MamaYe Nigeria and MamaYe in London are strengthening the bridge that carries a life saving change for mothers and babies. The bridge is made of evidence-based advocacy, accountability and activists as its steel and concrete pillars
One of the ways to describe a bridge is that it is a structure carrying a road, path, railway, etc. across a river, road, or other obstacles. But in other cases, a bridge could be metaphorical.This is what I mean: this March (2014), MamaYe Nigeria and MamaYe in London are strengthening the bridge that carries a life saving change for mothers and babies to the core areas of Nigeria. But that also includes other MamaYes from Ghana, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Tanzania.The obstacle facing Nigeria in maternal and newborn health is the unacceptable maternal mortality rate of 545/100,000 per live birth; which translates to 40,000 women dying per year.Losing lives is not fascinating, and that is why the world is concerned about saving lives of mothers and babies.So, with support from the good people of the UK through funding from the Department for International Development (DFiD), the MamaYe Movement is created to lead advocacy and accountability activities to strengthen processes that will improve the safety level of clinics where pregnant women are delivered of their babies.L-R Jigawa State health commissioner; Perm Sec; and the DG of Gunduma Health BoardThe idea is to make policy makers, through evidence-based advocacy, fulfill the promises made to improve the Nigerian health sector by providing equitably distributed resources to cover essential, life-saving drugs, safe blood and other utilities in our hospitals.How do we cross the bridge from high maternal and newborn mortality rates to meet, or at least get close to meeting the MDG’s target of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health?We don’t have time on our side, but the MamaYe Movement is taking life-saving actions, involving individuals, organisations and policy makers themselves towards making a life saving change.We encourage everyone to join us. You should read our blogs to see how Nigerians are participating in the life-saving movement for mothers and babies, and how you too can become an activist for saving lives.