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Maternal
and Child Health can only be boosted through community involvement,
Red Cross Red Crescent says 7 April 2005 As the international community marks World Health Day by focusing attention on the difficulties faced by mothers and children, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is stressing the need to actively engage with communities and civil society to improve the health of vulnerable women and children around the world. The World Health Organisation (WHO) points out that half a million mothers die in childbirth every year and almost 10.6 million children under the age of five die from a handful of preventable and treatable conditions. National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, supported by the International Federation, are working in the most disadvantaged communities in the world to improve their health, whether through better access to safe water, playing a key role in mass vaccination campaigns, first aid training, hygiene awareness or training traditional birth attendants. “The International Federation supports the WHO’s call for a broad-based movement involving civil society and communities themselves,” says its Secretary General, Markku Niskala, adding that the world’s goals for mothers and children, as set out in the Millennium Development Goals, will not be achieved by governments and others without the full engagement of communities in the design, implementation and monitoring of health services programmes. “It is clear that the Red Cross and Red Crescent, with its unique network of trained community-based volunteers, is well placed to make a difference to the health of vulnerable people” Niskala adds. One region where the Red Cross is acting decisively to improve maternal and child health is Latin America, where more than 170,000 children under the age of five die every year from preventable illnesses, and where great inequities exist in access to health, not only between rich and poor, but also between men and women. At least 11 National Red Cross Societies in the Americas are already implementing far-reaching mother and child health programmes. “It is clear that there has to be more attention devoted to achieving gender equity in health in the Americas. This will require closer coordination between key stakeholders including local health authorities, community leaders and families. National Red Cross Societies, supported by the International Federation, are playing a pivotal role in improving the health of women and children, and in so doing, handing communities a measure of responsibility for their own development,” says Bruce Eshaya-Chauvin, head of the International Federation’s health and care department in Geneva. In Nicaragua and Honduras, he points out, the national Red Cross Societies, supported by the Canadian Red Cross, are implementing programmes to educate communities about childhood nutrition, breastfeeding, immunization and reproductive health. In these two countries, some 450 volunteers are working with 12,500 households in 61 communities, and evaluations have clearly demonstrated measurable improvements in health behaviour and practices. Red Crescent Societies are playing a similar role in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, addressing the burden of maternal and child diseases and deaths in vulnerable communities through their networks of health centres. These offer a wide range of ante- and post-natal services to mothers, as well as their children. The Afghan Red Crescent centres also train traditional birth attendants in remote communities who help to reduce maternal deaths resulting from birth-related infections and complications. “The health promotion activities of many national societies in this region emphasise the provision of health services to mothers and children. The Nepal Red Cross, for example, supports women peer groups in which reproductive and sexual health issues can be discussed openly. This empowers women to take care of themselves and negotiate health-related issues with their spouses and families,” says Jim Catampongan, the International Federation’s senior regional health manager in South Asia. Meanwhile in Africa, the Red Cross and Red Crescent has improved the health of children by taking an important role in international efforts to combat polio, measles and malaria, which claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of children every year. The International Federation and its member National Societies have championed integrated campaigns whereby insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) against malaria are distributed to families with children under the age of five during vaccination campaigns against measles and polio. The first full-scale integrated campaign was held last December in Togo, when around one million ITNs were distributed during a nationwide measles and polio vaccination campaign. So successful was this approach that four of the 13 measles campaigns to be carried out this year will also include the distribution of ITNs “Thanks to an unprecedented partnership we have seen a 46 per cent drop in measles deaths in Africa in the last five years. By adopting an integrated approach we hope to make similar inroads in tackling malaria, and thus save millions of lives. This is the perfect example of how civil society – specifically our community-based Red Cross volunteers – can complement international efforts to improve the lives of vulnerable people,” says Eshaya-Chauvin. “The technical, political and logistical strengths of our partners would be far less effective without the grassroots social mobilization that our volunteers carry out. If we are to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals, it will be due in large part to this active engagement with vulnerable communities.” For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact: In Geneva: Roy Probert, Information Officer Tel. + 41 22 730 42 96 / + 41 79 217 33 86 Media Service Duty Phone Tel. + 41 79 416 38 81 The Geneva-based International Federation promotes the humanitarian activities of 181 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies among vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief and encouraging development support, it seeks to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The Federation, National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together, constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. © International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies |
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