Mothers or Missiles

16

16 lives

16 hearts

16 mothers

16

Sixteen is the number of women who bleed to death during childbirth every day in Uganda. On June 11th 2012, a group of brave women took their concerns about this epidemic to the supreme court in Kampala. Global eyes turned to the nation when Jennifer Anguko a mother of three bled to death while waiting to give birth in a government hospital in October 2010. While the maternal mortality rate in Uganda has decreased significantly the nation still remains one of the most dangerous place in the world for expecting mothers. For every dollar the Ugandan government receives in foreign aid it decreases national spending by 57 cents, and hundreds of medical positions in the nation remain vacant.

Reading story after story about this tragedy plaguing the nation of Uganda I cannot help but think of all of the children at Humble who told me they wanted to grow up to become doctors and nurses. Yet many of the students leaving their p7 classrooms this year across the country will never have the privilege of stepping foot into a classroom again.

From http://thefeministwire.com/

Maternal mortality, like malaria or HIV/AIDS is not something that a quick fix will solve. The answers are not easy or simple. But what we know above any other variable thought to improve quality of life, education is the most important factor in improving the the social and economic welfare of a nation. http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/reducing_mm.pdf