DUSHANBE, April 29, Asia-Plus  - The Ministry of Health (MoH) has elaborated a draft national plan of actions on safe maternity for the period until 2010.  The plan is aimed at supporting  implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Safe Motherhood Initiative.

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Health Minister Nusratullo Salimov said that the project is dedicated to help make pregnancy safer and reduce the severe burden of pregnancy-related illness and it will be submitted for consideration to the relevant ministries and organizations in the near future.   

Over the first three months of this year, 18 cases of maternal death have been reported in the country, the minister said.  

“To provide timely and precise management, analysis and reduce maternal mortality rate an order on setting analytical council for considering maternal mortality issues and we plan to hold the first meeting before the end of this month to discuss the mentioned 18 maternal death cases,” Salimov said.  

Salimov added that one of ways to improve quality of medical services to mothers and children is providing medical facilities with skilled specialists.   Professionalism of many gynecologists in districts and cities leaves much to be desired.  “Not all gynecologists in many cities and districts are able to perform an ordinary operation,” the minister said.   

According to him, UNFPA has provided two ambulances to improve work gynecologists in the provinces.  One o these ambulances will be handed over to the Sughd province and another one will be handed over to the Khatlon province.  In the near future, an ambulance will also be sent to Gorno Badakhshan, Salimov said.  

We will recall that it is well over a decade since the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners launched the Safe Motherhood Initiative to help reduce the severe burden of pregnancy-related illness and death affecting so many women around the world. One of the key lessons learned during this time has been that whereas safe motherhood is critically dependent on the provision and use of good quality reproductive health care, it must also involve strategies to empower women so that they have access to education and information, to employment and to other resources. In brief, achieving safe motherhood means fulfilling the human rights of women.