Each year, Liberia joins the remainder of the sector on April Seventh to commemorate World Health Day, which marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) and serves as an opportunity to raise awareness on pressing health considerations. Below the theme “Healthy beginnings, Hopeful futures”, the national observance took place in Bentol Metropolis, Montserrado County, bringing together govt officials, international partners, health professionals, college students and community members to advocate for investment and collective action in maternal and newborn health.
The inaugural match commenced with a health walk adopted by the launch of the year-long campaign on maternal and newborn health. Reiterating the Regional Director’s message, WHO Liberia Officer in Charge, Dr Abdullahi Sule reminded that “Regardless of development in fresh decades, maternal and newborn deaths remain a critical challenge. Nearly 300 000 ladies die globally each year due to pregnancy or childbirth-related causes. In addition, 2.3 million babies die within their first month of existence, and 1.9 million are stillborn – losses that are concentrated in low-earnings countries and fragile settings, primarily within the WHO African Region.”
In Liberia, for each 1000 ladies who give birth, seven die from pregnancy-related causes such as postpartum hemorrhage, sepsis, eclampsia and up to 37 babies born alive die in their first month of existence. These figures remain one in all essentially the most tantalizing within the sub-Saharan dwelling, highlighting a significant need for persisted and intensified efforts. In 2024, the Authorities of Liberia redeclared the burden of maternal deaths a Public Health Emergency, calling for renewed accelerated appropriate interventions to urgently curb these preventable maternal and newborn deaths within the nation.
“Addressing this crisis is a collective accountability. The path to reducing newborn and maternal mortality is multifaceted and requires a comprehensive approach that tackles healthcare access, education, socio-financial stipulations and cultural contexts together with gender dimensions and reproductive rights,” said The Senate President Pro-Tempore, Hon. Nyonblee Karnga Lawrence, keynote speaker at the commemoration match. “On this World Health Day, the theme ‘Healthy beginnings and hopeful futures’ is no longer merely a slogan, but a vision that compels all of us to act urgently and with compassion,” she added.
The Maternal and Newborn Health Co-Champion in Liberia and Chair of the Senate Health Committee, Hon. Dabah M. Varpilah also urged the govt, pattern partners, healthcare professionals to work together to make “Healthy beginnings, Hopeful futures” conceivable, highlighting that “Funding challenges for maternal and newborn health, such as dependency on external donor assist make provider starting up vulnerable to shifts in donor priority. In addition, provider quality and accessibility remain a challenge particularly in rural and underserved communities the place healthcare infrastructures and trained professionals are largely scarce,” she emphasized. “We have no time to delay our action. We would prefer to increase our health budget, work carefully with WHO and health partners, and gain an innovative home handy resource mobilization map,” She concluded.
The commemoration match also saw the attendance of the Place of labor of the First Lady who is the Maternal and Newborn Health Champion in Liberia, the United Nations nation team, represented by the UN Resident Coordinator, various govt ministries and health partners, together with major hospitals. Following the campaign launch, a sequence of activities will seemingly be carried out together with outreach to college students and midwives to raise awareness on maternal and newborn health considerations.
