Monrovia – President Joseph Boakai has expressed sadness over the alarming rates of maternal and newborn mortalities in Liberia and said it is the result of a society that has been insensitive to the plights of its citizens.
The President made the assertions during a meeting with the H6 Partnership delegation of the United Nations at the Executive Mansion on Thursday.
The UN H6 Partnership comprised six agencies within the UN Family including UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, UN Women, UN AIDS, and the World Bank. It supports countries in achieving health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly focusing on sexual, reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health (SRMNCAH). The UN H6 Partnership has supported a project on strengthening SRMNCAH services in health facilities and communities in six counties in Liberia.
As part of their ongoing two-week mission, the delegation is meeting with major stakeholders of the Liberian government and foreign partners.
The meeting with President Boakai followed a meeting with the Liberian Legislature on Tuesday where they made startling revelations about the state of maternal health in Liberia: 1,100 women (three deaths per day) are dying in Liberia in childbirth per year, equivalent to 27 Chinese trucks full of people, 37/1000 live births or 8,510 per year, equaling 189 classrooms (or 23 newborns per day) and a staggering 14,500 stillbirths every year, or almost one classroom per day (or 40 stillbirths per day). Under five mortality ratios is 93/1000 live births or 22,041 per year, almost 500 classrooms, while teenage pregnancies constitute 30.3% of overall pregnancies, equaling 72,000 teenage pregnancies per year. The target is to reduce teenage pregnancies by 1/3 in 5 years. He said it happened to adolescents between 10-19 years of teenage pregnancy, and addressing teenage pregnancy is crucial.
During the meeting with the President, Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director of the Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent and Ageing at the World Health Organization in Geneva, on behalf the team, presented the same statistics and termed the situation as a national public health emergency and outlined a series of recommendations.
Dr. Banerjee revealed the target is to reduce the number of maternal mortalities to reduce this number by 50% in four years, the target is to reduce newborn deaths from 37 to 13 – 3,081 per year (63% in 5 years). The target is to reduce stillbirths by 50% in 5 years (7,250 per year). He blamed this alarming rate on the lack of quality of care. The target is to reduce under five mortality to 43 in 2028 (10,200 per year) more than 54% in 5 years. The target is to reduce teenage pregnancies by 1/3 in 5 years. He said it happened to adolescents between 10-19 years of teenage pregnancy, and addressing teenage pregnancy is crucial.
Linking the ARREST AGENDA to Combatting the health Crisis
The delegation said an effective implementation of the ARREST Agenda, – an acronym for Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, and Tourism, will lead to meeting these targets. He said Under these conditions, Liberia will not be able to achieve its national development goals.
On agriculture, the delegation proposed access to micro-financing for women. On Road and Infrastructure, he called for enhanced mobility to improve Referral linkages, strengthening of road network and transportation for improved access to emergency health services.
For Rule of Law, he emphasized legal and policy framework to address Gender Based Violence (GBV) and social reintegration, strengthen policy and legal frameworks to prevent FGM, legal and policy framework to address child marriage.
For education, the team called for increased access to free education up to high school for all and ensure enrollment and retention of girl children to complete high school.
On sanitation, it called for improved quality of life and privacy while going for defecation, provision of clean water in communities. It called for installation WASH facilities in schools and in health care facilities.
For tourism, they called for the promotion of Women cooperatives to sell craft and arts products and enhance economic independence, strengthen technical and vocational education for young people.
They thanked the Legislature for increasing the health budget from US$75 million to US$80 million and called for robust monitoring, timely and full disbursement of funds.
President, in response, acknowledged the grave situation and assured the delegation of his administration’s commitment to addressing the situation.
“It is a shame to us as a society and we feel guilty that this is happening in our country. And this is a symptom of a society that has been insensitive to the real issues affecting its people… We appreciate your coming and can assure you that this is going to be a record of the past,” he said.
Also, in the meeting with the President were Health Minister Dr. Louise Kpoto, Madam Comfort Lamptey of UN Women Country Representative and acting Resident Coordinator, Madam Bidisha Pillai, UNFPA Country Representative and Dr. Clement Lugala Peter, Country Representative of the World Health Organization.
