HARBEL, Margibi – A two-day awareness campaign to reduce the rate of maternal mortality, teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections has taken place in Margibi County.

In March of this year, Front Page Africa reported that Margibi had the nation’s highest incidence of maternal mortality. Moreover, although the rate of women dying during childbirth has decreased since a peak of 994 deaths for every 100,000 live births, Liberia still has one of Africa’s highest maternal mortality rates.

The campaign, held on Sunday and Saturday, September 18 and 19 in Kakata and Harbel respectively, was organized by the Maternal Mortality Reduction Wagon in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

After the launch of the campaign in Harbel, the Executive Director of the Maternal Mortality Wagon, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said the nationwide campaign has already taken place in almost all fifteen counties in the country.

Fahnbulleh said it was time to put an end to maternal deaths, new sexually transmitted infection transmissions, and teenage pregnancy in Liberia.

She called on young people to join the fight to help create a safer and more progressive future.

“I want to call on especially you young people to join this fight in order to preserve a future that will be safe and more progressive for you,” she said.

Fahnbulleh encouraged particularly young girls to consider abstinence, the use of condoms, contraceptives and other means of family planning and medical prescriptions to avoid teenage pregnancy and STIs.

She also encouraged pregnant women to regularly visit nearby health facilities to prevent complications during delivery, which she said may also give room for birth related sicknesses and consequences.

Liberian Musician Eric Torh also called on citizens, especially those in the entertainment business, to help promote the campaign against maternal mortality.

Torh, popularly known as Eric Geso, called teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality detrimental to the future of the country and said proper mechanisms needed to be established to control it.

He also encouraged the media and those in the entertainment business, particularly the music and movie industries, to see the campaign as a cardinal tool in handling the situation.

Betty Konneh, a senior high school student in Harbel, praised the campaigners and promised to live by the cautions and help spread the message to others.

Featured photo by Caroline Gluck/Oxfam