Canada Rolls Out Maternal & Child Health Plans in Africa

Minister for International Cooperation, Bev Oda, visited Mali and Mozambique this week to implement pledges concerning maternal and child heath that were made at the G8 Summit.

In these last few days, there has been a flurry of international activity surrounding maternal and child health in Africa as conditions in Africa’s Sahelian belt and Angola threaten maternal and child welfare. Canada, not to be left behind, has likewise begun to implement its own initiatives.

At the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in Muskoka this past June, Canada pledged $1.1 billion dollars to improving maternal, newborn and child health in Africa. The Canadian contribution accounts for a large portion of the $5 billion plan developed by G8 countries, which aims to aims to save the lives of more than 1.3 million children and 64,000 mothers in the coming years.

Bev Oda, Canada’s Minister for International Cooperation (and head of the Canadian International Development Agency), has been busy visiting health officials in Mali and Mozambique over the past couple of weeks. While Canada will encourage family planning, its main goals are training “health workers, strengthening Mali’s comprehensive primary health systems at the local level, improving nutritional health and reducing the effects of diseases on mothers, newborns and children under five,” according to statements released by Oda’s office.

In many developing counties, 75% of women live in rural areas. Most of these women do not have access to contraception. There is often a lack of medical and psychosocial support for women with unwanted pregnancies. Without knowledge about best practices for safe pregnancies, women may not get the optimal nutrition and care they need for both themselves and their babies.

In Mali, less than 7% of women are using contraception and most women will have 6-7 children in their lifetime. Especially in the context of endemic food insecurity, multiple and closely-spaced pregnancies can be dangerous to both maternal and child health.

For women without adequate health care, income and nourishment, the risk of maternal death is greater than a woman who has only one or two children. According to a 2005 study by the World Health Organization (WHO), the leading causes of maternal death are haemorrhage, infection, eclampsia (hypertensive disorder associated with seizures) and complications of unsafe abortions.

Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a child’s life is recommended by the WHO as being the best means of feeding infants. The organization further recommends that children be fed on a combination of breast milk and other appropriate foods until they are at least two. However, if a new baby arrives before these years are up, the eldest child may be prematurely weaned. That child is then put at a greater risk of malnutrition. The child usually switches to a diet composed mostly of staple grains, which can lead to him/her developing severe micronutrient and protein deficiencies causing edema (swelling of the belly). This condition is known as kwashiorkor.

In some African languages kwashiorkor means “the deposed child” – sadly, an appropriate name.