Offline: Naming and shaming

Abstract

“We are killing thousands of women”, said one participant at the Pledges to Action for maternal, newborn, and child health conference in Delhi last week. She was furious that the meeting was not discussing the quality of care given to women and children. The gathering was part of the UN Secretary General’s global strategy on MDGs 4 and 5. Well over 8 million mothers and their children die of preventable causes worldwide each year. November 14 was Children’s Day in India and also the birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the founding spirits of modern India. There is an alarming schism between what Indian politicians say and what they do. The Minister of Health, Ghulam Nabi Azad, claimed that “India pledges its commitment to achieve the MDG health goals within the timeframe of 2015”. Yet over 5000 children under 5 die each day in India. The President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, said she was “conscious of this enormous challenge”. Newspapers regularly note lack of government action on maternal and child health. One report last weekend described how the Prime Minister’s National Council on nutrition had not met for two years.