Celebrating African Motherhood - Amref

Why Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health?
“What women in the developed world take for granted –
skilled midwives, an obstetrician and operating theatre if
needed, and the antibiotics and drugs to ensure that should
complications arise, the mother is rapidly brought back to
good health – these apparently basic things, are regarded
as a great luxury in Africa.” Dr John Nduba, AMREF Director for
Sexual, Reproductive and Child Health.
A woman in Africa has a one in 16 chance of dying in childbirth,
compared with a woman in Europe who has a one in 30,000 chance of
dying during delivery. This is the biggest health inequality in the world
today.
In sub-Saharan Africa 280,000 mothers a year are dying for lack of
simple, aff ordable and reachable medical care. The most aff ected
women and children are in the most remote and poorest places in
the continent. As a result, nearly 1.5 million African children a year
are left without a mother because she dies trying to give birth to a
brother or sister. It also goes without saying that without a mother,
this newborn baby is 10 times more likely to die within the fi rst two
years of its life.
In many sub-Saharan African countries the maternal death rate
is unfortunately getting worse, and it is unlikely that Millennium
Development Goal 5 (reducing maternal deaths by 75 per-cent by
2015) will be achieved without urgent action.
The direct causes of maternal deaths are bleeding, infection,
obstructed labour, hypertensive disorders in pregnancy, and
complications of unsafe abortion. At least 20 per cent of the burden
of disease in children below the age of fi ve is related to poor maternal
health and nutrition, as well as quality of care at delivery and in the
post-delivery period.
HIV infection is also a threat. Mother-to-child transmission of HIV in
sub-Saharan Africa, where infection in adults is continuing to grow
or has stabilised at very high levels, continues to be a major problem,
with up to 45 per cent of HIV-infected mothers transmitting infection
to their children. Further, HIV is becoming a major cause of maternal
mortality in parts of Africa.
A majority of these deaths are preventable, being mainly due to
insuffi cient care during pregnancy and delivery. About 15 per cent of
pregnancies and childbirths need emergency obstetric care because
of complications that are diffi cult to predict.
Access to skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth and the fi rst month
after delivery is key to saving a mother’s life and that of her baby.
AMREF is a leader in giving direct help to mothers and newborn
babies, and we provide showcase solutions that are adopted by other
organisations and governments across Africa. Over the next fi ve years
we want to grow our services even further. As always our focus will
be on the people who need help most: mothers and families in the
places least served by health services – from people in neglected
urban slums to poor and remote rural communities.
It is estimated that 60 per cent of deaths in children under fi ve can be
prevented, most through community-based interventions. Therefore
the strengthening of community-based health workers and links to
health centres will continue to be an essential element of AMREF’s
activities.
Dr John Nduba sums up AMREF’s vision:
“I can see a future where every woman in Africa understands her body
and the choices she has; a future where she chooses when she wants
to have children, or even if she wants to have children; a future where
she receives care during her pregnancy and birth from a trained
professional, and a future where her r newb newborn is delivered healthy.
In that future her baby is immunised unised shortly aafter
birth and receives
treatment from a trained health worker if the bab
baby gets sick.”
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