News and Events

Safe motherhood advocacy plans

The SSMP advisers and partners have been working on a safe motherhood advocacy plan, to target key decision-makers and programme implementers, including constituent assembly members, government officials within the health sector and other relevant areas, and local political leaders and officials. Six key objectives were identified as follows:
 
1.          Human resource management strategy finalised, endorsed and budgeted: Currently shortage of appropriately trained health workers, especially in rural areas, is a major barrier to the provision of maternal health care.
2.          Twenty-four hour delivery services and life-saving emergency services available to all women at local health facilities: Babies are not necessarily born during working hours, yet many health facilities are only open for a few hours a day. Delays in providing emergency services kill.
3.          Motherhood protection bill for ensuring safe motherhood rights for women prepared and enacted: Currently there is no provision for the rights of mothers, for example a doctor is expected to give priority to carrying out a post mortem (which is a human right) over assisting a delivery (which is not a legal human right!)
4.          Gender and social inclusion programme and strategy, including functional unit, developed and implemented: Specific strategies are needed to reach poor and excluded people – more women from these groups die in childbirth.
5.          Access to services through roads, bridges, etc ensuring that every woman is within two hours of services: Many women still cannot reach services within this time, which significantly increases their risk of dying in childbirth.
6.          Government financial regulations more transparent and flexible to programme needs: Bureaucratic delays and lack of accountability for expenditures affects the supplies essential for health services.
 
A booklet will be produced containing hard hitting data supporting these objectives, with case studies and other materials, to enable the team and staff to advocate on these key issues as a part of their work.

17/09/2008 Ashima Shrestha SSMP