"An estimated 19 million unsafe abortions take place each year in developing countries. Every year, an estimated 68,000 women die as a result of unsafe abortions and millions more suffer from complications."

These were the words of Dr Aja Isatou Njie Saidy, the vice-president and secretary of state for Women’s Affairs, in a speech read on her behalf by Duwa Jatta, the director of Administration at the Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC), during the celebration of the World Population Day on Friday, at the Gambia Family Planning Association headquarters, Kanifing.

Shocking figures

According to the vice-president, the current maternal mortality rate is heart-touching, as in every minute, at somewhere in the world, a woman dies giving birth, adding that every year, 536,000 million women die of pregnancy related complications.

"Every year, more than one million children are left motherless and vulnerable because of maternal death. Children who have lost their mothers are up to 10 times more likely to die prematurely than those who haven’t," she said.

Commenting on this year’s theme, ‘Family Planning a right, lets make it real’, the vice president noted that the focus on family planning could not have been timelier, as challenges facing families still remain a hindrance to the full attainment of the Millenium Development Goals, the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the Vision 2020.

Vice-President Njie-Saidy emphasised that family planning is essential to women’s empowerment and gender equality, noting that the time has come for concerted efforts to ensure that the cause of women empowerment is re-energised in a bid to ensure universal access to reproductive health.

Imperical evidence

"Studies conducted in the past have shown that family planning is also an effective tool in fighting poverty, as it creates conditions that enable women to enter into the labour force and families to devote more resources to each child, thereby improving nutrition, educational level, and by extension, living standards," she said, adding that effective family planning programmes slow down the population growth rate, which can reduce the cost of providing social services (water, food, education, health care, housing, transportation, as well as jobs).

VP Njie-Saidy asserted that researchers have estimated that universal access to family planning could save the lives of about 175,000 women each year and increase birth intervals to at least 36 months, which could also prevent the death of 1.8 million children under five years, globally.

In The Gambia, she continued, the rate of maternal mortality has reduced, but it’s still high at 730 per 100,000 live births.

She said that efforts to prevent maternal deaths and ensure universal access to  voluntary family planning requires commitment from all partners - men and women, international organisations, government, civil society and the media.

Dr Njie-Saidy then concluded that the recent Multi-indicators Cluster Survey conducted in the country has shown that the single most critical intervention for safe motherhood is to ensure that a competent health worker with midwifery skills is present at every birth, and also, transportation is available to a referral facility for obstetric care in cases of emergency.

Other speakers at the ceremony included Aja Kassa Kanteh, the chairperson of the National Women’s Council, Awa Luis, the finance and administration officer of the Gambia Family Planning Association, and Adam Jeng of KMC.