Home > Programmes > Maternal Health and Rights > Events

Maternal Health and Rights - Events

Public Hearing on the Quality of Care in Maternal Health in Uttar Pradesh

On 31 August 2009, the Mahila Swasthya Adhikar Manch and Healthwatch Forum organized a Public Hearing on the Quality of Care in Maternal Health Services in Uttar Pradesh. Eight testimonies were presented before 350 participants and the Citizen's Panel, which included Ms Shabana Azmi the renowned ex-MP and film and theatre personality, Ms Subhashini Ali the ex-MP and leader of AIDWA, Ms Shahira Naim senior journalist of The Tribune, Ms Arundhati Dhuru the UP Advisor to the Commissioner on Right to Food and lawyer Ms Shruti Pandey. Also present were seven health officials from the government and the media.

The event was an opportunity for the MSAM women leaders to share their cases, their perspectives and analysis, as well as their recommendations, before many eminent personalities and the media. Having read and reflected on the book, Haq aur Haqeeqat that had true stories of women’s experiences with quality of maternal health care, MSAM women leaders had come up with a set of recommendations for the health Minister to improve quality of care. There was good media coverage in print and on local TV, as well as an article in a national daily. The government health officials responded positively to the information shared about cases and quality of care: they promised to take immediate steps and some improvements were immediately noticed

Public Dialogue on the right to Maternal Health in Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, 28 May 2009

On the occasion of 28 May, the International Day of Action on Women’s Health, the Healthwatch Forum and Mahila Swasthya Adhikar Manch (MSAM) of Uttar Pradesh, organized a Public Dialogue on the Right to Maternal Health. The Dialogue attempted to establish maternal death as a human rights violation, and brought together around 300 participants, including eminent members of civil society, 40 partners and allied organizations of the Healthwatch Forum in UP, around 40 lawyers and media persons, and 200 women leaders of the MSAM from ten districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The human rights violations inherent in maternal death incidents were brought out through nine testimonies from different districts, including seven cases of death and two of severe illness related to maternity. These were analyzed by a Legal Rapporteur before the panel of eminent citizens, including the editor of a prominent newspaper, a woman ex-MP, a member of the Advisory Group on Community Action in the NRHM (Government of India), an Advisor to the Supreme Court Commission on the Right to Food, and a representative from the State Human Rights Commission. Additionally there was a presentation on the secondary data from Uttar Pradesh, showing why deaths are most likely to occur here.

Recent National Events - 2009

22 April 2009, New Delhi: SAHAYOG facilitated the national sharing meeting of the draft report - Glimpses of institutional maternity care – some food for thought on April 22, 09 at New Delhi. This study was a year-long voluntary collaboration by NGOs and researchers to understand women's experiences with attempting to seek institutional care. The documents of the sharing meeting are here -

21 April 2009, New Delhi: As part of Healthwatch Forum and the Steering Group for ICPD+15 Review, SAHAYOG helped to organize a Civil Society Dialogue for Action towards realizing the Right to Maternal Health in India on 21 April at New Delhi. The documents of the meeting -

2007 - Civil Society Meeting on Maternal Mortality in India with Paul Hunt, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health

Paul Hunt, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, visited India between November 22nd and December 3, 2007 to learn about and report on the issue of maternal mortality. In order to share information about the status of maternal health and maternal mortality in other states of India, Healthwatch Forum, in partnership with WHRAP, CHSJ, the Coalition on Maternal Neonatal Health and Safe Abortion, and several other organizations convened a Civil Society Meeting with the Special Rapporteur and his team. The meeting, which was held on 1 December, 2007 in Delhi, brought together over 35 advocates, researchers and experts working on the issue of maternal health and maternal mortality across India. In addition, materials created for this meeting included input from over 50 civil society members working on maternal health in India.

During the meeting, civil society representatives from eight states, including 4 lower-performing and 4 better-performing, gave presentations on the situation of maternal health and maternal mortality at the state level. There were also three thematic presentations and a list of recommendations for reducing maternal mortality and improving maternal health in India.

For more information about this event, read the report in on the Resources page.

2005 - Voices from the Ground

SAHAYOG, along with partners CHETNA and CHSJ, organised national policy dialogues among community women, the media, the Planning Commission (GOI), the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (GOI), UN agencies and other networks. The event, called “Voices from the Ground,” was held in Delhi from 27-29 December, 2005 and was attended by 100 participants (not counting the media) from 8 states of India and international partners from ARROW, Malaysia.

2005 - North Zonal Preparatory Meeting for IWHM

In April 2005, SAHAYOG organised the North Zonal regional consultation for the 10th International Women’s Health Conference. The consultation was attended by 100 participants from five states. This was preceded by a Press Conference to launch the event that was attended by 22 media persons and gained considerable media interest in the event.