Photo exhibition on safe motherhood opens
Dhaka, May 2 (bdnews24.com) – The observance of Safe Motherhood Day has started much before May 28 with the opening of a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) photo exhibition on Wednesday in the capital.
Senior secretary for health MdHumayunKabir inaugurated the exhibition at the Dhaka Art Centre with images conveying messages of safe motherhood, family planning, child marriages and maternal mortality and morbidity issues.
"This creative initiative will help raise awareness about the maternal health status in Bangladesh and will help in achieving MDG-5," he said.
Bangladesh has been able to cut maternal deaths from 322 per 100,000 in 2001 to 194 in 2010, but nearly 70 percent mothers give birth at the hands of unskilled birth attendants, a major challenge to cut those deaths further.
To save pregnant mothers and wives, UNFPA Representative Bangladesh Arthur Erken said: "We need professional midwives and skilled birth attendants with the right education and training."
"When we enter an airplane, we know there is a pilot in the cockpit, who has been thoroughly trained to fly the plane.
"But when it comes to delivering our babies, we allow the majority of our women at the mercy of untrained, unskilled service providers. Why do we continue to accept this double standards?"
He said expecting mothers continued to die in the world, 'not of diseases that we cannot treat, but because we haven't made their health and well-being our priority'.
"If we can ensure that a certified midwife or skilled birth attendant is present during delivery, the chances of our pregnant women dying will reduce dramatically," he added.
Speaking at the inauguration, film actress Moushumi said: "Motherhood is unique, so let's make it safe."
She urged all to disseminate message of safe motherhood through various available channels.
The exhibition will remain open for all from 3pm to 8pm, except Monday. It will end on May 23.
According to UNFPA media release, the UN body would organise various programmes throughout the month to mark May 28, Safe Motherhood Day. bdnews24.com/nih/nir/2345h
