Abstract

PIP: This document summarizes the 10 action messages (and the rationale behind them) that emerged from a technical consultation held in Sri Lanka in 1997 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Safe Motherhood Initiative. The 10 safe motherhood messages emphasize 1) establishing safe motherhood as a human right, 2) promoting safe motherhood as a vital economic and social investment, 3) empowering women and ensuring choices, 4) delaying marriage and first birth, 5) understanding that every pregnancy involves risks, 6) ensuring skilled attendance at deliveries, 7) improving access to quality maternal health services, 8) addressing unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion, 9) measuring progress, and 10) using the power of partnerships. The document describes the extent of maternal mortality and morbidity in the world and notes that provision of quality maternal health care is the single most important intervention. The socioeconomic importance of safe motherhood is considered in the next section, followed by an explanation of the social justice and human rights aspects of safe motherhood. After a look at the importance of delaying childbearing and the fact that every pregnancy involves risks, the document highlights the need to ensure skilled attendance at delivery, to improve access to and quality of maternal health services, to prevent unwanted pregnancy, and to address unsafe abortion. The document ends by reviewing the difficulties involved in measuring maternal mortality and emphasizing the importance of analyzing each maternal death in detail and sharing the important information gleaned with the community.