National Convention
on Maternal Health: Agenda for Second Generation Priorities in Maternal Health
Programming
NAMHHR in
collaboration with OXFAM
Making Maternal
Health a Matter of Priority for the Nation: Drafting of a new road map for
second generation priorities in maternal health.
Speaking at the National Convention on Maternal Health
Shri Satyabrata Pal, Ex-member of the National Human Rights Commission
stated that, “Women as a whole are marginalized and therefore their lives
and health is not a matter of priority for the nation.”He called for putting
an end to the abdication of responsibility between the state government and the
Central Government.
The preventable tragedy of maternal deaths in
India was comprehensively discussed at the National Convention on Maternal
Health in India entitled “Agenda for Second Generation Priorities in
Maternal Health Programming’, held in New Delhi on the 20-21 March organized
by the National Alliance for Maternal Health and Human Rights (NAMHHR) in
collaboration with Oxfam India. The group felt that the unacceptable high
rates of maternal mortality in a middle income country like India, needs to
become a national priority. Maternal
health cannot be the problem of only the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare;
it needs the coming together of different departments such as Roads and
Transportation, Agricultural (as food policies affect food security), Science
and Technology, Environment, etc to save the tens of thousands of lives of
women in our country who die of preventable causes during maternity.
India’s maternal
death rate was supposed to decrease by one-third to 109 per 100,000 live births
by 2015. The nation stands on the threshold of this deadline with an average
maternal mortality rate of 178 per 100,000 birth in 2010-2011, down from 254 in
2004-2006. But there is great variance even amongst these figures, with maternal
mortality rates per 100,000 live births being as low as 66 in Kerala and 90 in
Tamil Nadu, to shockingly high rates of 347 in Assam and 300 in Uttar Pradesh.
Dr. Syeda Hameed, Member of Planning
Commission said that, “The recommendations and issues discussed by this
group would contribute to the implementation of the 12th Five- year
plan whose motto is inclusive growth. She asked the group to provide these
inputs into the midterm appraisal of the Plan.”
Also present at the
event was Shri Manoj Jhalani (JS, Policy MOHFW) who said that the ministry
agreed with the analysis and concerns emerging and looked forward to the
operational road map from such field based organizations who can give practical
solutions. He also highlighted that the
government could put in place grievance redress mechanisms but the proper
utilization of these by pregnant women needs an enabling environment.
“The health system should not treat
pregnant women just as patients but as empowered and active agents who have the
right to choose the location and services that they want”, said Prof
Ritu Priya from the Centre for Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU.
She added that the Dais, ASHAs and ANMs can together form a team which could
work to support women in rural areas throughout maternity.
“For too long we have been counting maternal deaths
without accountability towards the women at risk of losing their lives and the
health system needs to learn how to prevent such deaths and make public the
action being taken”, said Jashodhara Dasgupta, convenor of the National Alliance for Maternal
Health and Human Rights and the
organizers of the event
The meeting brought together practitioners
and researchers on maternal health, campaigners on various issues of human
rights, public health and health systems experts, lawyers, budget analysts as
well as representatives from the government and donors.
