Peter Novecosky, OSB

G8 looks for solutions

In January Prime Minister Harper announced Canada’s plans to improve maternal and child health in the world’s poorest countries in his role as host of the G8 summit being held June 25 — 26 in Huntsville, Ont. His initiative to exclude abortion from the discussion has weathered much controversy and drawn some support.

Pro-life groups commended his initiative. “Care of the poor is at the heart of the Catholic Church’s social teaching and that includes the right of women to receive good health care that respects their human dignity,” said Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) director Michele Boulva. “It is a very good idea and we applaud this initiative.”

She lamented the trend among some developed countries “to promote abortion as part of maternal health.”

In announcing his initiative, Harper said members of the G8 can make a tangible difference in maternal and child health. He added, “Too many lives and unexplored futures have already been lost for want of relatively simple health care solutions. The cost of clean water, inoculations and better nutrition, as well as the training of health workers to care for women and deliver babies, is within the reach of any country in the G8.”

G8 partners have endorsed Canada’s wish to focus international aid on saving the lives of new mothers and young children. They plan to develop a strategy for doing this during their summit meeting.

The summit comes at a critical time because, of all the Millennium Development Goals the United Nations has established for improving global conditions, those addressing maternal, newborn and child health are the furthest from reaching the desired targets, according to Action for Global Health, a group of European non-government organizations. The World Health Organization, UNICEF, and World Bank report that each day, 1,400 women die of pregnancy-related causes and 24,000 children under the age of five die from what are largely preventable causes.

The recent WHO report, Countdown to 2015 Decade Report (2000 — 2010) declared that two million maternal, newborn and stillbirth deaths occur every year because of a lack of skilled birth attendants. The report tracked the progress of 68 countries over the past decade. It notes that nearly 50 per cent of women in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia give birth without skilled assistance.

“All women and their newborns need skilled care at birth and access to emergency care when complications develop,” said Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, MD, of the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan and co-chair of Countdown to 2015. In addition to skilled birth attendants, the “crucial services” the report recommends include immunizations for mother and child, early breastfeeding, antibiotics and bed nets to protect against malaria.

The first recommendation, however, is the use of oxytocin to avoid post-partum hemorrhaging, the leading cause of maternal death. It is estimated that more than half of maternal deaths are due to post-partum hemorrhaging and hypertension.

“During this critical period of birth and the first few days of life, far more than 50 per cent of maternal and newborn deaths can be prevented by the initiation of these simple interventions, as part of a continuum of care that links home and hospital,” said Dr. Joy Lawn of Save the Children.

Another aspect of maternal care was raised at a recent Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Women demanded justice for the gender-based violence inflicted on them during the civil conflict in northern Uganda.

“Women who were raped, those who were once abducted and have since come back with children, as well as those who have lost property during this conflict are all crying out for some form of justice,” says Jane Adong, Legal Officer of the Hague-based Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice (WIGJ).

She also raised the issue of the fate of children who were abducted and children born of sex slaves. Currently there is no recourse for these gender-based crimes.

Women attending the conference said the perpetrators remain a threat to peace and security as long as they are not arrested. “So long as the perpetrators are out there, these women sleep with one eye open and the other one closed,” Adong added.

To date, the ICC has opened investigations in five countries — Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya — on cases of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
This issue may go beyond the agenda of this year’s G8 summit, but it’s women who are the victims in either case. It would be gratifying to read that in a year’s time significant change has taken place.