Draft Strategy on "Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality" – Open for Comments

Recently, the WHO’s Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) Working Group released a draft paper which is designed to help set consensus and strategies for maternal and neonatal health in the post-2015 agenda. The draft paper “Strategies toward ending preventable maternal mortality” is now online and open for discussion through the World Health Organization (WHO) website. A companion piece to the Every Newborn Action Plan, the paper is the result of efforts by WHO’s Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (EPMM) Working Group to address the direct and indirect causes of maternal mortality and morbidity in a post-Millennium Development Goals world...

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PMHCH 2014 Partners’ Forum begins in Johannesburg, South Africa:

Now it is in our hands

The 2014 Partners’ Forum for the Partnership on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) opened today in Johannesburg, with delegates gathered to consider all that still needs to be done in the next 500 days for women’s and children’s health.

Following video messages from former US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton and Ban Ki Moon, United Nations Secretary General, Mrs Graça Machel, PMNCH Chair and African Ambassador for A Promised Renewed, opened the Forum saying “we come with a united message that the needless deaths of women, newborns and children must stop“. She spoke of the importance of using this moment to draw on the lessons learned from the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to date and in looking forward to the next 500 days ahead. She remarked that contributions from unique partnerships such as PMNCH as well as individual contribution and accountability are vital and urged participants to create a social pact to save every single life possible in every single country. “We must do more and we must do better”, she said, “we must push and push then push some more, we have 500 days, every day accounts, every action counts and every life counts”.

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Call for submissions for Human Rights Council report on maternal mortality and morbidity

In the fall of 2012, the UN Human Rights Council adopted resolution 21/6 entitled ‘Preventable Maternal Mortality and Morbidity and Human Rights’ – the fourth annual resolution on this issue.  Resolution 21/6 welcomed the technical guidance (TG) on the application of a human rights-based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce preventable maternal mortality and morbidity developed by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) with deep engagement of and input from civil society.  The TG is attached – it is an excellent resource for advocacy and cooperation with governments towards improving maternal health and indeed realizing sexual and reproductive rights more broadly. 

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High-Level Commission on Life-saving Commodities for Women and Children

President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria. Source: WikipediaUNICEF and UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, have launched a High-Level Commission on Life-saving Commodities for Women and Children, as part of the Every Woman, Every Child movement to support achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Co-Chairs will be President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway and other members will include global stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake and UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin are its Vice-Chairs.

“Making sure that women and children have the medicines and other supplies they need is critical for our push to achieve the MDGs,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “The Commission will tackle an overlooked but vital aspect of health systems, and ensure that women and children are protected from preventable causes of death and disease.”

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway. Source: WikipediaThe Commission will pursue the following outcomes:

• Reducing financial barriers to access through social protection mechanisms, such as fee waivers, vouchers and social insurance, and global financial mechanisms, such as pooled procurement;
• Creating incentives for international and local manufacturers to produce and innovatively package overlooked supplies;
• Identifying fast-track regulatory activities to accelerate registration and reduce registration fees for a special list of products to encourage a focus on quality medicines.

 
For more information on the Commission, visit www.everywomaneverychild.org/resources/un-commission-on-life-saving-commodities.

IPU adopts resolution on the Health of Women and Children

At its 126th Assembly in Kampala, Uganda, 31 March to 5 April 2012, the Inter-Parliamentary Union adopted a resolution on ‘Access to Health as a Basic Right: The Role of Parliaments in Addressing Key Challenges to Securing the Health of Women and Children’.

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Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development

Round II Request for Applications

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