CAPITOL HILL, Monrovia – A high-power joint United Nations delegation visiting Liberia says an effective implementation of the Liberian Government national development plan – the ARREST Agenda will be crucial in combating the increasing maternal mortality rate and related health deficiencies in Liberia.
By Gerald C. Koinyeneh – [email protected]
In a meeting with top members of the Liberian Legislature presided over by House Speaker J. Fonati Koffa, the UN H6 Partnership, revealed Liberia’s disturbing maternal mortality crisis and called on the government including the Legislature to address it through the implementation of meaningful programs.
“Eleven hundred women die every year in Liberia giving birth, and of course no woman should be dying giving birth,” said Dr Anshu Banerjee, Director, Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent and Ageing at the World Health Organization in Geneva.
“If we want to have the idea of the numbers we are talking about, it would basically mean you would have 27 Chinese trucks [commonly used in Liberia] full with people. And that’s the number of women that died every year here in Liberia giving life. The idea is to halve that number over the next four years, and it will be important to see how the Legislature can help in reducing that number,” added Dr. Banerjee.
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 says it 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 health sector including the Ministry of Health, lawmakers, communities and partners.
Despite the significant reduction of maternal mortality ratio from 1072/100,000 live births in 2013 to approximately 742/100,000 live births in 2020, the delegation said the number of women dying due to pregnancy and birth related problems is still unacceptably high. On the other hand, it said there has been an apparent increase in newborn mortality rate to 37/1000 live births in 2019/20 from 26/1000 live births in 2013, adding that newborn deaths have contributed to nearly 40% of under-five mortality rate which has stagnated at 93 per 1000 live births over the last decade.
The delegation said statistics gathered by the Ministry of Health and UN agencies show 1,100 women (three deaths per day) are dying in Liberia in childbirth per year, and equivalent to 27 Chinese trucks full of people. The target is to reduce this number by 50% in four years.
In his presentation on behalf of the team, Dr. Banerjee stated that Liberia is experiencing an increase in newborn deaths: 37/1000 live births or 8,510 per year, equaling 189 classrooms (or 23 newborns per day). The target is to reduce newborn deaths from 37 to 13 – 3,081 per year (63% in 5 years).
Further alarming is the number of stillbirths – 14,500 stillbirths every year, or almost one classroom per day (or 40 stillbirths per day). 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.
“What we see here in Liberia is that we actually have more stillbirths than newborns dying. And this really highlights that there are some issues around delivering quality of care during the delivery, but also during antenatal care.”
Under five mortality ratios is 93/1000 live births or 22,041 per year, almost 500 classrooms. The target is to reduce under five mortality to 43 in 2028 (10,200 per year) more than 54% in 5 years.
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.
He added: “One of the biggest issues is that the pregnant teenage girl is more likely to die, or has a higher chance of mortality, higher chance of complications, but also their children have a higher chance of dying or having developmental delays. If we are to address the issue of teenage pregnancy, it will have a major impact on child mortality, on both the mother and the child.”
How to achieve the targets?
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 timely and full disbursement of funds.
In response,the lawmakers termed the statistics as a national health crisis, and vowed to work with the executives to address it. House Speaker Koffa thanked the delegation for the visit and reaffirmed the Legislature’s commitment to working with the executive to support the health sector. He said the increment in the health budget is a clear manifestation of the Legislature’s commitment to support the government’s agenda to build a resilient health system.
He was joined by the Chairperson of the Committees on Health from both the House of Representatives and Senate, Rep. Julie Fatorma Wiah and Senator Dabah Varpilah.
The delegation consisted of Dr Anshu Banerjee, and heads of UN agencies in Liberia – Madam Comfort Lamptey of UN Women, Madam Bidisha Pillai, and Dr. Clement Lugala Peter, among others.