Senegal: community agrees child health ‘worth more than gold’
By: World Vision Staff, Senegal
A small event in the rural community of Missirah Sirimah, Senegal, may lead to big change for the children who live there.
As part of Senegal’s Global Week of Action, which has already seen the mobilisation of 3.5 million citizens around the world this May, local communities gathered together to talk about better ways to address child and maternal health gaps. Drawing together the residents of more than five local villages, the event drew a crowd of more than 200, including imams, families, teachers, school principals, health advocates and village leaders. Local schoolchildren made a strong impression with their headlining catchcry “Mum! My health is worth more than gold!”
The gathering gave everyone a chance to learn more about preventable causes of illness and death in mothers and their children. Almost one in seventeen children in Senegal die before their fifth birthday, and one in fifty four mothers is at risk of death during their childbearing years, signifying the urgent need for mothers to prioritise theirs and their children’s health.
The crowd heard from health workers who are working on a daily basis with this tragedy, from government representatives who promised to find more financial, material and human resources, and from community members who pledged to stay engaged and active on the issues long-term.
The head of the Midwives’ Group in the District praised the educational side of the event, saying, ‘Mothers need to find more time for their health and that of their children by vaccinating, learning about nutrition, and planning for both safe motherhood and newborn health’.
The crowd also raised 200 hands to show their support for under-five child survival. While this contributes towards World Vision’s global total of 3.6 million hands raised during the Global Week of Action, the renewed commitment in this remote community will help improve and save the immeasurable value of mothers’ and children’s lives.