Women deserve nothing less – Oxfam IWD campaign for expectant mothers
Celebrities mark International Women’s Day (8 March) with a powerful call to do more to help expectant mothers in the world’s poorest countries. With an introduction by Sarah Blakemore.
Celebrity Oxfam supporters and high-profile women, including Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox and Zoe Ball, and Oxfam’s Director Barbara Stocking, are sending an open letter to The Times (UK). The big occasion? International Women’s Day, a celebration of the achievements of women. At Oxfam, we’re all for celebrating women – after all, they are invariably at the very heart of communities’ efforts to get out of poverty.
But, it’s also an opportunity to raise awareness of some of the challenges they face. Like Annie, Anqelique et al, I think a good place to start is the reality that millions of women worldwide still can’t have a child without having to gamble with their lives. The letter demands action to end the scandal of maternal mortality in the developing world. And you can read it in full here:
Letter to The Times
Tomorrow, as we celebrate International Women’s Day, it is important to remember that millions of women around the world are still being denied a fundamental human right: the right to have a child without being forced to gamble unnecessarily with their lives.
Today, one woman will die every minute in pregnancy or childbirth; that’s more than half a million each year. In the developing world, this remains the leading cause of death amongst women of reproductive age. But a vast majority of these lives could be saved if only mothers in poor communities had access to the basic healthcare that we take for granted: hospitals, medicines, doctors and midwives.
As women we believe that this situation is deplorable. Many of us, through our work with Oxfam, have had the opportunity to visit developing countries and to witness at first hand the incredible challenges that pregnant women face. And yet, where even a comparatively small investment is made in free, accessible public healthcare systems, the numbers of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth can be dramatically reduced. Just one extra midwife will save the lives of more than 200 mothers.
As the global economic crisis deepens, the need for action becomes ever more urgent. Faced with slowing economies and the prospect of receiving less aid from richer countries, many poor governments may be forced to cut back their public spending on vital projects and programmes such as healthcare, education, and social protection: the very programmes that people living in poverty need most in times of crisis. Without them, millions of people won’t be able to meet their basic needs, and women and children will suffer most as they take over responsibility for providing the resources and services that their governments cannot.
In this time, it is more important than ever that we maintain pressure on rich governments such as our own to keep the promises they have made to the developing world; promises to increase aid and to give more to help poor country governments provide the basic public services their people dearly need.
Women across the world deserve nothing less.
Sincerely,
Barbara Stocking, Chief Executive, Oxfam
Zoe Ball – TV and Radio Presenter
Angelique Kidjo – Singer and Oxfam Campaigner
Joanna Lumley – Actress
Emily Eavis – Festival organiser
Oumou Sangare – Singer
Mariella Frostrup-Journalist and broadcaster
Beverley Knight – Singer
Melanie Hall – Lawyer
Annie Lennox – Singer
Vanessa Branson-Hotelier
Ruby Wax-Comedien
Sandra Kamen-Theatre Owner
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/?p=3876&newsblog
