In the year 2000 the United Nations member states, including Australia, signed up to eight Millennium Development Goals, making a commitment to improve the plight of so many affected by hunger, poverty, epidemic diseases, gender inequality and poor maternal and child health. This month the United Nations is due to release its annual Millennium Development Goals Indicators Report. Given the timeline for the goals is just past the halfway mark, I frequently reflect on the importance of the goals relating to maternal and infant health, as well as access to sexual and reproductive health care. Along with this reflection comes the reality of what a comparatively small dent they make on the collective
Australian consciousness compared to issues such as hunger and poverty.
While significant progress has been made on poverty and hunger, rates of maternal and infant mortality continue to climb globally, especially in the Asia Pacific region. A woman in Timor-Leste, for example, is 380 times more likely to die from obstetric complications than a woman in Australia. Maternal mortality rates are derived from a range of contributing factors, the highest being haemorrhaging or bleeding; unsafe abortion; obstructed labour; eclampsia; and infection. Nearly all of these factors could be prevented by increasing access to effective and wide-reaching family planning options and skilled birthing attendants. The World Health Organisation estimates that over 529,000 women around the world die from maternal mortality each year. That is nearly 1500 women a day - one woman every minute.
I try not to think about the woman who dies every minute. But I always think about the child who has lost a mother, a partner who has lost a wife, the person who has lost a good friend, and all of the potential that has been lost with what that woman could have been.
It is easy to talk about hunger or poverty, as these issues are relatable and the problems often more simplistically solved. Hunger and poverty are easily understood by politicians and the public. However, no one wants to talk about the tens of thousands of women who are dying preventable deaths from unsafe abortion each year. There is just too much taboo.
But I am concerned that unless more importance and support is given to family planning and sexual and reproductive health, over half of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals will not progress enough in time for 2015. There is so much that Australia can do, and should do, for the future of these women, their children and families. By making sexual health and family planning a priority in funding for development, Australia will be providing a legacy to a generation of children that will grow up with a mother to raise them.
AusAID, the Australian Government overseas aid agency, has increased its aid funding in a number of areas to strengthen Australia's commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Ensuring sufficient funding for quality family planning development programs will allow Australia to assist other less developed countries to reduce high rates of maternal mortality. I believe that there is no greater way in which Australia can save the lives of these women.
While the halfway mark for the Millennium Development Goals has passed, the time for action is now. The time to stop women dying from preventable causes is now and the time for us to act upon our collective responsibility to the most vulnerable is now. The time to stand up and insist on the fundamental equality of women's lives regardless of where they live is now. I hope that by 2015 Australians can look on their actions and see an ongoing commitment to the health and wellbeing of some of the most vulnerable women and children in our region.
Ary Laufer is Executive Officer / Regional Director Asia Pacific of Marie Stopes International Australia
