UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Ethiopian supermodel and WHO goodwill ambassador Liya Kebede joins women parliamentarians to fight against maternal deaths and infant mortality

Record ID: 452192

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: Ethiopian supermodel and WHO goodwill ambassador Liya Kebede joins women parliamentarians to fight against maternal deaths and infant mortality
  • Date: 16th March 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DR MONIR ISLAM, DIRECTOR, WHO, DEPARTMENT OF MAKING PREGNANCY SAFER, SAYING: "You know the unfortunate thing is, is most of the developing countries rich people will reach the Millenium Development Goal but not the poor people. So there are difference within the countries between the urban and poor, rural area, and rich and poor so we need to look at some targeted intervention for the poor people and I am optimistic, if really, because we know what needs to be done. There is no doubt. What we really need is the commitment and the investment. And another thing is that poor countries should not look always at the rich country giving the money. If there is a problem, they need to invest their own money."
  • Embargoed: 31st March 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,Social Services / Welfare
  • Reuters ID: LVAC8Y0IWDQ9GO8FWUQ5SG5DKKNR
  • Story Text: Ethiopian supermodel and WHO Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede joined women parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations on Tuesday to try to find a way to tackle the continuing problem of maternal death and infant mortality ahead of UK Mother's Day. Also present was the wife of Britain's Prime Minister, Cherie Blair who joined Kebede in signing a symbolic Mother's Day card.

    Ethiopian supermodel and World Health Organisation (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador Liya Kebede visited London on Tuesday (March 13) joining women parliamentarians and non-governmental organisations to combat maternal and newborn deaths.
    Kebede was born and raised in Ethiopia before she became a supermodel, gracing the covers of fashion magazines on news-stands around the world.
    But when the photographer's shutter stops clicking and she steps off the runway, she is also the mother of two, a boy of six and girl aged one year old. This, says Kebede, is why the plight of mothers is so close to her heart.
    "I'm a mother of two and I am also from Ethiopia, I grew up there and was raised there and I understand what a woman can go through in a country that is poor and doesn't have the right health system in place and you know, the act of giving life in a developing country, especially sub-Saharan Africa or South East Asia can take your life away as a mother," Kebede said.
    According to to the WHO, every minute a mother dies from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Four million babies die within the first 28 days of their lives and 3.3 million are stillborn. Added to this, is the crippling problem of HIV AIDS - 600.000 babies are infected through mother-to-child transmission.
    Gathered in London on Tuesday were female parliamentarians from both donor and developing countries around the world, hoping to draw attention to the problem and put together a strategy for tackling it.
    Having flown into London from New York that same morning, Kebede nevertheless looked forward to working with these women in positions of power.
    "First of all I am so happy to be in a room full of women. I mean that's kind of a first, you know, so, and women who have power to do things, to change things, to change. And I love that we are here to change the lives of other women you know, and I think that is really wonderful and I really hope for the parliamentarians to go home thinking that there is something they can do, that they can influence their government to allocate more funds to maternal health. You know, maternal health isn't a priority. It's not seem as something that is important for the country for some reason, they are not getting the health and the help that they need. Women are essential for communities."
    As a successful career-woman, Kebede is conscious of being a positive role model for other African women.
    "I didn't grow up thinking, "I'm going to be a model," or a supermodel or whatever. No I grew up thinking, is this really going to work? I had a dream, I wanted to see it through...but there are a lot of challenges and you have to face them but at the end of the day, anything is kind of possible. If I am here, everything else is possible. You know, and I really want them to feel that in themselves and to have a passion to go after it and at the same time to be more conscious of the world. I think right now we can't really afford to think about ourselves anymore, just ourselves, or today only. We have to think about tomorrow, we have to think about the generation we are leaving behind," she said.
    Among the few men present at the meeting was Dr Monir Islam, the director of the WHO's Make Pregnancy Safer department.
    Although the problems had to be dealt with on an international level, Dr Islam was keen to stress that developing countries had to take responsibility for themselves if they were to reach the Millennium Development Goals.
    The goals are a set of internationally agreed targets to be met by 2015. Among those are the improvement of health of mothers and children.
    "You know the unfortunate thing is, is most of the developing countries rich people will reach the Millennium Development Goal but not the poor people. So there are difference within the countries between the urban and poor, rural area, and rich and poor so we need to look at some targeted intervention for the poor people and I am optimistic, if really, because we know what needs to be done. There is no doubt. What we really need is the commitment and the investment. And another thing is that poor countries should not look always at the rich country giving the money. If there is a problem, they need to invest their own money."
    Cherie Blair, the wife of the British Prime Minister and a mother of four, also made an appearance at the meeting, joining Kebede in signing a symbolic Mother's Day card.
    The organisers were hopeful that the two-day meeting would not just be a "talk-shop" and that positive action would come out of it.
    "What I hope will come out of it is that we've got the commitment to the six-point plan of action to improve services for women and their babies and that we get that taken up around the world, in the countries that are represented here but in others as well. And we make sure that the right of women to safe motherhood, safe childbirth and the right of children to proper care in the early months of life is recognised and provided for across the world," said Sally Keeble, a British Member of Parliament..
    Among the strategies being worked on are providing skilled care for women during and after pregnancy, involving communities to strengthen health delivery and improving healthcare infrastructure.
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