Maternal mortality is a major reproductive issue in Liberia and Africa as a whole. The conflict-ravaged Liberian society is recovering from a devastating 14- year civil war which destroyed all of its infrastructures, including health centers and road networks. In the contemporary context, the few health facilities renovated and operating are not within the reach of the vast majority of rural dwellers. According to the 2000 National Health Plan, only 10% of the population lives less than 10 kilo meters from a health facility.
This inaccessibility has resulted in at least 63% (Liberia DHS 2007) of births occurring in the homes, usually attended by an unlettered and unsupervised traditional midwife – a common practice in rural areas. Moreover, only 32% of mothers living in rural areas can expect a medically assisted delivery (Liberia DHS 2007). The resultant effect is that scores of women are experiencing obstetric complications such as prolonged labor; leading to life threatening conditions and morbidities such as Vesico Vaginal and Recto Vaginal fistula (VVF & RVF), maternal deaths, stillbirths, etc.
Healthcare practitioners and statisticians as well as demographers have described the current state of the country's maternal healthcare delivery as alarming, appalling and devastating. These descriptions are also backed by staggering statistics on the maternal conditions faced by women in Liberia. A 2012 CIA Fact Book report states that at least 990 women die per 100,000 live births, giving Liberia the world's 7th worst maternal mortality rate.
The good thing is that most of these deaths could be prevented. To curb this societal menace, and bring the death rate down to at least 375, the European Union (EU) last Thursday pledged to equip President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf with 42 million euros to lead the charge against this scourge (curse) of death that terrorizes our mothers. What is most strategic about the Liberian leading this charge is that she is herself a woman and a mother. And this puts her in a strategic position to feel the pulses of her fellow female compatriots.
It is, therefore, my fervent hope that President Johnson Sirleaf, empowered with the EU funds, will invest in health workers and strengthen the country’s healthcare delivery system, so that every day, everywhere across the country, all women and newborns will have access to lifesaving care. It is also our prayer to see government strengthen areas such as surveillance, quality of care, monitoring and evaluation to improve the President’s chances of reducing 990 deaths per 1000,000, to the 375 per 100,000 deaths targeted.
It is hugely incumbent upon government to find ways to ensure that a woman’s hopeless financial situation does not determine her pregnancy’s outcome. It is against this backdrop that I am urging government to use the EU donated funds to provide the delivery services, and Caesarean services conducted by able physicians, accessible to our mothers.
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