Midwifery stressed to check maternal deaths
While the maternal mortality rate has decreased over last three decades, around five thousand mothers still die from pregnancy related issues every year in Bangladesh.
Speakers at a roundtable discussion styled ‘safe maternity, present situation and way out’ suggested an increased role of midwife to contain the maternal deaths.
Prothom Alo in association with UNICEF organised the roundtable at the daily’s Karwan Bazar office in the capital.
Speaking on the occasion, Directorate General Of Health Services director Sultan Muhammad Shamsuzzaman said until 2010, as much as 194 mothers in every 100,000 face maternal deaths while the number should be decreased to 70 by 2030 to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
Lack of availability of efficient manpower in hospitals and clinics, ineffective awareness programmes and weak monitoring systems are the primary main challenges to improving the situation, he said.
Ruling Awami League MP Md Habib-e Millat, also a member of parliamentary standing committee on the social welfare ministry, said more allocation is required in health sector to improve the overall healthcare condition.
Pointing to Bangladesh’s failure in achieving the Millennium Development Goal regarding the maternal deaths, he said, “We have still a lot to do to achieve SDG.”
Director General of Health Service director general Abul Kalam Azad said government is working to create midwife post at union parishad level to curb the maternal deaths.
He claimed that the government is doing everything to achieve SDG regarding maternity issue.
Prothom Alo associate editor Abdul Quayum moderated the roundtable which was also addressed, among others, by director of family planning directorate Muhammad Sharif, UNICEF’s chief of health Maya Vandenent, UNICEF’s health specialist ASM Sayem, special advisor of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Syed Abu Zafar Mohammad Musa, Zahera Khatun of nursing and midwifery directorate, former president of OGSB Rowshan Ara Begum, ICDDRB’s senior director Shams El Arifeen and save the children’s Afsana Karim.