The Puntland Government, UNFPA and other partners on November 17 renewed their commitment to scale up efforts towards reducing maternal, neonatal and child morbidity and mortality at the launch of the Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARMMA).

The CARMMA was initiated by the African Union Commission in 2009 and 44 countries in Africa have so far launched it.

President of Puntland, Professor Abdiwali Mohammed Ali Gaas said at the launch that the economic progress of any country rests on the health status of its citizens, specifically the mothers. 
"Let us rise to the challenge and save the lives of our mothers and children. The evidence base suggests that a country's economic health and social harmony can be measured in the health of its women, and economic impact of poor health of mothers on families and society as a whole is multi-faceted," said the President. 
The President also announced that he had nominated the Minister of Women Development and Family Affairs as the CARMMA Ambassador.

"In order to improve coordination and accountability and also to monitor progress and maintain the momentum to ensure that we improve maternal health, in consultation with the relevant authorities and stakeholders, we have nominated the Honorable Minister of Women Development and Family Affairs Anisa Hajimumin as the CARMMA Ambassador," said the President. 
He said Puntland will work on empowering frontline health workers, including obstetricians and gynecologists, midwives and nurses, with the capacity and resources to deliver high quality services in support of safe motherhood and transformational changes.
"Let us remember that maternal and child deaths are mostly preventable, and investment in the health of women is an investment in economic development," said the President.

During the launch, which took place in Garowe, Minister of Health Saadiq Enow, commended UNFPA for supporting efforts in ensuring better lives for mothers and children and called for the upscaling for the initiatives.

"Approximately 80 skilled and qualified midwives graduate every 2 years and 60 more midwifery students have recently graduated from the colleges. Supervisory and outreach teams visit health facilities and urban and rural communities in support of quality of maternal health care delivery, availability of supplies, information, education and communication campaigns. Even though we have made considerable progress there is still a lot to be done and with support from the international community, UN organizations and the support of the local community we can do much more" said the minister of health.