Guest post by Corrie Butler, Canadian Red Cross Communications Coordinator
The Canadian Red Cross Maternal, Newborn and Child Health program will soon be rolling out in South Sudan. The program will help ensure life-saving care is available to hundreds of thousands of women and children in South Sudan who might otherwise die from preventable deaths. In Calgary on Wednesday, the Government announced support for $19.9 million dedicated to this program.
The Honourable Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and for International Human Rights, made the announcement on behalf of the minister.
“This is something Canadians are passionate about,” explained Deepak Obhrai. “We can eliminate the preventable deaths of women, newborns and children and save the millions of lives that hang in the balance.”
Every day, 18,000 children die around the world, largely from preventable causes, with 8,000 dying in their first 28 days of life.
“South Sudan has one of the highest mortality rates in the world,” says Patricia Strong, senior manager of program development with the Red Cross. “For many families and rural communities, the distance to hospitals is great and the barriers to receiving help for their children seem insurmountable.”
The Red Cross will work with its partners, the local community and the Ministry of Health to continue to reduce these devastating rates.
“We will work with these communities to break down the barriers to receiving proper life-saving care,” said Strong. “This program will reach some of the most remote communities of Warrap State in South Sudan, building a capacity of over 700 local health volunteers.”
The program, with the partnership of South Sudan and Netherlands Red Cross societies and in collaboration with the Government of Canada, will be able to extend their reach through mobile clinics to more than 350,000 women, children and men.
Learn more about the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health program and the upcoming Saving Every Woman and Every Child Summit.