One in eight pregnant women in Sierra Leone has a chance of dying at childbirth. Due to the lack of adequate medical services, they are being denied their basic human right to maternal health. According to UNICEF, presently Sierra Leone is ranked the worst country in the world in this respect.

Maternal mortality is a very complex and critical problem. David Shermutt of Amnesty International feels that it amounts to discrimination against women. “Governments should put more emphasis on this because it is only women who are dying,” he said.

Among the challenges faced by the gobernment are hospital conditions i.e. conditions of service for meducal and health workers, hospital policy and equaipments. There is no proper record system to record deaths cases as medical doctors are unable to account for deaths. There is the fear of cost factor as some women don’t go to the hospital because of the registration fee they have to pay.

There is also poor access to health information. There are primitive conceptions held by people living in rural and provincial areas; some women prefer traditional midwives who are not trained and use unsterilised equipment.

When President Ernest Bai Koroma came to power, he made combating the high rate of maternal mortality a priority of his government and launched the Reproductive Child Health Programme in February 2009. To combat and reduce the high rate of maternal mortality, the government and other major stakeholders including UNICEF, UNFPA and WHO have put in place various strategies.

According to Jonathan Abbas Kamaram the Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, the government has shown its strong commitment to take up this situation. They are trying to introduce a policy to cover free cost of reproductive health. “We are trying to make free care accessible to all pregnant women in the government hospitals,” he said.

The government is now on a caravan campaign to sensitise the mass public on the situation and how best we could prevent it. They are trying to encourage women to avoid local herbalists and go to the hospitals. At the same time they are also looking into condition of service for medical and health officers to avoid brain drain of experts. Recently the ministry launched the ‘mami en pikin well bodi week’ which is one of their initiatives to combat maternal mortality.

However, more needs to be done in terms of practicalisation. According to Dr, Rashidatu Kamara of Connaught Hospital, “the government should also try to combat the high rate of teenage pregnancy.” Solomon Sobangdi, coordinator at Amnesty International feels that instead of talking endlessly about it, the government should enforce practical measures. There needs to be more education, stronger monitoring and increasing women’s awareness of their right to emergency obstetric care.

For more information contact Jonathan Abbas Kamara, Ministry of Health and Sanitation at 076678021

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