11th May, 2012
AMREF Tanzania will be launching the Stand Up for African Mothers campaign on Tuesday, 15 May. The Stand Up for African Mothers campaign, under the patronage of Graca Machel, is an international campaign run by AMREF that aims to train 15,000 midwives by 2015 and contribute towards reduction of maternal deaths by 25 percent.
AMREF Tanzania Country Director, Dr. Festus Ilako, says the First Lady, Salma Kikwete, has graciously agreed to officiate at the launch at Mnazi Mmoja grounds, Dar es Salaam. Talking about the event, Dr Ilako said that this marks the beginning of a three-year international awareness and fundraising campaign aimed at mobilising resources for training 4,222 midwives in Tanzania. “It may seem ambitious, but it can be done if all of us play our part,” said Dr. Ilako. He said so many reports talk about midwives’ scarcity and others say some of them are not competent enough for that task. “As AMREF we thought of going a step further by finding a solution to this problem which is of course to train them equipping them with better skills.”
He said at the launch edutainment will be used to raise awareness regarding maternal deaths so that people know the magnitude of the problem and feel compelled to do something about it, and contribute to this noble cause.
People will also be encouraged to sign the midwives’ petition and support Esther Madudu, an African midwife, who AMREF has proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize 2015. “We are actually going to take laptops to the grounds to enable people sign the petition there. We want to collect as many signatures as we can,” he said. The nomination of Esther is a symbolic one where AMREF wants to honour all African midwives for the important role they play in saving the lives of mothers and their children.
Dr. Ilako said the Minister for Health and Social Welfare Minister, Dr. Hussein Mwinyi, once Chairman of AMREF’s Advisory Council has also agreed to grace the event. Chief Medical Officer, Director of Human Resources Development and Director of Safe Motherhood have also been invited.
The invitations have also been extended to the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Mr. Said Mecky Sadiki, the three Dar es Salaam district commissioners (Ms. Sofia Mjema – Temeke, Mr. Raymond Mushi – Ilala, Mr. Jordan Lugimbana – Kinondoni). “We have also invited Dar es Salaam constituencies’ members of parliament and most importantly the event is open to the general public,” stated Dr Ilako.
