <strong>of</strong> the Safe Motherhood Initiative. 50 United Nations<br />

agencies have also used the Safe Motherhood Initiative as impetus to develop<br />

priorities and programs to combat maternal mortality. As new international<br />

instruments have shaped international community policy, the resulting<br />

projects designed to reduce maternal mortality have also been reshaped. Since<br />

the ICPD Programme <strong>of</strong> Action established in international community policy<br />

the recognition that women have the right to go through pregnancy and<br />

44 Safe motherhood initiative, supra note 50.<br />

45 Id.<br />

46 International Confederation <strong>of</strong> Midwives, The Safe Motherhood Initiative, http://<br />

www.internationalmidwives.org/TheSafeMotherhoodInitiative/tabid/616/Default.aspx (last visited 4<br />

March, 2010).<br />

47 Id.<br />

48 Id.<br />

49 Id.<br />

50 Id.

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