Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), in partnership with AstraZeneca, has embarked upon Suprabha Ganga Yatra, along the Ganges, to conduct health camps in over 100 cities to spread awareness of safe delivery and motherhood among rural women.

Suprabha Ganga Yatra is a nationwide intensive effort to spread awareness among the rural population throughout India by educating them on safe motherhood in their own local languages. The objective behind the Yatra is to make rural women aware of the services that are available at their disposal today.

Maternal Mortality is the most shocking and yet the most ignored public health problem across the world. The numbers are staggering - every year approx 600,000 women die of pregnancy-related causes globally and 99% of these deaths occur in developing countries. India alone accounts for 25% of these deaths, and has the third highest maternal mortality rate at 407 per 1,00,000 births, below Timor-Leste (800) and Nepal (415) in the South-East Asia region. Even countries like Thailand and Malaysia have a lower Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) than India.

As part of the Suprabha Ganga Yatra, FOGSI member doctors have been visiting villages along the Ganges, conducting health camps for women, with a special focus on younger women, educating them about reproductive health, vaccinating young girls with Rubella vaccine in order to protect them against German measles during pregnancy, giving basic medicines, iron and calcium tablets, etc.

The Suprabha Ganga Yatra is tied in closely with FOGSI's contribution to the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) launched by the Prime Minister in April 2005 to substantially reduce maternal and infant mortality from communicable diseases in the next four years.

The 2400 km walkathon has 30-40 FOGSI member doctors walking 20 kms daily along the Ganges starting from Gangasagar to Gaumukh and Gangotri.

"AstraZeneca has always been committed to its Safe Motherhood Campaign initiatives. In FOGSI's Suprabha Ganga Yatra, we saw a common platform that would help us reach out to our audiences in rural India. We are committed to our partnership with FOGSI in the pursuit towards our Safe Motherhood objectives in India," said Bhasker Iyer, Managing Director, AstraZeneca India Pvt. Ltd.