Women Deliver's president and CEO, Jill Sheffield, was interviewed for a report on investing in girls and women. The article asks the question: What will it take to reduce global maternal mortality? Answer: We need an international commitment to give women access to the services and care they need. Read the full report.
Updates
Pfizer Supports Women Deliver and the MDGs
October 4th, 2010
By: Paula R. DeCola, Senior Director, External Medical Affairs, Pfizer, Inc
Prior to the UN General Assembly’s special session on MDG’s, Women Deliver hosted an event with UN agencies and delegates, government officials, foundations, as well as corporate and nonprofit leaders. “Accelerating Action on the MDGs: Delivering for Women, Girls, and Babies” took place at the Waldorf Astoria. I learned that day that although it is recognized as a locus for high society social events, its Park Avenue location once was home to a fistula hospital. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Midwives and Misoprostol in Afghanistan
October 4th, 2010
By: Mariko Rasmussen, Program Assistant at Women Deliver
Badakhshan Province along the Northern border of Afghanistan is an impoverished, isolated, and remote mountainous region. There are few passable roads, and areas of unrest, making it dangerous to get health care, and difficult to get help to villages. The region is experiencing some of the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. But Afghans are trying to change that. The solution? Midwives. NPR reported August 29 on the impact of an initiative to recruit and train midwives in rural Afghanistan. Read more...
New Findings on Official Development Assistance to Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
October 1st, 2010
A new report published in The Lancet reveals that Official Development Assistance (ODA) in support of maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) programs increased in 2007 and 2008, yet concerns persist over how countries are prioritized. ODA for MNCH programs increased from $4.7 billion in 2007 to $5.4 billion in 2008 for all developing countries, with Countdown priority countries receiving 71.6% of MNCH aid in 2007, and 75.6% in 2008. Increased flows of ODA are in large part due to the efforts emerging from the Accra Agenda for Action and the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which also called for a larger proportion of MNCH ODA to be disbursed as grants, not loans. Read more...
Human Rights Council Passes Resolution on Maternal Health
October 1st, 2010
The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for urgent action to curb maternal death. The Human Rights Council reaffirmed that pregnancy-related deaths and injuries are a human rights issue, and therefore human rights must be integrated into maternal health policies and programs. In addition, the Council called for disaggregated data collection and the adoption of national-level targets and indicators in order to identify and address underlying causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. Ninety-five countries co-sponsored the resolution. Read more...