Excitement over improved child and maternal mortality rates

At MamaYe, we are inspired to take a retrospective look at what the month of March meant for the women of Sierra Leone, particularly in terms of accessing quality health care services. This year’s International Women’s Day saw the involvement of a high level delegation led by Sierra Leonean native UNIDO Director General, Dr. Kandeh Yumkella and comprised notable figures like Michel Sidibe Executive Director of UNAIDS and Mrs. Cherie Blair of the Cherie Blair Foundation to name a few. Amplifying the voices of Sierra Leonean women was the First Lady, Mrs. Sia Nyama Koroma who sparked the celebrations with a dinner in her home at Presidential Lodge. MamaYe Sierra Leone participated in the evening dinner in support of raising the profile for quality health care for mothers and babies in Sierra Leone. In line with the First Lady’s Office Women’s Initiative for Safer Health” (WISH), MamaYe aims to reduce child and maternal mortality by improving access to quality health care facilities (safe clinics), by advocating more funds be allocated to maternal and newborn reduction and increase national blood donation because we believe that “no woman should die while giving life”. On the 8^th of March, International Women’s Day, MamaYe facilitated an evidence hub for local and international partners to showcase their women’s health work in Sierra Leone. Ensuring that women’s health issues, especially that of maternal and newborn health which is of high priority, be better understood. MamaYe made available one page information and fact sheets about the current landscape of maternal and newborn health to the one thousand invited guests and the delegates at the high panel discussion. International Women’s Day celebrations continued with Marie Stopes in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and UNFPA to launch the National Strategic Family planning conference which was attended by the First Lady, ministers from Health, Education, Finance and Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affair. This was an important event as it was a call on policy makers to remain focused on women’s health, particularly women’s sexual and reproductive health which requires the provision of safe clinics, free drugs and the removal of access barriers to those services to strengthen effective family planning services. Dr. Yilla, Country Director of Evidence for Action (E4A), the catalyst project behind the MamaYe campaign, noted his support for family planning in his speech by “recognizing the need for local solutions, local ownership” to achieving the President’s agenda for prosperity of improved Family Planning. He went to further emphasise that “change can happen when we all choose to act together”, and for “MamaYe, the active participation of Sierra Leoneans as a whole is a critical ingredient”.  Locating change in the hands of the public and shifting responsibility solely  from  ‘government’ or ‘foreign donor’ was a gentle reminder that through continued advocacy, evidence generation, dialogue and community mobilization, change will be inevitable in saving the lives of our mothers and babies. In a country where one in 21 women are still at risk of not surviving childbirth, highlighting these issues and advocating for access to quality care, safe clinics, is imperative in reminding government, stakeholders and Sierra Leoneans at large that amidst the celebrations there is still more work to be done. The work may seem heavy, but it is possible when we all choose to act together, when we all choose to remind our policy makers both local and international of their commitments to women’s well being, when we hold forums, working groups, action networks and visual campaigns to remind ourselves and the world that the lives of our women, our mothers and babies do matter. In her speech at the dinner event, the First lady stated “Today, we are celebrating our successes and challenges as women who are very vocal in the campaign for women’s empowerment. But as Oliver Twist would say, we are always asking for more. I would therefore use my profile as an African woman and my office to continue championing the cause of women because we believe women should be part of the decision-making process within the governance structure.” It is this very call for the well being of our mothers and babies that MamaYe seeks to achieve every day of the year.  Happy April, Keep Inspired. By MamaYe Sierra Leone.