Mommy Movement http://mommymovement.com Changing the world - for mommies, for women, for our children posterous.com Wed, 05 May 2010 23:39:00 -0700 We Care http://mommymovement.com/blogger-contest-deadline-in-2-days-win-a-trip http://mommymovement.com/blogger-contest-deadline-in-2-days-win-a-trip

This post originally appeared in Dispatches from South Africa

Definitely over my life time I’ve seen a global increase in the number of catastrophes--both man-made and natural. Earthquakes, tsunamis, famines, floods, wars, epidemic diseases, terrorist attacks . . .the list goes on. In fact, never have I felt more unsafe. I’m sometimes overwhelmed or feel hopeless. Working in government, you sometimes question how much high-level policy can do.

Every now and then someone on the ground, in the midst of the crises we face, forgets how hopeless the situation seems, overcomes powerlessness, and comes up with a simple, innovative solution that doesn’t save the world, but saves a few people, people with names. From there, it grows. That’s what Dr. Laura Stachel did.

Dr. Stachel, an obstetrician-gynecologist, traveled to northern Nigeria in 2007 with a team to investigate emergency obstetric care, and she was overwhelmed by what she saw. She saw the lights go out during an emergency cesarean surgeries, women bleed to death with no blood bank or a phone to call a surgeon, women routinely turned away and babies die due to a lack of light and no ability to perform resuscitation without power.

But she actually did something about it. She gathered the requisite technical knowledge, formed an interdisciplinary team, and launched a non-profit that created a suitcase-sized, portable, solar-powered electric system that can be used in places where there is no lighting and power to do surgeries safely or call surgeons or power a blood bank for a woman in labor.

The non-profit is called WE CARE - Women’s Emergency Communication and Reliable Electricity. And in the first 6 months they showed results, saving lives in a few countries. Since that time they have deployed solar suitcases in 9 countries including disaster relief in Haiti. WE CARE was honored as a 2010 Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) winner and an Ashoka Changemakers finalist. Both GSVC and Changemakers are programs that incubate or award promising social enterprises. WE CARE plans to produce a 2nd-generation solar suitcase, build local capacity in countries for manufacture and distribution, and continue to improve maternal care by powering ultra sound machines, fetal monitors, computers, and videos.

The wonderful benefit of this social innovation is that though it came about to solve a problem in Nigeria, it can be used around the world, and it can be used to power any medical equipment needed at night for any surgery or procedure.

We Care Solar: Saving Mothers & Infants with Solar Powered Lights and Communication from Jose Vergelin on Vimeo.

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]]> Mon, 03 May 2010 19:50:00 -0700 In the World of Resources http://mommymovement.com/in-the-world-of-resources http://mommymovement.com/in-the-world-of-resources

This post originally appreared in Cultural Musing of the Known World.

It is a miracle I find myself-as a woman, sitting in a safe home in a middle-class neighborhood, where it is almost effortless to find medical treatment to prevent and treat debilitating conditions.   The expansion of knowledge regarding the promotion of Maternal and Child health care has become more than a simple passion of mine, it is become one of my biggest life goals- to help reduce the number of women who suffer from preventative conditions.  Mothers and Children are one of the most important facets of a society as they both are required to continue the legacy of a great society.  This legacy is being jeopardized.  

 According to the United Nations (2008) of the two hundred million women who would like to delay or avoid childbearing, nineteen million unsafe abortions are performed, which results in sixty-eight thousand deaths.  This is one example of how severe maternal mortality can be; however, the leading causes of death of women in low-income countries are HIV/AIDS, and Maternal conditions.  These are both circumstances that can be treated and even prevented depending on the situation.  

 What must occur in order to mediate deadly consequences is to implement programs that promote safe sexual practices as well as family planning.  These programs would need to carefully overcome the cultural stigmatization that is often associated with contraception.  Being able to choose whether or not one wants to expose one’s self to potential diseases or even prevent conception, ought to be a human right, and in certain areas this is not the case.   It is because of this forced acquiescence, that girls become mothers when they do not posses the economic stability to enjoy simple resources such as pre-natal vitamins, food, and clean water.  This is why the promotion of Maternal and Child health must be addressed; otherwise this complacency will only breed a new generation, who suffer from old consequences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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]]> Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:24:00 -0700 In Praise of the Mother of Mother's Day http://mommymovement.com/in-praise-of-the-mother-of-mothers-day http://mommymovement.com/in-praise-of-the-mother-of-mothers-day

I'm one of those mothers who love Mother's Day. I can't wait for the homemade gifts, the breakfast in bed drenched in syrup and sticky kisses, and it is always the day I plant my garden with my family.

But a few years ago, Mother's Day became so much more than those wonderful sticky kisses,   it became a day that I stand in solidarity with mothers around the world to demand a safe, bountiful and meaningful  life for all the world''s children.

I stand side by side with Julia Ward Howe, one of our most courageous founding mothers who wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic and also penned the very first Mother's Day Proclamation in 1870. She called on women to "arise," and wrote, "as men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel." She goes on to say, "Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace…"  

Wow. That's where Mother's Day originated, in the courageous arms of the mothers and grandmothers of the Civil War. It wasn't Hallmark after all.

This was written at a time when our country was still healing from the ravages of war, partisanship and economic strife. Women during this period had no political voice or rights, and it was 50 years before women got the right to vote. She was truly a mother to be proud of, courageous, just and committed to a peaceful and prosperous world for all women and their children.

I often wonder if I would have had the courage to stand up in the face of such adversity. I see pictures of suffragettes in their white ankle length dresses, placards in hand, marching in the streets of cities all across America. They faced threats and ridicule, contempt and injustices, and yet they did not stop until the vote for women was won. These are our role models, our Founding Mothers, – their selflessness and bravery, their commitment to the common good seemed to know no bounds. 

It is now our time to find our own courage and carry forward the vision of Julia Ward Howe. The mother's of the world are hurting, – they are losing their lives needlessly in childbirth, they are losing their children to diseases we have long since forgotten about like measles and pneumonia and they are systematically denied the right to vote, to own property  and to be seen as equals in their societies. And yet study after study tells us that these very same women and girls hold the key to many of the issues plaguing the world today.

The mother's of the world need our voices. 

So as I am enveloped by the sweetness of Mother's Day I will allow myself to be pampered and cared for. But, I will also raise my voice to bring dignity to all mothers and remember the original intent of this auspicious day, when mothers were called to greatness by the Mother of Mother's Day.

 

 

Stacy Carkonen is the National Field Director for Global Action for Children, a Washington, DC based advocacy organization mobilizing the political will to ensure all mothers and children have everything they need to thrive. She lives and works in the shadow of Mt. Rainier in Sumner, Washington with her husband, two children and a small herd of hamsters.

For more information about how you can add your voice to the growing list of mothers and others committed to creating a more peaceful, hopeful and prosperous world contact Global Action for Children – scarkonen@globalactionforchildren.org

 

Mother's Day Proclamation- 1870

Arise then … women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

 
 
 
 

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]]> Wed, 28 Apr 2010 12:06:00 -0700 To speak up or pay up? The search for what works in promoting maternal health. http://mommymovement.com/to-speak-up-or-pay-up-the-search-for-what-wor http://mommymovement.com/to-speak-up-or-pay-up-the-search-for-what-wor

by Nina Blondal

 

Some years ago I found myself surrounded by saree clad women attending a nutrition counseling session in a remote Bangladeshi village. The women were all young mothers who were participating in a World Bank funded program that provided food supplements to pregnant women and undernourished children. The program, which amongst other things aimed at improving maternal health and combating low birth weight, also presented women with information on issues such as care during pregnancy and the importance of antenatal health visits. 

 

The idea was novel - surely women would do ‘the right thing’ if only they had the knowledge. Alas, while women’s knowledge of what to do did increase, practices frequently didn’t change. The list of reasons for this is long. For one, young women in Bangladesh usually have very little say in decision-making, even concerning their own health. Instead these decisions are left to their husbands or mother-in-laws who are often more prone to favor traditional practices such as that of eating less during pregnancy, to ensure an easier child birth, or giving birth at home to keep the women safe from spirits and treatment by male doctors. Moreover, even if women were able to make such decisions themselves, many simply lack time and resources to prioritize their health. While most women who participated in the program understood the importance of issues such as taking rest during pregnancy they were often not able to do so, especially during the labor intensive agricultural seasons. 

 

Perhaps then, simply supplying women with knowledge of ‘proper’ practices isn’t the best way to improve maternal health. In Rwanda the government recently decided to try a different approach in form of a ‘pay for performance’ system, which provides incentives for doctors to increase efforts by paying them a bonus for each appropriate maternal and child health care service performed. A recent evaluation found a large and significant positive impact on deliveries in health centers and improved quality of prenatal care, showing improvements especially for services that yielded large bonuses. 

 

Neither of this is to say that behavioral change communication programs are useless, nor that cool cash is the only way forward. Rather, it indicates that policies which aim at improving maternal health must properly address the underlying mechanisms that interact to promote poor maternal health - be it lack of antenatal care due to social norms or time constraints, doctor absenteeism, or something else.

 

Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth

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]]> Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:03:00 -0700 MDGFive.com: Voices Saving One Woman at a Time http://mommymovement.com/mdgfivecom-voices-saving-one-woman-at-a-time http://mommymovement.com/mdgfivecom-voices-saving-one-woman-at-a-time

“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.”~ Virginia Woolf.

by Temitayo Olofinlua


Early this year, I saw three short films Too Young, Too Far, Too Late about maternal mortality by Communicating for Change, an NGO based in Lagos, Nigeria. For the first time the ‘demons’ that kill pregnant women by the minute clawed at my heart so strongly. These women were not just figures, they could be my sisters. It could be me, on that bug-ridden bed, soaked in my own blood, dead cold.

Ignorance is a primary factor that leads to maternal mortality: ignorance from women on the importance of their health; ignorance by health workers; ignorance from the government. Ignorance reeks everywhere; it kills us. The media can rescue us from this death. MDGFive.com’s innovation is about the possibilities of media to keep women alive.

A coalition between the arts and the media will go a long way to effect the change we see: one poem, one song, one film can save one woman at a time. Entertainment sinks the message into the deepest parts of us. It is watching Too Young and being grateful for the power to decide when I would get pregnant. It is watching Too Far and being sad about pregnant women in rural areas walking miles to their death. It is watching Too Late, and getting angry seeing religious ignorance as a blanket of death. I bought a book on maternal health for my pregnant sister; I wanted to see her alive even as I carried her child. I dream of women’s smile as they look into their babies’ eyes.

I stumbled on Lisa Russells idea about the role of the media in safe motherhood recently. My co-blogger made a blogpost about it. Two poet-friends are interested in the project. Information is the first step; living is the end in sight. Media has the power to transform the dying ‘anonymous’ woman to your mother, your sister and your wife. MDGFive.com can unify forces for change at the personal, communal and social levels. Each poet, each writer, each person in the MDGFive.com innovation is a voice; a voice with potential ripple effects. These voices can keep thousands of women alive.

The road to change is not easy but it is not impossible. The revolution has started online but shouldn’t end there; the drums should be heard everywhere: schools, offices, government houses, hospitals and the market. Maybe then, women would pay more attention to their bodies. Maybe the government would execute more maternal friendly laws. Maybe medical personnel would pay closer attention to women’s health. Maybe life-endangering practices against women would end. Words and pictures stamp themselves on our hearts. They cling to our throats till we change. They would not let go until women no longer die as they give life.

The blogpost can also be found on Bookaholic Blog.


Temitayo Olofinlua is a freelance writer based in Lagos, Nigeria. Her essay, “Fear—The Enemy of Gender Equality” won the Women Learning Partnership Essay Competition earlier this year.

 

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]]> Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:30:00 -0700 Sakeena Yacoobi and Healthy Mothers http://mommymovement.com/sakeena-yacoobi-and-healthy-mothers http://mommymovement.com/sakeena-yacoobi-and-healthy-mothers

This post originally appeared in Blood and Milk

by Alanna Shaikh

I have been watching the Ashoka Healthy Mother Competition with interest. Maternal Health is one of my passions; I studied it in graduate school and it has been part of my work for the last ten years. The ideas submitted to the competition have ranged from half-considered flashes of thought to fully imagined comprehensive maternal health programs. I am an advisor to one of them – AYZH, a social venture that works to provide clean, green birth kits to women in India.

It will not surprise you, then that I would love to attend the 2010 Maternal Health Change Summit in India. This post is my entry in the contest to attend the summit. I’m not going to talk about AYZH here, because it doesn’t seem quite fair to write about something so close to my heart in this context.

Instead, I will write about Sakeena Yacoobi. Founder of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), she is one of the true heroes of this world. An Afghan-American, she returned to Afghanistan to serve women in her country of birth. The Afghan Institute of Learning offers services from basic education to human rights leadership training for 350,000 women and children in Afghanistan. They supported underground schools during the Taliban regime.

They also offer health care and health education. AIL is the provider of medical care for thousands of Afghan women. They use a family health approach, focusing on education and preventative care as well as medical services. When you are dealing with maternal health, it’s the gold standard. Women need knowledge in order to have a health pregnancy, not just skilled care when giving birth.

One of the most interesting things about maternal health is the range of interventions we have to improve it. We need both innovations like better incubators for premature infants and well-known essentials like educating mothers, supporting maternal nutrition, and skilled personnel to accompany births.

AIL offers those essentials, to women who have not other options. Maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan are staggering. 18 mothers out of every thousand die as a result of motherhood; the second highest rate in the world. The three clinics of the Afghan Institute of Learning are helping to bring that number down, and they deserve our support to do it.

Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/112534/Headshot_Icon_2.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10xN8fUk8Jb Alanna Shaikh Alanna Alanna Shaikh Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:57:00 -0700 Baby Showers http://mommymovement.com/baby-showers-6 http://mommymovement.com/baby-showers-6

This post orginially appeared in ktravula - a travelouge!

Some day before I leave here, I’ll be attending a baby shower of a friend and former student of this institution. A baby shower is an event where people gather to celebrate the life of a baby that has not yet been born. Alright. Forget all that naming ceremonies we do in Nigeria eight days after the child is born. Here, the baby shower takes place before the child is born. Isn’t it amazing? The said baby by the time of the shower would have already gotten a name. All that will be left is delivery.

There are many reasons pregnant women in Nigeria and much of Africa don’t celebrate their babies before they are born, and much of them are based on superstition. The most concrete of reasons will have to do with the maternal and infant mortality. Because of lack of adequate healthcare for much of the poor pregnant women in the villages who also lack access to education, good food and good shelter, many children are lost at childbirth, or to debilitating diseases afterwards. In cities, due to lack of good state or private hospitals, this happens to middle class people in the cities as well, except they are rich enough to go abroad to have their babies. I guess in cases like that, it would be futile to celebrate life when even its beginning is in doubt. The rest is cultural. From history, and from a tradition that probably predates the migration of Yoruba people to the west of the Niger river from wherever the came from initially, children are celebrated at birth, and named on the eighth day. End of story.

Among many other differences in pregnancy attitudes in America and Nigeria is disclosure. Unlike what I am more familiar with, here, people would tell you that they are pregnant even before the protrusion shows itself. For a reason perhaps close to superstition as well, you won’t find African women doing that. And you can’t ask them why. So,as it has happened to me several time while I was growing up, I would find myself unable to discuss the existence of someone’s pregnancy – even when it stared me in the face – until they gave birth. I wonder how much of that has changed with modernization.

With access to stable electricity, much of the problems (especially in Nigeria’s healthcare) would be solved. Sometimes, it is that simple. Hospitals will be able to offer better healthcare services if there is stable power. That is one of the biggest challenges before the Acting President Goodluck Jonathan who is now in the United States on a state visit to meet with the US President. He has about a year to set in motion plans to put the nation back on the track of development. A huge but worthwile task. There is a longer article about maternal mortality here by Eyinade Adedotun.

Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth

 

 

 

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]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:34:00 -0700 Can better data save the lives of mothers? http://mommymovement.com/can-better-data-save-the-lives-of-mothers http://mommymovement.com/can-better-data-save-the-lives-of-mothers

This post originally appeared in Global Health Ideas

By Jaspal

The answer is yes if you ask Carina Lupica.

Carina is Executive Director of Fundación Observatorio de la Maternidad (OM), an entrant in this year’s Healthy Mothers, Strong World competition. The competition, jointly sponsored by Ashoka and the Maternal Health Task Force, seeks to identify maternal health innovations from around the world. OM is a globally unique organization that is dedicated to using data as a policy advocacy tool for maternal health in Argentina.

Argentina’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) – 44 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2007 – is much lower than high maternal mortality countries, but it is high when compared to other national indicators (Ramos et al., WHO Bulletin, 2007). In 2007, OM identified a lack of quality data focused on maternal health issues as a key gap in Argentina. OM has responded to this gap by aggregating data from various sources to develop a comprehensive understanding of the maternal health landscape in Argentina. OM maintains a holistic view of maternal health, including environmental factors and social issues, such as access to clean drinking water and the increasing frequency of single mothers.

As Carina writes by email, “This is brand new information that contributes to a complete diagnosis of the state of motherhood, which constitutes the necessary grounds for any public policy proposal.”

The organization’s focus on policymakers is having a real and significant impact. In 2009, OM research helped to pass national law 1914-D-2009: Universal Payments to Children and Adolescents (link in Spanish), a conditional cash transfer program that aims to reduce poverty and improve family health. This program was based on OM research showing that poorer mothers are more likely to contribute a higher share of household income, 72.5% in the lowest income group.

Just this month the Lancet published a study that estimated that there were 343,000 maternal deaths in 2008. Included in this study were detailed estimates for individual countries, including success stories such as China, Egypt, and Bolivia. Study lead Christopher Murray remarks, ”Finding out why a country such as Egypt has had such enormous success in driving down the number of women dying from pregnancy-related causes could enable us to export that success to countries that have been lagging behind.” As with OM, this comment suggests that better data can result in better maternal and child health.

Can better data save the lives of mothers? Absolutely.

The important question now is this: Can the OM model be replicated globally?

Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth

 

 

 

 

 

 

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]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:28:00 -0700 Supermodel's 'Survivor's Guilt' Pushes Her to Make Film on Mothers' Health http://mommymovement.com/supermodels-survivors-guilt-pushes-her-to-mak http://mommymovement.com/supermodels-survivors-guilt-pushes-her-to-mak

This post originally appeared in K-Blog.

By Karen

Supermodel Christy Turlington Burns has made her directorial debut with the film "No Woman, No Cry," which premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday.

Turlington Burns was inspired to make the film after the birth of her first child, in which she experienced hemorrhaging. "I had ... survivor's guilt," Turlington Burns, who is an advocate for maternal health for humanitarian group CARE, told Reuters. "I was fortunate, but think of all the women around the world who aren't." 

According to the World Health Organization, the main causes of deaths related to childbirth are hemorrhage, infection, high blood pressure, unsafe abortion, and obstructed labor. 

Improving maternal health is one of the UN's Millennium Development Goals. To show that the goals are achievable, experts have pointed to Bangladesh, one of the countries featured in the film.

In Bangladesh, abortion mortality fell by three quarters over the past three decades. A massive decrease in maternal deaths occurred because women now have access to safe abortion services and emergency obstetric care, a study by Carine Ronsmans from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine showed.

"No Woman, No Cry" also features the stories of a Maasai tribe in Tanzania, a post-abortion care ward in Guatemala, and a prenatal clinic in the United States.

Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth

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]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:36:00 -0700 Backpack Holds Access to Health http://mommymovement.com/backpack-holds-access-to-health http://mommymovement.com/backpack-holds-access-to-health
In rural Central America women are dying. Before becoming wives, mothers or grandmothers, they are dying because poverty, inequality and geography are keeping them from education, care, and treatment. They are dying largely from preventable and treatable diseases such as cervical cancer.

These women are only part of the more than 500,000 maternal deaths every year, and millions more who suffer from preventable disabilities because they cannot access the services they deserve.

Ashoka and the Maternal Health Task Force are trying to change this injustice through a competition of innovative maternal health projects that transform the field of maternal health globally.

One of these projects comes from a group of Rice University undergrads who are working to end the cycle of maternal death and disability with only a pack on their back. What is so innovative about the OB-GYN Lab in a Backpack is they are taking the age-old concept of the house call and updating it with a solar-powered pack of medical supplies bringing rural women access to health care for the first time.

In 2008, the students who designed the pack were recognized by the Clinton Global Initiative and awarded a grant to refine and produce more of the packs. In the words of President Clinton, "The potential of this to save lives is really quite staggering."

Today the packs come with tests specific to the community’s needs, such as pregnancy, HIV or syphilis. In 2009, the pack provided care for an estimated 500 women in Ecuador, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The organization is competing to continue and expand efforts in Guatemala.

In Guatemala, only 67 percent of women have received a Pap smear and, in rural areas, the amount is only 58 percent. The backpack provides health care providers with the appropriate tools to reach these women, screen for cervical cancer and provide reproductive health services and treatment.

The plan is to have packs for maternal, dental and eye care manufactured in-country within three years– bringing health to vulnerable women and girls no matter where they are.

Read the original post at http://ashleyarnold.net/healthygirlsblog/ob-gyn-in-a-backpack/. Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth. />

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]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:29:00 -0700 Joselin's Story http://mommymovement.com/blog-post-from-susan-dix-lyons http://mommymovement.com/blog-post-from-susan-dix-lyons

by Susan Dix Lyons

 

Joselin turned 13, and I know she’s in a danger zone. There may as well be sirens blaring, lights flashing. There are obstacles to avoid with every turn. During the day, she sells corn in the husk by the side of the road, hoping to catch the eyes of hungry truckers. Everything around her moves but her own life.

 Joselin lives in Nicaragua, which has the highest rate of adolescent pregnancies in Latin America. Nearly half of women in Nicaragua give birth before the age of 20 and one-fourth of all births are to teen mothers. 

I think of Joselin and look at my son, also 13, studying trigonometry, practicing piano. I think of Joselin’s shoeless feet and unchanging days and wonder how I can convince others that she matters.

 Every year, 13 million babies are born to adolescents worldwide. There are a thousand studies and statistics that attempt to explain the significance of such a thing. But the numbers don’t grab me. This is what does:

 A 13-year-old girl living in a crowded hut she shares with four siblings, her mother and whatever man shows up at dark. There is one narrow bed above the dirt floor and a hammock stretched between strips of timber where the youngest sleeps. The rest of the children sleep on the packed earth, with maybe a stray kitten or a chick, but no cover.

The girl tried to go to school, but she was behind. When she read aloud, the other kids laughed. She felt so dumb. But her mother needed her to work to help feed the family.

 She knows how to work. All she has to do is stand there and hold up her basket. Sometimes men drive by and beep their horns or make comments that make her feel pretty. Somehow, that gives her a sense of hope when everything else feels the same – hard and empty, like her stomach at night.

Joselin is 13 years old and sells corn on the side of the road. Tonight, while our sons and daughters eat pizza or watch a movie, she’ll curl on the ground next to her brothers and sister and dream of nothing but sleep. And then, she’ll wake up and make her way to the road, where she will pray that someone sees her.

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]]> Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:17:00 -0700 Women as Agents of Change in Maternal Health http://mommymovement.com/maternal-health-competition-blog http://mommymovement.com/maternal-health-competition-blog
by Fongoh Eric

Women have a dual position in the use and delivery of health care. As individuals, they have distinct and significant health needs
related in part to their reproductive function during pregnancy and childbirth. As 'agents', they are the informal providers
of health care in the family and form the majority of professional health workers in the community.

The frequency of higher female mortality in early childhood in the Third World is associated with the relatively low social
status accorded girls in many cultures.  This fact results in prefererncial treatment to male over female children in south east Asia, India, and countries in sub Saharan Africa.

Improving the health and nutrition of mothers-to-be and providing quality reproductive health services are pivotal to addressing many underlying causes of child mortality.

The majority of essential interventions are home care practices that families can provide themselves. Families can also use the help of a community health worker in community health centers, who could be present at delivery to care for the newborn babies and their mothers and provide them with adequate diets. The women and young girls should be educated and sensitized on their reproductive health.


Fongoh Eric is the Executive Director for ICENECDEV.

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]]> Thu, 22 Apr 2010 08:03:00 -0700 Champions of Change http://mommymovement.com/champions-of-change http://mommymovement.com/champions-of-change
 

This post also appears in Skirt! Magazine

by Carrie Ferguson

I’m held in a place where the ordinary intersects the extraordinary and my daughter is born at the height of my feminine being.  At the same time, many miles away, a woman sharing with me her femininity, does not share my ever after.

Every minute a woman dies in childbirth.  In Malawi, where Joyce Banda serves as Vice President, more women die from becoming pregnant than from any other cause.  She calls this the “greatest health inequity of the 21st century.”  Indeed, a woman in Sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 22 lifetime risk of dying in childbirth, throwing childbirth into the human rights arena.  Maternal deaths are highest in countries where women are the most marginalized.  Real change, then, begins in each woman’s heart- each woman who chooses to be more than what the collective says or how the statistics read.  Ashoka and Maternal Health Task Force are looking for individuals who can champion such change.  Their Healthy Mothers, Strong World competition will identify professionals with innovative ideas that can transform the field of maternal health. 

Transformation will begin with having the foresight to engineer new models and the rare vision to preserve the ancient threads of wisdom.  Amanda Phillips’ Ocean of Mercy Program in India weaves the two together.  This project honors the gifts of everyone.  Village Health Workers are trained, becoming stewards of their culture; the medical community serves back up support; and the women are upheld with compassion, knowledge and options. 

Also walking mindfully on the bridge between tradition and modernization is Sweta Adhikari’s Each One For One initiative.  Determined to see the day when women embrace their bodies, she will incorporate a local custom, Mother Groups, with the broader health care system in rural Nepal.  This mothering network will provide support and empowerment as part of a comprehensive plan.  In Ethiopia, Martha Adenew wants to create Maternal Clubs to empower women, seeing maternal mortality as a deep-rooted issue that can’t be solved with the construction of new facilities alone.

The Healthy Mothers, Strong World search may yield more than novel ideas.  When changemakers begin stepping toward their creative edges, they stretch perceptions of what one can be.  And that is what women need.  Because even in cultures that glisten with progress, a woman’s intuitive nature can be de-valued.  In giving birth, I rose because I was championed.  Imagine a world where every woman rises.

(Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of

Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth)

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]]> Fri, 16 Apr 2010 08:55:00 -0700 Cultural Norms and Gender Inequality http://mommymovement.com/blogging-1729 http://mommymovement.com/blogging-1729

Women in every culture, at one point in time, have been considered property. Therefore, women were, and in some cases still are, something to be controlled or dominated. The reality is that these marginalizing cultural norms enslave women in vicious cycles of violence and poverty.  How do we break the cycle? The UN offers suggestions for promoting gender equality. One of those suggestions is to focus on vocational training. Reframing the perception of women can change cultural norms. A woman who is empowered through an education, training, and equipped with the tools to create a sustainable enterprise, will have a greater chance to improve herself and her community.

 The Dayako Sagar (Ocean of Mercy) Maternal Health Programnot only helps mothers by providing compassionate affordable maternal health care, but also this program bolsters the status of women. So far 20 women have been trained as Village Health Workers (VHWs). These women were provided with vocational training, proper equipment, given a subsidized initial stock of medications and trained in simple accounting and business skills. The VHWs sell the medication at an affordable price and the remaining “profit,” after replenishing their stock, becomes their income. These women now play an important role in their community by providing much-needed health care and assistance for home births. With their training and knowledge, VHWs are becoming self-sustaining and an asset to their villages.

Cultural norms change as women become role models in their communities.
The maternal health care crisis is due to poverty AND gender inequality. As we focus on
solutions for providing compassionate affordable health care, we must also consider how our
programs will improve the perception and status of women in order to break the cycle of
marginalizing cultural norms.


Katie Sewell is an active advocate for women and the global poor. She lives in Denver, CO yet home is a slum in Kenya or a village in West Bengal, India. Katie is the Director of Advocacy for ECTA-International and volunteers for The 1010 Project. You can follow her tweets @ectaendeavors @ktjosewell or her blog at http://ktjosewell.blogspot.com/.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/524693/5289_201808780042_737405042_7492284_4821981_s.jpg http://posterous.com/users/5fdxb7XOeLsd ktjosewell ktjosewell Thu, 08 Apr 2010 04:23:00 -0700 Pregnancy and Childbirth http://mommymovement.com/revised-blog-post http://mommymovement.com/revised-blog-post I am pregnant for the first time and am due soon. Do women feel depressed prior to pregnancy and lose their own identity? I know I'm going to be a mom – but I’m not sure I want to be. At the same time, I’m excited about being a Mom. It’s confusing!
 
Pregnancy and childbirth can be joyful celebrations but these major changes can also bring anxiety and depression. Even the most competent mothers grapple with uncertainty and discontent. Ambivalence is a typical part of healthy parenting—not just pregnancy.
 
Many of us suppress our worries about changes in our identity, relationships and sense of control. Yet if we don’t voice our concerns and get the support we need, our self-doubt about motherhood can start to define our whole experience.
 
Just by asking an honest and painful question, you’ve already done something positive for yourself and your baby. Here are some further ideas to consider:
 
  1. Let yourself feel the significance of these changes in your life. Anxiety about the logistics of maternity leave and/or changes in your employment situation is totally legitimate. Money is always a concern. Your social life will change. Take the time to reflect on the activities and people who—for the near future—might get less of your time. The gains of parenting come with losses: go ahead and mourn those losses.
  2. Find your circle of support. Ambivalence is a normal part of healthy parenting but not everyone is equipped to offer support. Find a few trusted people who can affirm your lows and celebrate your highs.
  3. This is the time to establish good communication skills with your spouse or partner. Cultivate the habit of hearing—not judging—each other’s experiences as parents: the good, bad, and the ugly.
 
Note: maternal ambivalence can turn into clinical depression. Monitor yourself and ask your partner or a friend to do the same. If your feelings interfere with your daily routine; coincide with extreme fatigue, sleeplessness or overwhelming feelings of sadness, agitation, or guilt, make an appointment with your doctor. There are plenty of excellent pre-partum and post-partum depression assessment and treatment options that can make you feel much better. You could even explore these options now if you’d like to set up an emotional safety net. Be sure to let yourself accept the help you need: you and your baby both deserve to be healthy.
 
Check out other solutions for improving maternal health or to participate in the global call to solutions, please visit Healthy Mothers, Strong World: The Next Generation of Ideas for Maternal Health. www.changemakers.com/maternalhealth

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]]> Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:45:00 -0700 Mommy Movement Badges! http://mommymovement.com/mommy-movement-badges http://mommymovement.com/mommy-movement-badges

We here at Ashoka's Changemakers are very excited to introduce our exclusive Mommy Movement badges! Show your support of Mommy Movement and strut the contributions you've made to the blog, but putting these rad banners on your site. It's just one more way to become part of the movement. To make them work, simple paste the HTML code into your blog page. See the badges and code below:

Media_httpwwwchangema_uufta

<a href="http://mommymovement.com/"><img src="http://www.changemakers.com/sites/default/files/competition/mommymovement/mommymovement-sq. gif"/></a>

Media_httpwwwchangema_nsedk

<a href="http://mommymovement.com/"><img src="http://www.changemakers.com/sites/default/files/competition/mommymovement/badge-horizontal-featured. gif "

/></a>

Media_httpwwwchangema_ajphi

Media_httpwwwchangema_djyca


Media_httpwwwchangema_ahqqr

Many thanks to Shannon Miwa for her design advice.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/213097/CM_linkedin.gif http://posterous.com/users/4bht0gXsE1Ff Ashoka's Changemakers Changemakers.com Ashoka's Changemakers Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:47:00 -0700 Why is the U.S. Maternal Death Rate Rising? http://mommymovement.com/why-is-the-us-maternal-death-rate-rising http://mommymovement.com/why-is-the-us-maternal-death-rate-rising

Why is “maternal health” now a growing concern in the U.S.? Believe it or not a report out from Amnesty International this month states that a woman dying during childbirth in the United States is up to five times greater than in some other developed countries. The report states that more women are dying of pregnancy-related complications today in the U.S. since the 1930’s. The statistics are staggering showing the death-rate doubling from 6.6 per 100, 0000 births (1987) to 13.3 deaths per 100,000 (2006).

Have you caught your breath yet?

The State of California, the eight largest economy in the world, started looking into this growing phenomenon. Some are stating that it could be related to the change in reporting, for that matter, many states have changed their death certificates allowing for more details and tracking of why, but to see the staggering numbers listed as doubling, is frightening. Imagine if all states actually reported the same way, what would the numbers be then?

Scandalous is a word used in the lengthy report from Amnesty International. "In the U.S., we spend more than any country on health care, yet American women are at greater risk of dying from pregnancy-related causes than in 40 other countries," says Nan Strauss, the report's co-author, who spent two years investigating the issue of maternal mortality worldwide.

What is even more scandalous is the fact that this might not even be the tip of the iceberg as many recorded deaths do not report this detail. The good news is that more than half of these pregnancy-related deaths are preventable

Cesarean Sections up 50%

Believe it or not, natural childbirth is on the decline with more than one in three babies being delivered by cesarean section. Add to that prevalence for inducing labor and you increase the risk for the mother and baby by overusing these tools to help “high risk” pregnancies.

Remembering back to my delivery, my son was 3 weeks overdue, which the doctors told me was quite normal, especially with a first time mother. As long as my vitals and those of my baby’s were normal, my doctors were in no rush to deliver. It was after the three week mark that my BP started to get elevated (could’ve been the extra salt I was eating…) so we decided to induce labor. When, after eight hours, that didn’t work, the doctors started scrubbing for a C-section. Personally speaking, there was no way I could wrap my mind around having surgery as an alternative to natural delivery so the adrenaline kicked in and within two hours my son was safely delivered and I was relieved we did not have to go with a C-section.

But now, with more women opting to have a C-section as an alternative to natural birth, one has to wonder why take that risk? The study reports that a lot of these deaths occur from basic errors like the failure to control blood pressure in hypertensive women and simply paying attention to vital signs after C-sections and failing to watch a mother after delivery. Even more frightening are the statistics for black women in the U.S. which states they are nearly four times as likely as white women to die from pregnancy-related causes.

Remember – this is the United States that we are talking about, a developed country who spends more for health care every year than any other country. To further put this into perspective, the maternal death rate in developing countries like Malawi is at 1,100 deaths, Kenya at 560 deaths, and Afghanistan at over 1,800 deaths per 100,000. Now those are scandalous numbers.

The majority of reasons for deaths in the U.S. beyond the errors that can happen with a risky procedure (C-Section), blood clots, hemorrhaging, hypertension, obesity and diabetes are also factors not just social-economic reasons for us to be concerned.

As mothers (or soon-to-be mothers), we need to seek out the pre-natal care available to us and follow the advice of our caregivers to ensure that we reduce the risk during pregnancy. We need to think twice about natural childbirth as the only option going into a pregnancy and avoid practices such as using C-sections unless it is absolutely necessary to ensure that we’re there for our children, long after they’re born.

Stephanie Piche is an entrepreneur and a sales and marketing professional with over thirty product launches from software and mobile apps to social networking communities like MomTV and her latest endeavor, Mingle Media TV , where she produces Social TV shows where hosts start daily live streaming interactive video conversations from parenting, travel, fitness, budgeting, relationships, hot topics and special causes. Follow her on Twitter at @thedigitalmoms.

Discuss Mommy Movement at the forum or click here to learn more about the Changemakers maternal health competition.

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]]> Mon, 15 Mar 2010 14:42:00 -0700 Why is listening so difficult? http://mommymovement.com/why-is-listening-so-difficult http://mommymovement.com/why-is-listening-so-difficult

Moms, does this scenario sound familiar?

“It is time for bed.”         “But…”

“Let’s finish your homework.”   “NO!”

“Can you take out the trash?”    … nothing.

“When will you be home from work?”   “What did you say?”

Why is listening so difficult?

Amanda Phillips decided that listening is the first step to helping other mothers. When she and her husband began their community development work in West Bengal, India; they listened. They heard from women who were afraid of marriage due to the likelihood of death in childbirth. Amanda was told stories and saw with her own eyes women who were beaten during labor by the nurses, placed in soiled beds, forced to use bathrooms with sewage on the floors, and were then made to leave without an overnight stay or post-natal education.  These stories cut to the heart of cultural norms which promote the marginalization of women and children.  In a world that didn’t even ask… Amanda listened.

The Dayako Sagar Maternal Health Program was created with the collaborative voices of women in the village. This compassionate program seeks to empower women by educating them about their options for birth, supplying mothers with the necessary sanitary tools, and providing an opportunity  to make informed decisions about their healthcare. This program not only seeks to save the lives of women and children but to also give mothers a voice.

I received a baby shower invite today. I couldn’t help but notice the excitement scribbled in the words and hope in the pictures of little feet.  I can’t imagine living in fear that childbirth will kill either me or my baby. Moms (and future moms), we can make a difference in the life of another woman! In a world that doesn’t often stop to listen to us, we can start by lending our ear and then lending our voices. Our voices, our time, our passions, and our creativity are valuable to empowering women.

If you want to get involved… USE YOUR VOICE! Blog, tweet, share information on Facebook, speak to your friends, to your faith group, and to your co-workers about the hardships other women face around the world. Words are powerful tools for creating change; don’t underestimate the power of a conversation.

Katie Sewell is an active advocate for women and the global poor. She lives in Denver, CO yet home is a slum in Kenya or a village in West Bengal, India. Katie is the Director of Advocacy for ECTA-International and volunteers for The 1010 Project. You can follow her tweets @ectaendeavors @ktjosewell or her blog athttp://ktjosewell.blogspot.com/.

Discuss Mommy Movement at the forum or click here to learn more about the Dayako Sagar Maternal Health Program in the Changemakers maternal health competition.

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]]> http://posterous.com/images/profile/missing-user-75.png http://posterous.com/users/1lxgUUM9VhFD Lily Koi Lily Koi Lily Koi Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:39:00 -0800 Maternal Health Blogger Contest Entry: This Is Where It Starts http://mommymovement.com/maternal-health-blogger-contest-this-is-where http://mommymovement.com/maternal-health-blogger-contest-this-is-where

Joselin turned 13, and I know she’s in a danger zone. There may as well be sirens blaring, lights flashing. There are obstacles to avoid with every turn. During the day, she sells corn in the husk by the side of the road, hoping to catch the eyes of hungry truckers. Everything around her moves but her own life.

Joselin lives in Nicaragua, which has the highest rate of adolescent pregnancies in Latin America. Nearly half of women in Nicaragua give birth before the age of 20 and one-fourth of all births are to teen mothers.

I think of Joselin and look at my son, also 13, studying trigonometry, practicing piano. I think of Joselin’s shoeless feet and unchanging days and wonder how I can convince others that she matters.

Every year, 13 million babies are born to adolescents worldwide. There are a thousand studies and statistics that attempt to explain the significance of such a thing. But the numbers don’t grab me. This is what does:

A 13-year-old girl living in a crowded hut she shares with four siblings, her mother and whatever man shows up at dark. There is one narrow bed above the dirt floor and a hammock stretched between strips of timber where the youngest sleeps. The rest of the children sleep on the packed earth, with maybe a stray kitten or a chick, but no cover.

The girl tried to go to school, but she was behind. When she read aloud, the other kids laughed. She felt so dumb. But her mother needed her to work to help feed the family.

She knows how to work. All she has to do is stand there and hold up her basket. Sometimes men drive by and beep their horns or make comments that make her feel pretty. Somehow, that gives her a sense of hope when everything else feels the same – hard and empty, like her stomach at night.

Joselin is 13 years old and sells corn on the side of the road. Tonight, while our sons and daughters eat pizza or watch a movie, she’ll curl on the ground next to her brothers and sister and dream of nothing but sleep. And then, she’ll wake up and make her way to the road, where she will pray that someone sees her.

The original post can be seen at http://clinicaverde.wordpress.com/2010/03/12/this-is-where-it-starts/.  This post was written by Susan Dix Lyons. 

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]]> Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:00 -0800 Let the Sun Shine In http://mommymovement.com/let-the-sun-shine-in-by-stephanie-piche http://mommymovement.com/let-the-sun-shine-in-by-stephanie-piche

With just 34 days left in the Women | Tools | Technology Changemakers challenge I wanted to highlight the area of renewable and sustainable energy as my topic for this post.

First let me state, this is not about whether or not you believe in global warming. What’s important for all of us to consider is the economic benefits of developing renewable and sustainable energy not just here in the US, but in developing countries.

While researching this article, I was dumbfounded to read that only 1 percent of the world’s solar panel production has been installed in developing countries, which translates to 44 percent of the population of Africa, Asia and Latin America living without access to electricity. I don’t want to get into the conundrum of bringing solar energy without a means to store it in this post but to shed light on these facts and to point out how simple solutions can bring about global changes equally for everyone.

Let’s break down the intrinsic value of something we take for granted: the sun (solar energy) as an example. First and foremost, the sun is accessible by every region on the planet, even the most remote locations. By helping developing countries harness solar energy, which is notably more efficient in costs and time to market than exploiting the ecosystem to get at fossil fuels, they can provide affordable energy to homes, villages and industries helping them become independent from poverty and thrive.

We’re all seeing the rising costs of gasoline prices and with the continued depletion globally of fossil fuels, the cost to consumers will continue to increase, putting a deeper strain on our economic stability.

I, for one, don’t want to think that we could be sending our children back into a world of poverty by not using solar power, but am encouraged to see poverty reduced in some developing countries where access to solar technologies can provide the energy needed for cooking, heating and lighting homes and buildings.

How many times have you said “turn off that light” to your children? I know growing up, I heard it one too many times from my father who grew up during the depression, but considering that 44 percent of the population in developing countries do not have lights to turn off, it started me thinking about all of the things those families are missing out on.

Imagine going to school with no electricity, it’s daytime, so that’s not too bad, but then couple that with harsh weather, such as rain or heat, and it is now too cold or hot to concentrate. Then think of reading books, you have no “lights to turn off” because you have no lights to turn on so you can't read them when darkness falls. What would life be like in the darkness, knowing that the books that you carried home are right at your fingertips but you can't read them? A child’s curiosity is something to behold but the potential for growth can be stifled without basics like study time.

To expand on stifling growth, without equal study time for boys and girls, children in developing countries will continue to have an educational gender gap, since culturally speaking, boys are encouraged to do their schoolwork first, while girls go home and help with domestic chores and then have little to no time to study. Not having “lights on” will continue to limit a girls access education and they will miss out on future opportunities.

March 8, 2004, on International Women’s Day, in an interview broadcast on Al Hurra Middle East TV >featuring First Lady Laura Bush the subject of educating women was discussed. The First Lady pointed out that denying women this education not only keeps them from having a chance to succeed in this world but keeps them from “the chance to contribute to a society and to a culture.” She also added that a woman’s education is beneficial to the welfare of that nation’s children, as they "are more likely to be able to make informed choices so that their children don't suffer from malnutrition… and receive the best health care." How far do you think we have come as a global community in helping our children grow equally to sustain our planet?

Let’s keep looking to the sun, to innovative ways to bring energy to children around the world and to global prosperity. Supporting the efforts of organizations such as Changemakers, we can fuel these ideas for solutions while bridging the gender gap and helping our daughters achieve their full potential.

Stephanie Piche is an entrepreneur and a sales and marketing professional with over thirty product launches from software and mobile apps to social networking communities like MomTV and her latest endeavor, Mingle Media TV , where she produces Social TV shows where hosts start daily live streaming interactive video conversations from parenting to special causes. Follow her on Twitter at @thedigitalmoms.

Discuss Mommy Movement at the forum or click here to learn more about the Women, Tools, and Techonology challenge here.

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