April is Rotary’s “Maternal and Child Health Month.” As Rotarians, we pledge to help those in need, both locally and worldwide.
This can be a daunting task, as you will see in the poem . . .
Help Save Our Future
“Please save my child,” a young, Nigerian rural mother pleads.
But there is no doctor within hundreds of miles to help fulfill her needs.
“I’m six-months pregnant and my baby isn’t moving inside me,”
a Brazilian mother-to-be shouts and begins to cry.
But doctors, laboratories, clinics, neonatal intensive care units, and incubators
are in short supply.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 830 women die every day
from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.
Ninety-nine percent of maternal deaths occur in developing countries
where nearly half of all mothers and newborns do not receive care during
and after birth.
It is estimated that close to six million children under the age of five die
each year.
Reasons include malnutrition, inadequate health care, and poor sanitation,
all of which can be prevented, if we persevere.
Rotary clubs and districts dedicate their efforts to providing mothers
and their children with a healthy future through access to quality care.
Projects to support them include mobile prenatal clinics, cancer screening,
immunizations, and training on how to protect their children
and themselves from disease and despair.
Throughout the world, these and other maternal and child health and well-being
causes Rotary has undertaken—worthy goals, indeed.
Rotary makes health care available to vulnerable mothers and children, so they
can grow stronger, live longer, and succeed.
Healthcare before, during, and after childbirth can save the lives of women
and newborn babies worldwide.
As Rotarians, we need to support these efforts through donations, and volunteer,
as appropriate, and do so with pride.
Copyright © 2022 Alan Lowe. All rights reserved.
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