28 July 2004
A project funded by the Australian Government's overseas aid agency, AusAID has been recognised for its role in improving public awareness of safe pregnancy and childbirth practices in China.
The AusAID funded Safe Motherhood public information campaign received the prestigious Global Health Council White Ribbon Alliance Award for its role in informing women in Bazhong Prefecture, a remote part of Sichuan Province in western China.
Educating women about safe pregnancy and childbirth is of vital importance in Bazhong where out of every 100,000 births, 182 women die.
This is more than three times China's national maternal mortality rate (MMR) and 30 times higher than in Australia.
Bazhong Rural Health Improvement Project Health Promotion Team
Zhang Shulie, Mary McCabe, Zhang Yue
The overarching aim of the campaign is to reduce the MMR in Bazhong to 71 by 2010.
The team's partnership with local government and non-government organisations like the All China Women's Federation has been a key ingredient to the project's success to date, with the local Mayor even initiating an official Safe Motherhood Day.
Other activities include the development and distribution of 14 different types of health promotion materials to 9 central townships, 47 townships and 464 villages.
The materials feature women from Bazhong and are encouraging women and their families to prepare for childbirth and possible complications and also promote motherhood as a community responsibility.
With 24 villages already declared 'safe motherhood villages' the campaign is positively changing attitudes and behaviours.
The team are to be commended for their hard work and dedication to improving the future of thousands of women and their families in Bazhong.
The Safe Motherhood campaign is part of AusAID's $14.5 million, five-year Bazhong Rural Health Improvement Project. The goal of the project is to alleviate poverty by improving the health of the rural poor by strengthening basic health services, promotion, planning and management.