Oxfam and Mumsnet call for stories of childbirth in the UK before the NHS

picture: flickr

On the 60th anniversary of the NHS, Oxfam and parenting website mumsnet.com have launched a new initiative to document memories of childbirth in the UK before access to healthcare became universal.

Maternal mortality in the UK 60 years ago was more than thirteen times higher than the present day, in large part because thousands of mums were unable to access the healthcare they needed in pregnancy and childbirth. Today millions of women in poor countries across the world are dying for exactly the same reason; lack of access to healthcare. In the next minute, this will claim the life of another mum, and this year, half a million mums will die because of poorly equipped hospitals, or because they can't afford to pay health care fees.

The call for memories is part of Oxfam’s campaign to help reduce the number of women who die needlessly in pregnancy and childbirth, which involves campaigners throughout the UK knitting 9-inch squares for a giant baby blanket, with each knitted square representing a mother who did not survive pregnancy or childbirth to be able to care for her baby.

Oxfam Campaigner Sarah Blakemore said: ‘Thousands of beautiful knitted squares are arriving from people who care about the lives of mums around the world, many of the squares are from older women who remember what it was like to give birth without adequate healthcare, or those who remember losing relatives. Huge progress has been made in access to care for pregnant women in the UK in the last 60 years; it’s time to ensure women giving birth across the world get the same rights to care.’

Mumsnet founder Carrie Longton said:’It is appalling that mothers around the world are still dying through lack of basic healthcare. Mumsnet are delighted to be working with Oxfam to help end this scandal’.

The giant blanket will be handed over to the UK Government just before world leaders meet in New York to discuss progress on the Millennium Development Goals, aimed at halving world poverty by 2015. It will represent a demand to global leaders to act now to ensure that everyone in the world has access to free basic healthcare.

To contribute a story about childbirth in the UK before the NHS please contact Sarah Blakemore at Oxfam Campaigns, 47 Park Square East, Leeds, LS1 2NL