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QUESTION OF THE MONTH |
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November 2000. |
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U.N.O., W.H.O., and many other supranational institutions, sometimes coupled with local government offices, have designed and instrumented different strategies to significantly lower maternal, perinatal, and infant mortality figures during the last forty years, going as far as promising health for all for the year 2000 at various World Summit Conferences. With very few exceptions, in spite of large amounts of spent money, the results have been disappointing, to say the least. |
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Now, at the end of the XX Century and the beginning of the XXI, several very generous philanthropic organizations are willing to provide ample funding to avert maternal death and disability by improving women's access to emergency obstetric care in Asia, Africa, and South America. |
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Let me compare an emergency obstetric care unit to a modern fire station with adequate technologies and firemen whose only task is to put out rapidly and efficiently all kinds of fires. Should that be our main objective or rather to study, analyze and expose what is causing so many fires all around us and fight their causes to reduce and possibly eliminate all fires ? |
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The ideal situation for a perfectly equipped and staffed fire station is never to have to go into action, to be ready to face the most disastrous fires, but to be idle most of the time thanks to intelligent preventive policies. True progress shall be judged, not by the expertise of these fire stations in their capacity to put out fires, but by the very few times they have to go into full action, ... or is it not ? |
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On the other hand, accepting the fact that some investment on building and maintenance of fire stations is necessary, what sort of investment is being dedicated to create the right atmosphere with the correct policies to prevent so many fires ? Have we not and still are we not putting the horses behind the carriage ? Is First World logic, mentality and expertise useful in solving Third World main problems ? Are maternal and infant mortality just two technical challenges ? |
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