The Health Ministry has launched a health promotion campaign focusing on safe motherhood, in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals which call for the island's maternal mortality rate to be reduced by 75 per cent by 2015

The move is part of its strategic plan for the period 2007 to 2011, which focuses on all the components of safe motherhood, including an enabling policy environment, quality care, surveillance and health promotion. However, deliberately absent is family planning, as there is a specific strategic plan for the same period.

"We are guided by the Millennium Development Goals and goal number five, which asks countries to reduce by 75 per cent the maternal mortality ratio. For Jamaica what that means is that we should end up with a maternal mortality ratio of about 25 by the year 2015. We are currently 95 per 100,000 live births," Dr Karen Lewis-Bell, director of Family Health Services at the Ministry of Health said.

So far, as part of the campaign, the ministry has revised the "take home" maternal record, which was previously a sheet of paper that informed about a current pregnancy, minus the information regarding previous pregnancies.

"We have revised this into a booklet that has provisions for continuity of care for up to three pregnancies. We chose three pregnancies because our fertility rate is 2.4, so what that means is on average, women have 2.4 live births throughout their lifetime," she explained, adding that the ministry was in no way promoting three or four pregnancies for women.

What the ministry desires is to provide adequate information to women for them to make informed choices about their care. Therefore, included in the book is an "act now card". Initially, this card was given to high risk pregnant women, however, the decision was taken to make it available within the maternal booklet to all pregnant women.

In addition to the booklet, the ministry has developed a poster, stressing preparation for the birth of a child as it relates to antenatal care. A video has also been developed looking at preparing for pregnancy and what women and their partners should do.

Public service announcements will also be a part of the mix, speaking to the danger signs during pregnancy; the signs of the onset of labour as well as the high-risk conditions that women need to be aware of for pregnancy; and the need to plan and space pregnancies.

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