Ananilea Nkya looks at the rise of maternal mortality in Tanzania and asks whether more attention would be given to the deaths if they were caused by road accidents or plane crashes. Without a concerted effort to reduce maternal mortality, the MDGs will remain a dream.

Although the reduction of maternal mortality is an area of focus for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of which Tanzania is a signatory, pregnancy related deaths continue to be a major threat to women of reproductive age in the East African country which attained its independence 44 years ago.

Statistics indicate that deaths during child birth jumped from about 10 deaths a day (208 per 100,000 live births) in 1995 to 26 deaths (800 per 100,000 live births) in 2004. “What if this was a road accident or a plane crash killing 26 people daily. Would action not be taken to prevent it?” Professor Malise Kaisi, a long serving Gynecologist with the national hospital Muhimbili and based in the city of Dar Es Salaam, has asked.

Kaisi believes there is a need to break the silence on maternal death by sensitizing the public, decision makers, law makers, development partners and financial institutions on the need to make maternal mortality a priority.

He said for the MDGs to be a success the national government should accord maternal mortality due priority by setting aside sufficient financial resources for establishing and adequately funding reproductive health services, training of more medical personnel and running massive public education programmes against behaviour and cultural practices that endanger the health of the pregnant mother.

A gender and media consultant, Charles Kayoka, said the government should treat child bearing as a public service. “This important labour must be recognized and budgeted for,” he noted. He was speaking at a session organized by the Tanzania Media Women’s Association in collaboration with State University of New York (SUNY) in the central capital Dodoma recently. The session was intended to sensitise women parliamentarians on the need to make maternal mortality their permanent agenda.

Kayoka said the road pregnant mothers travel to their preventable deaths is a narrative of their own low status in society and indifference by the government towards reproductive health.

He indicated that medical reasons attributed to maternal mortality can be explained in general terms. “The medical causes given by doctors could be indicators for a more serious problem of where a pregnant woman comes from,” he noted, adding that “we should study the woman’s journey to the hospital to see how certain cultural elements contribute to her death when giving birth.” He said: “What made her anemic? What made her marry early? What made her undergo FGM and thus have a problematic delivery?”

Kayoka said many of these deaths are attributed to the poor status women are accorded in society. As a result they are denied rights to control resources and power to control their bodies - a crucial factor is planning when and how to have a child.

The women parliamentarians who attended the session admitted that maternal deaths are a preventable problem and that some work needed to be done to empower various leaders, women, men and communities at large to take action. “Before this session I hardly looked at maternal mortality in gender terms nor as a road accident that claims so many lives on daily basis,” noted Monica Mbega, Iringa Urban Member of Parliament. She urged members of parliament to take up the issue as a priority and build a case for government as well as people in different constituencies to act. “ If the government, MPs, councilors and communities work seriously on this problem, it will take a short time to reduce the number of these shameful deaths in the country,” she said, noting that without such efforts the realization of the MDGs would be a mere dream.

Anne Makinda, MP for Njombe South in Iringa region, who is also the chairperson of women parliamentarians, suggested the organisation of bigger training events for all MPs after the 30th October general elections to sensitise law makers on their role in the prevention of maternal deaths. “Sensitisation of the entire house is crucial, should we wish to engage all parliamentarians so that they are able to see the problem from a gender perspective and act accordingly,” Makinda insisted.

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