Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

Family First supports the Millennium Development Goals and in particular backs the goal to reduce by three-quarters the rate of death during pregnancy and childbirth in the Third World. It is important to note that this is the millennium development goal where the world has made the least progress. A woman dies in childbirth somewhere around the world every minute. Ninety-nine per cent of those women are in developing countries, and for every woman who dies giving birth 20 more suffer illness or disability. It is a staggering reality that the numbers of women dying has not improved in a generation. When I consider my wife and daughter I find it incredible that the health of pregnant women can be such a low priority when we know that mothers are vital to the stability of families and communities.

Earlier this year I asked AusAID about the level of unmet need to ensure that women in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region can give birth safely. AusAID replied that the main measure of unmet need is the maternal mortality rate, which is the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. In the Asia-Pacific region, East Timor, Bangladesh, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea have high maternal mortality ratios that are above the International Conference on Population and Development Program of Action goal of 100 women dying per 100,000 live births. It is terrible to think of that as a goal, but that reflects how high maternal mortality is in some countries.

In the case of East Timor, one of our nearest neighbours, the maternal mortality ratio is 660 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, which is a horrific number. Surely we can do something to bring down such a high rate. For Papua New Guinea the number is 300 deaths and for Indonesia the number is 230. Both rates are way above Australia’s rate of eight per 100,000 live births. Another important indicator is the number of births attended by a skilled birth attendant. In the Asia-Pacific region there are nine countries where more than half of all childbirths are without a skilled birth attendant. Maternal deaths in the Asia-Pacific account for almost half the maternal deaths in the world. That is why Family First called, as part of its overseas aid policy during the election last year, for an extra $100 million in maternal health funding per annum by 2010. That money would be spent in the Asia-Pacific region.

Over the past week people from Micah Challenge have been visiting the parliament as part of an annual meeting to mark Anti-Poverty Week. They brought with them a simple birthing kit, which is in a plastic box and includes a plastic sheet, soap, gloves, a razor, string and bandages. The extraordinary thing about this kit is that it, along with simple measures like community education and training birth attendants, can cut maternal deaths in the Third World by up to two-thirds. This kit costs about $2, which is a paltry amount when you weigh it up against the lives it could save. There is a unique challenge presented to us here. The Asia-Pacific region accounts for almost half of all the world’s maternal deaths but there is a simple kit that can help save up to two-thirds of those women from death. What can we do to get this kit distributed widely across the region to give women a better chance of living and to enjoy their new children?

Amongst these high death rates and the clear opportunities we have to save so many women and their children, there are calls in Australia for the government to spend some of its scarce aid money on abortion. Family First opposes abortion and opposes diverting scarce aid funds to abortion. Instead we should act—like we have acted decisively to address the world financial meltdown—to spend a relatively small amount of money to save lives. Family First wants an extra $100 million a year to go to maternal health in developing countries in our region to save thousands of women from unnecessary death.