Somewhere in Ghana almost 60 women die each week from causes related to pregnancy and birth. The hardest pill to swallow is this: that giving life to the country’s next generation is one of the biggest killers’ of Ghana’s women. More often than not it is preventable: uncontrolled bleeding, infection, poor medical care and a lack of education still sit at the very heart of this hidden crisis.
EVERY SURVEY STARTS WITH A SIMPLE QUESTION.So that is how we should begin.What kills over seven women a day in Ghana?A: AIDSB: CANCERNEITHERTHE ANSWER IS?C: PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTHSomewhere in Ghana almost 60 women die each week from causes related to pregnancy and birth. The hardest pill to swallow is this: that giving life to the country’s next generation is one of the biggest killers’ of Ghana’s women.More often than not it is preventable: uncontrolled bleeding, infection, poor medical care and a lack of education still sit at the very heart of this hidden crisis. The world's poorest women are the most vulnerable. But women themselves are not the only victims. The children left behind are more likely to die simply because they are motherless.In Ghana, a country hailed as a beacon of economic hope in Africa, the World Health Organization estimates that for100,000 live births 350 women will die. This means that one out of 70 Ghanaian women aged between 15 and 49 will die from pregnancy and childbirth. The bitter truth is imminent birth for most in our nation can be a distressing experience for expectant mothers and their families. MORE needs to be done. SIGNIFICANTLY more.MamaYe is a campaign to both educate and encourage communities to take collective and individual action for pregnant mothers amongst them. It will seek to overcome the ingrained belief that responsibility for maternal survival rests elsewhere: with ‘the government’ ‘the ministry’ ‘professionals’ ‘the UN’ or foreign donors. For MamaYe the active participation of Ghanaians as a whole is a critical ingredient. Today (18th February 2013), in the first phase of a public action campaign to save the lives of Ghanaian mothers and babies, Mamaye is launching a series of websites across Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Malawi and Nigeria. This is part of a continent wide campaign which will use digital and mobile phone technology to engage ordinary Ghanaians in the most important fight of all – the battle to save our mothers and babies. A digital platform for maternal and newborn health stakeholders to be educated, empowered and united in their efforts, the websites’ feature the latest in news, research and development. Technology can help motivate and mobilise people to take direct action to respond to the maternal and newborn crisis in Ghana. MamaYe will take advantage of the one billion mobile phones, 167,335,676 Internet users and 51,612,460 Facebook subscribers estimated for Africa by 2016. In Ghana mobile penetration in the country has reached 88% of the country’s population. The MamaYe Country Director Professor Adanu has said: “We all have the power and the potential to save lives as those taxi drivers who get women to clinics in time for the birth have shown; or as the many who voluntarily give blood, have demonstrated. Childbirth is not a disease. We have known for decades what it takes to ensure the survival of women and babies in childbirth. But if our mothers are to survive, then the Ghanaian public must step up, and become more involved and vigilant. MamaYe will provide the evidence, information and tools necessary to ensure this change. And new technology will help Ghanaians to step up in ways that in the past we could only dream of“.