A campaign spokesperson actor-musician Irina Björklund is touring Finland this summer. You can support PUSH by checking out any of the following performances since she has dedicated a tour to the campaign and will donate a part of ticket sales to maternal health projects. Also, keep an eye out for her interview on PUSH in Ilta-Sanomat, the leading tabloid in Finland.
Irina’s Finnish tour dates:
11.7. Viitasaari/Traktorijatzit 19:00
13. - 15.7. Kaustinen/Kansanmusiikkifestivaalit
16.7. Tampere/Pyhäjärviristeily 19:00
18.7. Helsinki/Juttutupa 21:00
20.7. Sarfsalö/Ljungars 17:00
22.7. Helsinki/Kuudes Linja (time TBA)
24.7. Pietarsaari/After Eight 20:00
G-8 leaders will meet in Japan next week to discuss global priorities and later, in September, decision-makers will gather again in New York to review progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, of which UNFPA is a member, is providing the public an opportunity to tell these leaders that, alongside climate change and the other international issues, the health of mothers and children matters. Please click on this link to help PUSH the message through:
http://www.countdown2015mnch.org/g8/
More info:
http://www.g8summit.go.jp/eng/
The MyPUSH Facebook Group has nearly exceeded 2000 members, with more people joining every day. It has proven to be an effective tool in raising awareness and sharing information. The group has also been used as a launching pad for the Preggers application.
PUSH for Change is seeking to raise awareness of maternal health through new means and to new audiences. The campaign has hence launched one of the first ever non-for-profit applications on the popular social networking site Facebook. The application, called Preggers, allows people to impregnate friends virtually while rising in the ranks of the maternal health ‘tribe’ through the spread of the message to friends. The tool can be downloaded through the PUSH site.
Facebookkiin luotu uusi Preggers-sovellus
PUSH for Change -kampanja kasvattaa tietoisuutta äitiysterveydestä uusien kanavien kautta. Kampanja onkin lanseerannut ensimmäisen hyväntekeväisyyssovelluksen Facebookissa. ”Preggers”-sovelluksella on mahdollista tehdä ystäviä virtuaaliraskaaksi. Mitä enemmän lähetät Preggers-viestejä ystävillesi, sitä korkeammalle nousee statuksesi. Yhdeksän viikon ”raskauden” aikana saat tietoa raskauden etenemisestä. Samalla saat tietoa siitä, minkälaisia riskejä liittyy raskauteen kehitysmaissa. Sovellus on ladattavissa PUSH-sivustolta.
The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Paavo Väyrynen, has notified campaign partners that he will personally receive the PUSH appeal on international UN Day celebrated on October 24. The aim of the appeal is to gather 25,000 signatures in support of maternal health in developing countries.
Paavo Väyrynen vastaanottaa vetoomuksen henkilökohtaisesti
Suomen ulkomaankauppa- ja kehitysministeri Paavo Väyrynen on ilmoittanut ottavansa PUSH-vetoomuksen vastaan henkilökohtaisesti YK:n päivänä 24. lokakuuta. Vetoomukseen aiotaan kerätä tätä ennen kymmeniä tuhansia nimiä.
Push spokesperson Irina Björklund hosted an awareness raising event for the campaign in her home town in Los Angeles on May 14. The event took place at the residence of the Consul of Finland in Bel Air. Over one hundred guests gathered to hear about maternal health and the campaign. “Half a million women die due to pregnancy and childbirth every year. It doesn’t have to be this way” Katja Iversen from UNFPA told the audience. Irina also performed for guests and a video of the evening highlights will be posted on the PUSH site shortly.
Irina Björklund Järjesti Push For Change -tilaisuuden kotikaupungissaan,
Kampanjan keulakuva Irina Björklund järjesti kotikaupungissaan Los Angelesissa Push for Change -tilaisuuden. Yli sata vierasta kokoontui Suomen konsuli Manu Virtamon Bel Airin residenssiin kuulemaan äitiysterveydestä ja kampanjasta. ”Joka vuosi puoli miljoonaa naista kuolee raskaudesta johtuviin syihin. Asian ei tarvitse olla niin”, totesi Katja Iversen UNFPAsta. Tilaisuuden aikana kuultiin myös Irinan esiintyvän. Video illan kohokohdista tulee PUSH-sivustolle pian.
The campaign gained visibility across Helsinki as teams promoted maternal health at both the World Village Festival and Women’s 10K run. The PUSH appeal was signed by around a thousand people over the course of the weekend. The appeal will be presented to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, Paavo Väyrynen, on international UN Day, October 24.
PUSH-vetoomukseen saatiin tuhat allekirjoitusta 24-25.5 2008
PUSH-kampanja sai runsain mitoin näkyvyyttä Helsingissä sekä Maailma kylässä -festivaaleilla että Naisten kymppi -tapahtumassa, joihin kampanja ”jalkautui”. Viikonlopun aikana vetoomuksen allekirjoitti yli tuhat ihmistä. Vetoomus luovutetaan YK-päivänä 24.10 ulkomaankauppa- ja kehitysministeri Paavo Väyryselle.
PUSH-campaign champion, Irina Björklund, has announced that she will dedicate her Finnish July tour to the campaign. Irina will be touring through out Finland with her music partner Peter Fox and will donate part of ticket sales both from the tour and cds sold directly to PUSH. For more on dates and venues go to: www.myspace.com/irinabjorklund.
Irina Björklundin kiertue starttaa 11.7!
PUSH-kampanjan
keulakuva Irina Björklund on ilmoittanut omistavansa heinäkuisen Suomen
kiertueensa kampanjalle. Irina esiintyy ympäri Suomea säestäjänsä Peter Foxin
kanssa. Irina lahjoittaa osan kiertue- ja levytuotoistaan suoraan kampanjalle.
Katso keikkakalenteri osoitteesta: www.myspace.com/irinabjorklund.
Fatima’s story illustrates the dire consequences a mother’s death has for her family and her community. She and her husband Ahmed already had nine children and were barely surviving on his salary as a security guard when she became pregnant again. He nearly lost his job taking care of the family during her difficult pregnancy. Then Fatima died giving birth to twin boys in a Kabul hospital. Because Afghanistan’s shattered health care system multiplies their lifetime risks, one in every six Afghan women will die in this way, from complications of pregnancy and childbirth.
Fatima’s hospital expenses put Ahmed deeper into debt, so he took their 13-year-old son out of school to work. The twins had to be fed on goats’ milk and expensive infant formula and they were often ill with diarrhea or acute respiratory infections, the most common killers of infants worldwide. The family’s 11-year-old daughter was taken out of school to care for them. At seven months, the smaller twin died of a respiratory infection.
Ahmed remarried, adding to his debt and poverty, so he married off his oldest daughter when she turned 13. She became pregnant at 15, before her body was ready, and suffered an agonizing obstructed labour. Her baby was born brain-damaged and she was left with an obstetric fistula, an opening between her vagina and bladder that made her incontinent. The resulting wetness and odor caused her acute humiliation. Her husband abandoned her, and she had to return to her father’s home to continue a life of poverty.
on Personal Stories – Maternal Health - Gul Bano, Pakistan