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Press Release

For Immediate Release
Wednesday, June 16, 2010

STM_PressRelease_June16_2010_G8.pdf

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INTERNATIONAL MATERNAL HEALTH EXPERT TO G8 YOUTH SUMMIT: “The key is to work with indigenous leaders.”

HAMILTON, ON — The future well-being of developing nations depends on how the next generation of global leaders partners with those nations to tackle the scourge of maternal deaths, says the G8 Youth Summit’s keynote speaker.

“The key is to work with indigenous leaders,” said Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese, founding director of Save the Mothers International. “That brings sustainable change. It’s not just Westerners going in, saying, ‘This is how it’s done.’ We need
to develop key partnerships on-the-ground.”

The Canadian obstetrician from Hamilton, Ontario, is invited as a G8 keynote speaker in Muskoka, on June 24, because of her global expertise and innovative approach to maternal care through Save the Mothers. She founded the program as a Canadian-Ugandan partnership in 2005.

For eight months a year, Chamberlain Froese lives and works in Uganda, Africa, where an estimated 6,000 mothers die annually in “the war” of childbirth. Save the Mothers helps address the crisis by training Ugandan professionals including parliamentarians, journalists and educators.

And while some reports indicate maternal deaths may be reducing in some developing nations, tomorrow’s leaders will need to take more initiative than ever to save the world’s most vulnerable mothers and children, adds Chamberlain Froese.

“We welcome news if maternal deaths are down in some regions. But we need to continue to work diligently to ensure every pregnant mother gets the care she needs, regardless of her geography or economic state. These G8 Youth are young men and women from strategic countries with a great chance in their lifetime to save mothers and children, to reduce deaths that are preventable.”

She adds, “There is such a great need for leadership on this issue, not only from the world’s more privileged countries, but also from within developing countries. This leadership needs to encompass all the social and cultural issues around unsafe motherhood.”

The British medical journal The Lancet recently reported that there may be as few as 342,900 maternal deaths in the developing world annually, a dramatic drop from the previously estimated 526,300. The drop, however, relates in part
to different statistical methods used. And maternal and child death rates in sub-Saharan Africa remain stubbornly high, up to 100 times more than in a G8 country like Canada.

Chamberlain Froese’s G8 address follows several speaking and media engagements she’s had while recently in Canada. In addition to being featured on Canadian national radio and television, she’s been the subject of several newspaper features and commentaries, all part of a recent wave of coverage that Canada’s media is giving to maternal and child health in the developing world.

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FACT SHEET

Dr. Jean Chamberlain Froese

• Recipient in 2009 of the prestigious Teasdale-Corti Humanitarian Award, presented by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
• Author of the award-winning book _Where Have all the Mothers Gone?_
• Founded Save the Mothers in 2005. Lives in Uganda 8 months a year. Previously worked for five years in Yemen. Also worked for shorter stints in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Pakistan.
• While in these countries, realized that rather than top-down, macro approaches, the best way to bring sustainable change is by working with local leaders and innovators.
• When in Canada for 4 months a year, based at McMaster University, where she is an assistant professor and co-chairs the International Women’s Health Program.
• Married to author and journalist Thomas Froese. Has three children ages 4-7.

Save the Mothers

• Its training centre is at Uganda Christian University, near Uganda’s capital, Kampala.
• The program, a Masters in Public Health Leadership, trains medical and non-medical professionals to bring grassroots change to their culture.
• More than 120 Ugandan leaders, including parliamentarians, journalists and educators, have entered or graduated from the program since 2005.
• Results include four Ugandan Parliamentarians, Save the Mothers graduates, moving to block a Ugandan national budget until more was put in for maternal health.
• Plans to expand to other developing nations, starting across East Africa, and then to countries in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East.

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More information and Interviews

For more information, including national news video features on Save the Mothers, please visit www.savethemothers.org

To schedule an interview with Dr. Chamberlain Froese:

Contact: Denise Lodde, Save the Mothers media contact
Phone: 905-220-2533 (mobile)
Email: dlodde@savethemothers.org, dlodde@hotmail.com

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