Mark Daly (Fianna Fail)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann acknowledging The Millennium Development Goal committing us to reducing maternal mortality by 75 percent between 1990 and 2015 in developing countries, supports the Government on its commitment to this goal and its substantial contribution to the new UNFPA trust which will be used to support 75 of the poorest countries deliver better services for women before, during and after childbirth.

I am honoured to be among the first to extend my congratulations to the Government on its commitment to promoting reproductive health in the developing world. The contribution Ireland has made to the No Woman Should Die Giving Life fund will promote real advances in the struggle against maternal mortality and disability.

Statistics are important but they are easy to hear, digest and forget. Some 500,000 annual deaths due to maternal mortality is a shocking number but ultimately, it is a number. What we need to remember is that these are mothers dying to bring children into the world. These are mothers who look forward to raising their children, providing for them and teaching them. However, the excitement and anticipation of pregnancy is mitigated by the very real possibility that childbirth will be accompanied by illness, disability or death.

These are real communities and they lose some of their most active contributors. They are families, not so different than our own, that lose a care-giver and a provider. They are children brought into a world without ever knowing their mothers. Babies are deprived of the maternal care which is so essential in that first year of life while children are deprived of the guidance and the support of their mothers. We cannot expect to reduce child poverty on a large scale when millions of children grow up without the fundamental support that mothers provide.

Ireland is one of the first countries to donate to the No Woman Should Die Giving Life fund which was recently established by the UNFPA to stem the overwhelming numbers of mothers who die during pregnancy and childbirth. This contribution is a significant step towards eliminating the problem of maternal mortality and achieving the millennium development goals, which aim to end extreme poverty by 2015. However, this millennium development goal is one which the world is failing to meet.

We have made some significant progress towards achieving the goals set out by the United Nations at the beginning of the century. More children around the world are attending primary school, more women are participating in politics and certain health crises are beginning to be contained but maternal mortality continues to be an international crisis. The rate of maternal mortality in developing countries indicates not only inadequate health care services but also reflects a widespread violation of basic rights to life and health.

In Africa and south Asia, complications that arise during pregnancy are the most frequent cause of death among women. Unsurprisingly, the number of maternal deaths is highest in countries where the shortage of skilled health personnel is most acute. Exacerbating the problem in these countries is a severe lack of clean facilities and a dearth of adequate equipment. What facilities exist can be difficult to access for women who do not have a reliable means of transportation or an income above the poverty line.

Many women in developing countries report that a lack of cultural sensitivity, the unavailability of female health care providers and language barriers discourage them from receiving pre-natal care and prevent them from giving birth in hospital. Without the provision of culturally appropriate health care options, we cannot expect women to voluntarily seek care at hospitals, no matter how well medically supplied the facilities might be.

The Government's recognition of these problems will go a long way towards getting more mothers access to appropriate health care facilities. The No Woman Should Die Giving Life fund is doing vital work to address the currently inadequate provision of health care for expectant mothers in the developing world. The UNFPA fund provides the support and tools for upgrading health care facilities and works toward ensuring universal access to information about reproductive health. This includes education on family planning and sexual health and making contraception more universally available.

The UNFPA fund maintains a special focus on ensuring the availability of pre and post-natal counselling and care and on increasing the quality and availability of emergency obstetric care. Additionally, the UNFPA is committed to advocating maternal health reforms and women's rights on both national and international levels. The UNFPA actively seeks the aid and input of local community and religious leaders who best understand the cultural needs of their communities.

The Government has also made generous contributions to funds that target the problems of obstetric fistula and female genital cutting. Obstetric fistula, caused by prolonged and complicated labour without treatment, is a leading cause of death for infants and disability for mothers. Given the stigma associated with fistula, a woman disabled by fistula will often descend into social isolation, depression and deepening poverty.

Fistula is entirely preventable but only with timely access to emergency obstetric facilities. Obstetric fistula throws the differences in maternal care between the developed and the developing worlds into sharp focus. While fistula affects an estimated 2 million women in developing countries, it is virtually non-existent in Europe and North America. One estimate suggests that in Ethiopia, it takes a woman an average of 2.5 days to reach an operating room to address a complicated pregnancy. By the time she gets there, it is usually too late to save the infant and the mother will be disabled for life.

The Government's contribution of €500,000 to the UNFPA Campaign to End Fistula will aid the provision of skilled attendants at births in 35 countries where fistula is particularly prominent. The fund also provides treatment and assists reintegration for women who already suffer from fistula. The UNFPA is working to increase awareness of the gravity of fistula both at a community-level and among policy makers. Obstetric fistula is a condition that no woman should live with. I commend the Government's vision in targeting this serious cause of maternal disability.

The Government has also made a contribution to a fund targeting the practice of female genital cutting. Genital cutting affects about 130 million girls and women worldwide and 2 million more are at risk every year. This procedure threatens sexual and reproductive health as well as psychological well-being. The UNFPA programme works with young people and religious and community leaders on a local level to establish approaches to eliminating the practice that are sensitive to the cultural dignity of the community. These programmes have seen success in several developing regions and with the Government's contribution to the fund, the programmes can be extended across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Again, I applaud the Government's efforts to help eliminate a practice fundamentally contrary to basic human dignity.

Maternal mortality and disability have a devastating effect on families and communities. More than half a million mothers die annually from complications that arise during pregnancy and childbirth. More than 10 million others are left with severe illness or disability following delivery. The vital contribution women make as mothers, carers, members of the workforce and active community members cannot be replaced when lives are lost or mothers are seriously disabled during childbirth. Maternal mortality leaves more than 1 million children motherless each year, and children who have lost their mothers are up to ten times more likely to die prematurely.

We are capable of drastically reducing the occurrence of death during pregnancy and childbirth. The real tragedy of maternal mortality is that it is so highly preventable. Investments in training for health care providers and the upgrading of health care facilities have already significantly reduced the number of mothers dying during childbirth in Latin America, south-east Asia and the Middle East. Progress in these regions is laudable, but the situation is still dire in many parts of the world. Given that it is so preventable, maternal mortality is unacceptable anywhere. The Government's contribution to the No Woman Should Die Giving Life fund is a significant step toward ending the unnecessary deaths of mothers.

As Ireland grows increasingly cosmopolitan, our world view has also broadened. Our economic success has created the opportunity to look beyond our own borders and become active citizens of the world. The steps we are taking to eliminate the problem of maternal mortality underline our commitment to the world's poor.

I congratulate the Government again on its international leadership in working to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of mothers and children. This important contribution has brought us one step closer to realising the ideals that the millennium development goals set eight years ago, and the impact made in the lives of millions of mothers and families will reverberate across the developing world. I commend the motion to the House.