Malawi’s Leader Makes Safe Childbirth Her Mission

But more important, Kwataine’s villages are undergoing an organizational and attitudinal transformation. It now has 48 “safe motherhood committees” — each comprised of 10 community members who have distinct roles to support health among the villages’ mothers and young children. Family planning counselors, for example, spread the word about modern contraception methods; growth monitors make sure small children are getting the health care they need in the first five years of life.

One role on the committee is especially innovative. So-called “secret mothers,” usually elderly women, serve as liaisons between the expecting mother and the professional health workforce from the time of conception until 42 days after delivery. In Malawian culture, it is inappropriate to share news of one’s pregnancy with anyone aside from one’s own mother, a tradition that has lead young women to forego prenatal care and give birth with unskilled attendants, as most of their mothers and grandmothers have done.

This is an example of how Africans should be modernizing their own cultural practices rather than trying to simply ban practices or ape outside cultures. Everyone else does this. I hope this works out long term and can be used to address issues such as FGM.