(DFID) London women compare themselves to Kenya's motorbike mums

With Mother's Day fast approaching and mums in London are looking forward to being given chocolates, breakfast-in-bed or homemade cards, the Department for International Development (DFID) wants to show how people in London have helped save lives in places where simply becoming a mother is fraught with danger.

Whereas mums in London are concerned about getting pain relief while giving birth or getting to the hospital on time, women in Nyanza province, in Kenya, worry about their babies surviving in an area where one in five children do not live to see their fifth birthday. Figures also show that 560 women per 100,000 in Kenya (rising to 1,000 in some parts of Kenya's Nyanza province) die during pregnancy, in childbirth or postnatal period. This compares to eight per 100,000 for the UK.

A new YouGov poll, reveals that 27 per cent of women in London were 'very worried' about not being able to lose their 'baby-weight', and 40 per cent said they were concerned about the impact the patter of tiny feet would have on their finances.

For pregnant women in Nyanza Province, just getting to the hospital can pose huge problems, with many needing to walk for more than an hour whilst in labour to get medical care at the local hospital.

In Kenya though, with DFID's assistance and the help of the British taxpayer, innovative solutions are being found to local problems, such as paying for a motorbike ambulance which is helping to save lives in a rural area.

A motorbike-ambulance operates in Nyanza Province and is fitted with a sidecar, which is used to transport women to their nearest maternity hospital. This 200cc motorbike-ambulance, which is specially built for negotiating rough rural terrain, has a specially constructed padded sidecar, in which a patient can lie down safely strapped in. The motorbike-ambulance collects women from the lakeside villages, meaning mum and baby have a much better chance of survival.

Financial worries after the birth are much less of an issue than the fact that 30 per cent of new mums in Nyanza province worry about not being able to easily access good maternity care.

One penny in every UK tax pound goes towards helping the poorest countries and funds projects such as DFID's Essential Health Services programme, providing pre-natal and postnatal care for mothers and babies in Nyanza Province. A health centre building is currently being refurbished as a maternity wing and is due to open in May.

Douglas Alexander, International Development Secretary said:

"Women's health is critical to a country's future. When a mother dies in childbirth everyone suffers - her child, her family and her community.

"That's why DFID makes improving maternal health in developing countries such a priority - from training for nurse-midwives, as I saw for myself in Kisumu in Kenya, to funding clinics, ambulances, immunisation programmes and health education."

Mary Atieno, 24, from Gwassa in Nyanza Province, is due to have her child on Mother's Day. She is considering naming her baby Doreen - after the senior midwife at Magunga. Mrs Atieno says:

"I'm not worried now about any problems - I'll come to the hospital and anything can be sorted out. The sister knows how to make everything all right."

Judith Awuma, 22, is attending the post-natal clinic with her six week old son, Joseph:

"We came to hospital because we know it's safer - my grandmother wanted me to stay in the village, but I said no. You can be helped in the hospital if there are complications. It was my first pregnancy, and I wanted everything to go right."