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Geneva – Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, addressed the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations today to launch the Millennium Development Goals Report 2009, and call attention to the current economic crisis' affect on the poverty reduction goals. The report states that MDG 5 is the goal towards which least progress has been made thus far, and notes that since the mid-1990s, most developing countries have experienced a major reduction of donor funding for family planning on a per woman basis. The report also calls for greater political will to reduce maternal mortality, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, where negligible progress has been made so far.

Geneva – The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution today, 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.

United Nations – 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.

UNITED NATIONS — 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.