The Women Deliver initiative was launched at a conference held in London from 18-20 October 2007 to mark the 20th anniversary of global efforts to reduce high rates of maternal and newborn death and disability in the developing world.
The global Safe Motherhood Initiative aimed to cut maternal deaths worldwide by half. Two decades of study and experience later, we know how to save lives. WOMEN DELIVER unites diverse sectors to act on that knowledge NOW.
Click here to read more about the Safe Motherhood Initiative.
The Women Deliver conference shared lessons learned and intensified efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with MDG5, improving maternal health, at the center. The conference cemented the core strategies for improving maternal health;
Maternal health was reframed as a basic human right and an integral strategy for achieving just development, reducing poverty, and ensuring environmental sustainability.
New Allies
New allies from the fields of education, human rights, poverty reduction and youth advocacy joined the maternal and newborn health community to build momentum for action. They agreed to mobilize political will and resources on behalf of women, not only as mothers but as critical contributors to their families and nations.
The Advocacy Initiative
The Women Deliver initiative builds on the commitments, partnerships, and networks mobilized at the conference to strengthen and sustain political commitment and investment for MDG5 at global, regional, and national levels to improve maternal and newborn health and ensure universal access to reproductive health.
Specifically, it will:
- Mobilize donors and priority governments to increase financial investments for maternal and newborn health by an additional $5 billion annually by 2010 and by an additional $8 billion annually by 2015
- Mobilize and strengthen the capacity of civil society institutions in Africa, Asia, and LAC to promote supportive maternal and newborn health policies and strategies from 2008-2015
- Strengthen the implementation of supportive maternal and newborn health policies and strategies by donors, priority governments, and maternal health and development institutions from 2008-2015
How will it work?
Women Deliver links with and supports like-minded efforts and alliances to promote action on maternal and newborn health within the maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) continuum of care. It will draw on and energize civil society groups in developing countries, and other allies in the developed and the developing worlds, including legislators, media, health workers and corporations. A broad-based, multi-sectoral Steering Committee guides the implementation of the Women Deliver initiative. Family Care International is the Organizing Partner.
What will it do?
Women Deliver engages with influential policy makers and budget planners from donor country and developing governments, multi-lateral agencies, and foundations to mobilize increased funding allocations for maternal health. Efforts also focus on building and strengthening synergies between health and other sectors that are critical to women’s survival and well-being, their equality, and their leadership.
Selected strategies and activities include:
- Engaging with influential policy makers leading up to and during key global events, such as the July 2008 G8 Summit in Japan, and the September 2008 UN General Assembly in New York;
- Carrying out press and media outreach in key donor and developing country outlets on maternal health as a development and human rights issue;
- Monitoring by civil society groups of policy and budget allocations for maternal and newborn health in select countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean;
- Supporting maternal health and development institutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean to promote the three core strategies to improve maternal and newborn health;
- Cultivating celebrity and VIP champions to exert influence with high-level decision makers to invest in maternal health;
- Engaging leaders and activists to address and advocate for maternal health within related sectors in health and development
- Convening an UNGASS on maternal health in 2012.
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