As many of you know, the first Women Deliver conference in 2007 put MDG5 on the international development agenda. Now, the Women Deliver team is thinking about a second conference that would secure the commitments to ensure that MDGs 5, 4, 3, and 6 are met by 2015. This second conference, Women Deliver II, will be held in early September 2010 to precede the UN General Assembly Special Session on the MDGs scheduled later that month. The proceedings will send a strong message to the Heads of State that investment in women and girls is smart – it pays! We are planning to hold the conference in Washington DC, symbolizing the return of the United States as a strong partner in making maternal and reproductive health a global priority. Women Deliver II could move the dialogue to the global arena with two strong messages:

• The MDGs will not be achieved without investing in women.
• There is just enough time if the world commits funding now to achieve MDG5 — additional  US$10 billion annually by 2010 and US$20 billion by 2015.

Our idea: The conference will expand on Women Deliver’s hallmark of inclusivity, reaching out to new partners and new communities, especially those working with youth and in the Global South. The theme of the conference will be: Delivering solutions for girls and women: political, economic, social/cultural, and technical. At least one day will be devoted to technologies including new developments in contraception and other innovations that are saving lives and preventing injury or illness.

Speakers are likely to include high-level US and UN officials. Other participants will include First Ladies from around the globe, ambassadors, parliamentarians, and corporate leaders. Many of the same successful features of the first conference will be repeated and scheduled including the Ministers’ Forum, the Speakers’ Corner, and the scholarships for attendees from the Global South and youth. Plans are to (at least) double the number of scholarships, particularly from countries where MDG5 is languishing. It will also actively recruit participation from the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, YMCA and YWCA. Other events that are in the preliminary discussion stage are an authors’ night, a film festival, and photography competition to be followed by a global traveling exhibition. Also, several organizations have agreed to schedule meetings before or after Women Deliver II, including Countdown to 2015, PMNCH, and others.

We need your help to plan! What did you like or dislike about the first Women Deliver conference? What can we do better? And what suggestions do you have for a conference in 2010 – what are you eager to see, do and hear? (Feel free to comment anonymously.)

The International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights (IIMMHR) just released a publication called “The Missing Link: Applied Budget Work as a Tool to Hold Governments Accountable for Maternal Mortality Reduction Commitments.”

This report, co-authored with the International Budget Partnership, explores the relevance of civil society budget analysis and advocacy and its potential as a tool to hold governments accountable for their maternal mortality reduction commitments. In doing so, it discusses three recent examples of civil society groups engaged with budget analysis and advocacy: Fundar, Center for Analysis and Research in Mexico; Women’s Dignity in Tanzania; and the Center for Budget and Governance Accountability in India. The work of these organizations, and the lessons that we seek to draw from their experiences, underscore that the lack of real progress in reducing maternal mortality is unquestionably linked to the failure of governments to make maternal health a budgetary priority.

It’s time for governments to step up when it comes to prioritizing maternal health. And we know what it takes – an increased investment in maternal and newborn health by US$10 billion annually by 2010 and by an additional US$20 billion by 2015. The world loses $15 billion every year in productivity because of maternal and newborn mortality. Women are worth the investment!

Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out! I just read an article from AllAfrica.com about doctors in Ghana who have had to halt special prenatal home visits because road crash casualties are taking up so much of their time and scarce resources, medical workers say. According to the article, in March and April over 100 people died on one 15-kilometre stretch of road between the capital Accra and Winneba to the west, and road accidents are among the top causes of death in Ghana. Health workers in the area are having to divert their resources from maternal health initiatives to care for these critical injuries.

Though we know what works to prevent maternal deaths (4 Pillars), we also know that we need to increase the number of skilled attendants for maternal and newborn care. When there aren’t enough health workers to care for a country, women, and especially pregnant women, tend to fall to the bottom of the priority list. It’s important to set up strong health systems that can tackle all the problems within a country… and, in this instance, set up a national road safety plan that all citizen adhere to!

Yesterday, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution recognizing maternal death and illness as a pressing human rights concern. Over 70 UN member states (including the US) co-sponsored this resolution, led by Colombia and New Zealand.

Through the Human Rights Council resolution, governments recognize that the elimination of maternal mortality and morbidity requires the effective promotion and protection of women and girls’ human rights, including their rights to life; to be equal in dignity; to education; to be free to seek, receive, and impart information; to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress; to freedom from discrimination; and to enjoy the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including sexual and reproductive health.

“Adolescent girls and young women need greater access to information, education, services and resources that will empower them to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health, including contraceptive use, safe abortion, birth spacing, pre- and post- natal care, and management of pregnancy and childbirth related complications,” said Neha Sood, Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights’ member from India. “This resolution highlights the need for governments to promote and protect women and girls’ rights to seek and receive such information, education and services and have access to resources.”

Furthermore, the resolution stresses that a human rights-based approach makes efforts against maternal mortality and morbidity more effective and sustainable. The resolution commissions a study by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to examine the human rights dimensions of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity, and how the Council can contribute to addressing this problem.

Read the resolution on maternal mortality here.

Today, world leaders and international health experts agreed to an urgent action plan to save the lives of millions of mothers and newborns at a luncheon hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Foreign Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre. The plan comes as the global economic crisis – having previously affected mainly rich countries – is plunging millions more of the world’s most vulnerable people into extreme poverty. Get more info at Women Deliver news.

The USAID | Health Policy Initiative, Task Order 1, is implementing an important training event to build the capacity of women leaders to reinvigorate family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH) programs, funding and policies within their communities and countries. The initiative will conduct WomenLead in Repositioning Reproductive Health on September 7 - 25, 2009, in Washington, D.C. WomenLead, a training program designed by CEDPA, is intended for early to mid-career women currently working to promote quality, gender sensitive reproductive health programs in civil society, government and political sectors. The workshop will provide participants with cutting edge technical updates; training on leadership, advocacy, and strategic communication; and opportunities to add their voices to the public dialogue on family planning and reproductive health. Women with the passion and capacity to give voice to FP/RH policy dialogue, should fill out the application. Applications are limited to the following priority countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Haiti, India (U.P.) and Pakistan. The deadline for receipt of applications is June 25, 2009.

Good luck to everyone!

Of all public health measures, maternal mortality rates show the greatest level of disparity. In a fantastic op-ed in the Boston Globe, Mary Robinson and Alicia Yamin, advisory council members of the International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights, discuss the issue of preventable maternal deaths as a violation of women’s rights. As the article mentions, 85 countries have called upon the Human Rights Council to take decisive action to contribute to the existing efforts to address maternal mortality. But, the slow progress can be attributed to lack of will. As the authors say:

The reason that women are still dying is because women’s lives are not valued, because their voices are not listened to, and because they are discriminated against and excluded in their communities and by healthcare systems that fail to prioritize their needs.

As Graça Machel mentioned in the video we posted yesterday, it’s time for governments to step up and recognize that women should have the right to a healthy and safe pregnancy and birth. What are some of your ideas to make this a reality?

Akimbo, the blog for the International Women’s Health Coalition, just posted a fantastic video interview with Graça Machel, a renowned advocate for women’s and children’s rights. In the video she talks about women’s lack of rights and equality around the world. She says: “Governments believe that women can wait. Even if women are dying.” We know what to do to save over 500,000 women a year who die during pregnancy and childbirth. We just need the political will to do it. 

Machel goes on to say: “Sexuality education is not a luxury. It’s a must. If you want your child, a boy or a girl, to have a healthy life, to be able to make the right choices, and to have a long life, then, as a parent, you have to talk to your child about sexuality. We have to empower young people to know and be comfortable to make the right choices.”

This year, the United Nations Population Award recognized the work of a Nicaraguan non-governmental organization, Movimiento Comunal Nicaragüense, and an Egyptian doctor, Mahmoud Fahmy Fathalla, for outstanding contributions to population concerns and their solutions. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the 2009 award on June 1st, and praised the winners’ work in helping mothers and the rural poor to claim their right to health. In his acceptance speech, Dr. Fathalla said:

When women are empowered to make choices, even the poor and illiterate women, whom I know best, will make the right choices for themselves, for their families, for their communities, for their countries and for the world at large.

Head to the Women Deliver latest news to find out more about the award ceremony.

To the Editor: The May 29 editorial, Preventable Deaths notes little progress in the last decade on reducing maternal mortality - 500,000 deaths annually, 99% in developing countries. Low-tech, cost effective solutions exist, but the funding and political commitment to prevent these deaths do not. An often overlooked fact is that women are truly an economic force and the backbone of production in developing countries.  Two thirds of all goods moved in African are moved by women, not in trucks or buses, but in their arms and on their heads. And, 80% of the food consumed in Africa is produced by the African farmer and HER husband. The media has a key role in making this message heard and accepted. The Times is to be commended for taking the lead. Women Deliver. Invest in women, it pays! 

-Jill Sheffield, Women Deliver