When you’re pregnant, all you hope for is a safe birth, and a healthy baby.
And as mums, we all know how exciting and scary it is to have a baby. After experiencing my own pregnancy loss, I was nervous, but so excited and hopeful to welcome my first child into the world.
I loved feeling our tiny human kick and wiggle around – and I couldn’t wait to meet him.
After his birth, we both needed urgent treatment for infections and suspected sepsis. My perfect new baby boy was in the Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the hospital and needed extra oxygen for every breath he took.
Before I could even hold him, I, like all the other parents, visitors and staff, needed to wash my hands to prevent any infection spreading around the vulnerable newborns.
Thankfully, both he, and I, recovered well, and I will forever be grateful that we were both able to get the treatment we needed, when we needed it, in a clean and safe environment.
In healthcare, clean water, decent toilets, good hygiene are immediately lifesaving – protecting families at one of their most critical moments. They strengthen health systems and support frontline staff. Maternal sepsis is a life-threatening condition developed during pregnancy, childbirth, or the postpartum period, linked to unhygienic conditions and poor infection prevention. It is the third leading cause of all maternal health deaths globally.
This leaves babies exposed to deadly health risk from the minute they are born, and mothers in danger at one of the most vulnerable moments in their lives.
But every two seconds, a woman gives birth in a healthcare centre without clean water, functioning toilets or adequate hygiene.
Without access to clean water in delivery rooms, women can’t be assured that a pair of clean hands will deliver their baby.
When basic hygiene can’t be maintained, infections spread. When health staff can’t clean the delivery room properly, when there aren’t proper toilets, when there isn’t access to water; women and newborns are at risk.
WaterAid’s new report – launching alongside our new Time to Deliver campaign – has found that 36 mothers die every day from maternal sepsis in sub-Saharan African. This leaves mothers in the region almost 150 times more likely to pass away from maternal sepsis than a mother in Western Europe or North America. Shocking and unacceptable in equal parts.
As the UK sees a stream of news stories about poor maternal healthcare, of failures in care and preventable issues, we know that no country is immune. That sometimes heartbreak can be avoided. That the state of global maternal health simply isn’t good enough.
Women everywhere want to be assured of a safe and dignified birth, where they are listened to and their needs – that they and their baby are protected from preventable harm and illness – acted upon.
For too long these demands have fallen on deaf ears and been greeted with inactive responses. It’s time for us to stand together with women everywhere, and demand better. Together with the White Ribbon Alliance, 1800 women from Malawi and Uganda have shared their demands for better maternal care: capturing their voices and fears as they told us stories of the horrifying conditions in which they gave birth.
Health workers spoke to us about the frustration of trying to provide quality care without the most basic resources.
Women linked clean water to safety, they described decent toilets as a visible marker of dignity, and handwashing as a powerful act of protection. And they didn’t just speak about clinical care – but feeling safe and respected at this pivotal moment in their lives.
The solutions are simple. Access to clean water can help to prevent sepsis and is far cheaper than treatment. We’ve calculated that simple, affordable essentials like clean water, toilets and handwashing could cut maternal infections and deaths by at least 50%.
Discussions about global development and human rights can sometimes feel abstract or distant, particularly at a time when resources are stretched and ‘louder’ crises compete for attention. But this issue is neither abstract nor unattainable. We know the solutions, and at less than $1 US per capita for clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene in all least developed countries’ health facilities, it’s highly affordable.
Recent UK government cuts mean the commitment is going in the wrong direction. Money for water, sanitation and better hygiene has been reduced and devalued, with further reductions anticipated.
Time to Deliver joins the calls of women around the world, demanding safe births and clean water in every healthcare facility. Its time for governments to deliver, for every birth, every woman, and every future. Sign the petition here: www. wateraid.org/time-to-deliver
Helen Hamilton is head of public policy heath at WaterAid UK
Sign the WaterAid Time to Deliver petition here
This article has been produced as part of The Independent’s Rethinking Global Aid project
Source: independent.co.uk