Is maternal mortality sexy?
How does a topic attract attention that we usually close our eyes to? How do you illustrate horrendous figures that we would rather not think about because they spoil the beautiful summer day? It's about numbers like these:
- Every day 800 mothers and 18,000 children under the age of five die from preventable causes.
- More than 250 million children under the age of five live in countries with armed conflicts.
- Mothers in crisis areas die 14 times as often as armed soldiers.
- In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, being a woman or a child is more dangerous than being an armed militant.
- In Sierra Leone, every fifth child dies before his fifth birthday.
How do these facts get attention?
With sex.
That's why the London organization Save the Children shot a video on the occasion of the release of the 15th State of the World's Mothers Report, in which twelve models in a New York studio seemingly promote themselves as a "sexy brand". When they are about to breathe the numbers of the report into the camera during the shoot, they find it so difficult that they resign:
"We can not make this topic sexy, but it deserves your attention."
The problems are solvable
By contrasting the Western glamor world with the cruel reality in the developing world, the video makes us realize that as we engage with our "sexiness" in the West, do women and children elsewhere die massively of illnesses, pregnancies, natural disasters and violence? often only because they lack access to medical care. "High maternal and child mortality rates in crisis areas are not surprising, but unacceptable for 'Save the Children', we can not prevent natural disasters or wars, but it is much easier to restore crises to previously existing infrastructure than to rebuild That's how our lives can be saved, as our report clearly shows, "says Kathrin Wieland, Managing Director of Save the Children Germany.
The example of Nepal shows that the problems are not unsolvable. The Himalayan country has reached the Millennium Development Goal and lowered maternal mortality by three quarters from 1990 levels. Ethiopia reduced maternal mortality by two-thirds. If you also do not want to accept the drama of maternal and child mortality, you can donate online at www.savethechildren.de.
The report
The "State of the World's Mothers Report" compares the life situation of mothers and children worldwide. Maternal health, child mortality, education, income and socio-political status of women were assessed in 178 countries.
The top places this year are occupied by Finland, Norway and Sweden. Germany is in 8th place, the USA ranked 31st, Somalia in last place.
In the countries of the final group, the conditions for mothers and their children are very tough. One in 27 women die from complications during pregnancy or childbirth, and one in seven children does not experience their fifth birthday.
A summary of the results in German is available at www.savethechildren.de.
