the mother & child project: how to prevent the orphan crisis
TRANSCRIPT
The Mother and Child Project: How to Prevent the Orphan Crisis
About Hope Through Healing Hands
Hope Through Healing Hands (HTHH) is a Nashville-based nonprofit 501(c) 3 whose mission is to promote improved quality of life for citizens and communities around the world using health as a currency for peace. Senator Bill Frist, MD is the founder and chair of the organization, which was founded in 2004.
• Promote awareness and advocacy for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) and Healthy Timing and Spacing of Pregnancies (HTSP).
• Encourage faith leaders to learn more about the successes of HTSP, particularly to combat maternal mortality and increase newborn and child survival rates.
• Galvanize leaders to share their interest with policy makers to enhance understanding and encourage stronger support for foreign assistance for MNCH and HTSP.
Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health
• 1 out of 39 women in Africa will die from childbirth.
• Every year, more than 289,000 women die annually from complications during pregnancy or childbirth, and almost all of them —99 percent — in developing countries.
• 80 percent of all maternal deaths are preventable through timely prenatal and postnatal care, skilled birth attendance during delivery, and the availability of emergency care to deal with complications.
• Every year, more than 1 million children are left motherless; children who have lost their mothers are up to 10 times more likely to die prematurely than those who have not. This means, if we can save the life of the mother, likely we can reduce infant mortality rates and orphanhood as well.
Healthy Timing of Pregnancies• Pregnancy & childbirth are the leading cause
of death for girls age 15-19 worldwide. • Becoming pregnant at age 15-19 creates
twice the risk of death to a mother as becoming pregnant at age 20-24.
• And if pregnant before age 15, the risk is five-fold that of women age 20-24
• Even if they survive, they face a high risk of fistula or other disability.
• In many developing nations, child marriage is a common practice. For instance, in Ethiopia, almost half of all young women are married by age 16.
Healthy Spacing of Pregnancies• With a recommended three to five years of
spacing between birth and pregnancy, children are more than thrice as likely to survive to age 5 than those born less than 2 years apart.
• Children conceived within 2 years of a previous birth are at dramatically higher risk of: Prematurity, Stunting, Being stillborn, or dying in infancy.
• The time between pregnancies allows the mother to provide the benefits of breastfeeding longer and spend more time with each child. This contributes to the child’s physical, mental, and emotional development.
HTSP, as Family Planning
• What is “family planning?” We mean enabling women and couples to determine the number and timing of pregnancies, including the voluntary use of methods for preventing pregnancy, not including abortion, that are harmonious with their values and religious beliefs.
• The health benefits of spacing and limiting births
for mothers and children with family planning services are well known. And this is the crux of family planning: healthy birth timing and spacing.
“Contraception Is a Pro-Life Cause in Developing
World” --TIME
• More than 222 million around the world who want to avoid pregnancy do not have access to effective contraceptives, counseling, or services. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, along with other partners of FP2020, are seeking to meet this need for 120 million women by 2020.
Why HTSP?
• HTSP is at the nexus of solving other global health challenges. Family planning is at the center of touching on all the other health and development goals:
combating extreme poverty, keeping kids in school, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, prevention of HIV/AIDS from mother to child, and prevention of orphan crisis.
It Saves Lives.• HTSP contributes to the reduction of
poverty and hunger, and it would avert 32% of all maternal deaths, and nearly 10% of childhood deaths, if it was available to all who want it (Lancet, July 2012).
• Prevention of Mother-to-Child (PMTCT) Transmission of HIV/AIDS: HTSP can aid in preventing unintended pregnancies among women already living with HIV and therefore prevent transmission from prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV.
Reduction of Abortions• Every year, there are 210 million pregnancies
worldwide. Of the women with those pregnancies, it is estimated that 80 million (37%) do not want to be pregnant. Over half of those pregnancies, 42 million (or 1 out of 5 of all pregnancies), end with an induced abortion.
• Abortion-related injuries account for 13% of maternal deaths worldwide.
• Effective programs could avert 51 million abortions in the next 10 years.
Education• HTSP results in women that are able to
pursue education and to provide for their needs, making it one of the most cost-effective and powerful strategies to empower women and improve their lives.
• Not only can young women stay in schools, it also allows her own children—if she already has a family—to stay in school.
• Women who are empowered to make choices about childbearing are more likely to get more education and job experience, and contribute to the economic health of their families and communities.
Economics• For every $1 spent on family planning
can save governments up to $6 that can be spent on improving health, housing, water, sanitation, and other public services.
• Research has shown that personal savings and investments increase when working parents have a number of dependents that is more manageable, given their means.
• In the case of Ethiopia, we will see a direct correlation between family planning contraception prevalence increase and GDP per capita increase.
Case Study: Ethiopia• Contraception prevalence doubled in 5 years
from 2005-2010, 15%-29%.
• Highest unmet need is among young married women between 15-19, about 25% who lack contraceptives and want access.
• Currently, they estimate 42% now have access to family planning services; 59% in urban areas and 38% in rural areas.
How did they do it? • Health Extension Workers (HEW) Program: A tiered
system managed by the government employing 38,000 HEWs in 5000 new Health Posts in communities in every region.
• Health Posts: Delivery of antenatal care, family planning, and primary health care.
How did they do it?
• Health Centers: Managing 5 health posts or 25,000 offering ART services, TB services, family planning, youth friendly services, and antenatal care including delivery.
• Since 2009, in Tigray, the Health Center estimates that 8% of women chose to deliver her baby there. By 2013, 95% were seeking services for delivery.
Contraception
• Condoms• Oral Contraceptions• Injectables: Depo Provera• Implants: Implanon• IUDs
New Contraceptive Technology
• Jadelle – Just emerging in Ethiopia. Implant that provides coverage for 5 years. This was available at some Health Centers which required special training for the insertion of the rods.
From Family to NationWith the advent of increased access, and delivery of contraceptive commodities and services in Ethiopia…
• Contraceptive prevalence rates increased from 14.7 in 2005 to 28.6 in 20011, or 51%.
• The GDP per capita in Ethiopia increased from 236.1 USD in 2007 to 453.6 USD in 2012. In other words, it increased by 217.5 USD, or 52% overall, according to the World Bank. From 2005-2011, the increase was 47% or 175 USD.
• In other words, a 51% increase in contraceptive prevalence contributed to a 47% GDP increase per capita (175 USD).
• From 2005-2012, Ethiopia also saw a 31.3% decrease in maternal mortality and a 15.7% decrease in total fertility.
PRAY
“Lord, Lead Me to the Ones I Need, And to the One Who’s Needing Me.”
-- Amy Grant, “Greet the Day”
Raise Awareness• Social Networking – Twitter, Facebook• Blog – Write about the importance of maternal and child
health at the interface of orphanhood in developing nations.
• Op-ed – Write a piece for your hometown newspaper, church newsletter, or local magazine.
• Sunday School – Lead a class at your church on these issues with our new curriculum for The Mother & Child Project coming out in March 2015.
• Book Club – Consider reading The Mother & Child Project and discussing the various essays.
Encourage Family Planning• Educate– Provide strong counseling and training for
healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies in your community.
• Provide contraceptives– Consider including an array of contraceptive methods, including natural family planning, for your community as a resource.
• School for Husbands– Rethink the role of the husband in planning a family and consider educating husbands to promote gender equality and create strong argument to combat maternal/infant mortality with HTSP.
Speak Up. Advocate.• Write/Call your Congressional Representatives and
tell them you care about maternal, newborn, and child health as well as healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies in developing nations. You are the experts. You’ve been on the ground and you know the complications of global health and development. Your voice and wisdom is so valuable to convey importance of increased funding for MNCH/HTSP issues to combat the orphanhood crisis.
• Go to House.gov/Senate.gov to find your Representative or Senator.
Global Health USG Funding: Perception vs. Reality
Global Health USG Funding: Perception vs. Reality
