Oxfam Grenfell holds demonstration to bring awareness to death rates among pregnant women

Corner Brook - Five "pregnant" women died shortly after noon in the cafeteria at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College.

With balloons tucked under their shirts, one at a time, the five young women pretending to die, symbolized the one woman who does during pregnancy or childbirth in just over every minute, every day, in the world.

Oxfam Grenfell joined groups across Canada in conducting a flash mob - a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place to perform an unusual action for a brief time and then quickly disperse.

At Grenfell, five women were joined with a 1,400 piece paper link chain, and while information was read, each had their balloon popped a minute apart and they fell to the floor with a scream.

Kristen Pittman, creator of Oxfam Grenfell, said the event focused on the theme, all mothers deserve a safe delivery. She said the 1,400 women who die about every minute do so because of a lack of access to health care and 99 per cent of those are in developing countries.

In industrialized countries she said that death rate is one in 8,000; where as in developing countries it is one in 76.

"That's ridiculous," Pittman told The Western Star. "It is really not necessary."

There are two beliefs which one has to overcome in reaching local people - it doesn't impact people locally and what difference can they make.

"Here, people basically feel it doesn't affect us," Pittman said. "We are in Canada and we can go to the hospital when we are in labour and get health care.

"The truth is, we are all global citizens and their deaths affect us whether we want to believe that or not. When we are investing in a women's health, we are investing in a child's future."

She said a part of the millennium development goals was to reduce that death rate by 75 per cent by 2015. She said the date is nearing, yet the goal is nowhere close to being reached. Locally, she said it is time to put the pressure on the federal government to fulfill its commitment of giving .07 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to developing countries.

While she said people will listen and often provide signatures to petitions, they still don't understand how much it affects them directly.

"Really there is not enough awareness, people really don't know the statistics, they really don't know what is going on outside their own backyard," she said. "That's why we are here. I believe we can make a difference. We are the future and the next generation is the future, so of course we can make a difference."

For more information visit www.oxfam.ca or e-mail kepittman@swgc.mun.ca.