Activism: working to reduce maternal mortality through civil society and health professional alliances in sub-Saharan Africa

Partnerships between civil society groups campaigning for reproductive and human rights, health professionals and others could contribute more to the strengthening of health systems needed to bring about declines in maternal deaths in Africa. The success of the HIV treatment literacy model developed by the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa provides useful lessons for activism on maternal mortality, especially the combination of a right-to-health approach with learning and capacity building, community networking, popular mobilisation and legal action. This paper provides examples of these from South Africa, Botswana, Kenya and Uganda. Confidential enquiries into maternal deaths can be powerful instruments for change if pressure to act on their recommendations is brought to bear. Shadow reports presented during UN human rights country assessments can be used in a similar way. Public protests and demonstrations over avoidable deaths have succeeded in drawing attention to under-resourced services, shortages of supplies, including blood for transfusion, poor morale among staff, and lack of training and supervision. Activists could play a bigger role in holding health services, governments, and policy-makers accountable for poor maternity services, developing user-friendly information materials for women and their families, and motivating appropriate human resources strategies. Training and support for patients' groups, in how to use health facility complaints procedures is also a valuable strategy. (C) 2012 Reproductive Health Matters