Women empowerment, solution to maternal, child mortality- civic group

The group urged every person to be involved in the fight against maternal and child mortality in Africa.

 

Women, especially those in rural areas, need to be empowered in order to reduce maternal and newborn mortality, the Country Director for Evidence for Action, E4A, Tunde Segun, said on Tuesday evening.

Mr. Segun said this at the launch of the website of a Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of maternal, newborn and child mortality in Africa, CARMMA, www.carmma.org.

The website was launched to build on existing efforts, generate and share data, advocate for increased political commitment and create a wider awareness on issues to improve maternal, newborn and child health across Africa.

According to the Evidence for Action group, success and survival stories of mothers can also be sent in for publication as a scorecard approach to celebrate positive improvements in such areas.

Mr. Segun admonished journalists to do more to empower women especially those in the rural areas where there is a large number of maternal and newborn mortality. He asked journalists to also aid in telling success stories of positive improvements, and challenged readers and health officials to work to eradicate Maternal, Newborn and child Mortality in Africa.

The CARMMA campaign aims to build existing efforts and bring together information and all evidence of actions taken on maternal, newborn and child healthcare with a hope to give African mothers and newborns a future.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, the E4A Nigeria Communications Specialist, Morooph Babaranti, held that the fight to eradicate maternal and child mortality is a universal one.

“There’s no religious or ethnic barrier in saving lives, I have seen an instance where an Igbo woman donated blood and helped to save the life of a Hausa man,” he said.