The rain came down like iron rods for hours.
Not an auspicious start for the launch of Amnesty International’s campaign to end maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. However, by early afternoon, the sun was beginning to peep through the dark grey clouds and steam rose from Freetown’s roads, as the puddles dried.
By 4pm, thousands of Sierra Leoneans, many dressed in yellow t-shirts bearing the “End Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone” slogan had gathered at Bishop Johnson Memorial School ground. Most of the crowd were women and girls, and many were visibly pregnant.
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Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, visited Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH) in Freetown on Sunday to understand the problems the Sierra Leone healthcare system faces in fighting death during childbirth.
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The Bishop Johnson Memorial School, before the launch © Amnesty International
Khairunissa Dhala is a campaigner in Amnesty International’s Africa team.
After days, weeks and months of planning, the first day of the caravan and campaign launch on maternal mortality in Sierra Leone has arrived!
The event is being held at Bishop Johnson Memorial School, which is next door to Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH) and one of Freetown’s biggest slums called Moaf.
We hope to attract people from these areas as they are most affected by the issues surrounding maternal mortality.
We are expecting 5,000 people at the Freetown launch. The Sierra Leone section has spent the last few weeks
advertising the event in newspapers and on the radio and everyone is really excited.
Continuar leyendo ‘Starting up the Sierra Leone caravan…’ »
Elana Dallas has returned from Sierra Leone, where she was part of an Amnesty International team researching maternal mortality
The mother and surviving daughter of Yerie Marah, who died in childbirth ©Amnesty International
Back in the UK, trying to make sense of my photos, my notes, and all that we learned about maternal mortality in Sierra Leone. The urgency is indisputable – countless women are dying needlessly and in great pain – but is there the political will in the government and among donors to take immediate, decisive action?
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Elana Dallas is in Koinadugu, Sierra Leone, as part of an Amnesty International team researching maternal mortality
3 February: Today we meet some families of women who’ve died in childbirth in the past few months and the medical staff in their cases. It’s really tough listening to people whose grief is still so raw and absorbing the brief glimpses we have into their lives.
One husband is clearly depressed – he says of his wife, “we used to advise each other”. He has three surviving children (his wife died giving birth to twins, which hadn’t been picked up in her ante-natal checks), and his wife’s sister, who they live with, has five of her own.
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