Delivering a better future for women & girls

Goma Chalisey is one of 49,000 Female Community Health Volunteers (FCHVs) in Nepal. She educates community members about healthy practices and the need for mothers to visit the health facility for childbirth or family planning services. She does not get regular monthly remuneration for this work except when she attends training and review meetings. But she has been a volunteer for the last nine years and plans to continue. Goma volunteers her time “to serve people. If you serve people, God will help you in this life and in next life too”. She is happy to help mothers and children by educating, referring, and distributing family planning methods. She also encourages families to treat children with pneumonia, and receive preventative care such as Vitamin A, de-worming tablets and polio drops for children.

Goma is one of millions of women who deliver enormous benefits to our country, families and children every single day. Women like Goma lead in our Parliament; they sell goods in the market; and they work in our banks, hospitals, and health centers. Women also carry and deliver our children—the future of our country.

Yet, the challenges of pregnancy and childbirth threaten women’s lives every single day. Though in Nepal we have seen a drop in total maternal deaths in the past 10 years–progress we all should be proud of—still 2,066 mothers die during pregnancy and childbirth each year and thousands more suffer short- or long-term disabilities. There are women just like Goma who leave behind families and children or who are no longer able to work or participate in their communities.

Fortunately, we can prevent these deaths if we invest in a few key safe and affordable health services. First, all women must have access to family planning so that they can determine whether and when they want to have children. They need access to skilled care before, during and after they give birth. Health providers must be trained in emergency obstetric care, and health centers and clinics must have surgical supplies for when complications occur. Women should have access to safe abortion and post abortion services when needed.

Though in Nepal we have seen a drop in total maternal deaths in the past 10 years, still 2,066 mothers die during pregnancy and childbirth each year.

Providing these services is not only the right thing to do, it is the economically smart thing to do. Women are a driving force in our economy, and when women are healthy, they play a crucial role in the country’s development. Globally, maternal and infant deaths accounts for US$15 billion in lost productivity, not to mention immeasurable grief for families and communities. That US$15 billion could instead go toward strengthening economies, building roads and schools, and fostering a brighter future for our children.

Additionally, it has been estimated that giving women access to services like family planning in Nepal would save US$ 173 million for maternal health, water and sanitation, immunization and education during 2007-2015, according to Futures Group International.

Recent research has shown that a dollar spent on family planning saves US$1.40 in medical cost because access to family planning prevents unintended pregnancies and ultimately maternal death.

In just a few weeks, leaders, activists, and officials from around the world will be coming together at Women Deliver, the most important global conference on maternal health in the last ten years, to call for such increased commitments to women and girls. Women Deliver, which will be held in Washington DC from June 7th to 9th, comes at a time of significant momentum around maternal health globally and has the power to reshape the way the world thinks about this issue. Officials of the Ministry of Health and Population and clinical experts who have already shown immense leadership on the issue of maternal health here, will be in DC to represent us and bring the messages back to Nepal.

Though the goals of this conference are global, the issue is local. It is about our mothers, our sisters, our wives, and our daughters. We all have a role to play: men as much as women; business as much as non-governmental organizations and the government. We—our president, our leaders and ourselves—must all be part of this movement. No one can do it alone.

Women Deliver representatives will call on governments, multilateral organizations, and donors to redouble their commitments and translate the talk about maternal health into action. We must harness the momentum around this conference and take action here. Now is the time to recognize the critical roles women play in our country’s future, roles they can fulfill if—and only if—they can lead healthy lives. We know how to save the lives of women and girls in our country. Now is the time to do it.