I just found out that Arianna Huffington will be the moderator of my panel, “Moving Beyond Rhetoric to Improve Women’s Lives.” I love reading the Huffington Post during the week, especially their Women’s Health and Millennium Development Goals coverage, and I’m really looking forward to hearing her ideas and opinions on our topic. (By the way, their Maternal Health category could use a few more posts!)
Along with Arianna Huffington, I’ll be speaking on the panel with Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director, UNFPA, and Gill Greer, Director General, International Planned Parenthood Foundation. There will also be two first ladies: H.E. Mrs. Sia Nyama Koroma, First Lady of Sierra Leone, and H.E. Mrs. Penehupifo Pohamba, First Lady of Namibia.
During our panel, we’re going to talk about solutions. After 20 years of research in maternal health, we know what to do to end maternal mortality and morbidity. So now is the time to act. As I’m planning to say in my speech, “The women of Africa carry on their heads or in their arms two-thirds of all the goods that are transported anywhere in Africa. Not trucks or planes, but women.” Just imagine what it means for each country’s economy to loose so many women and mothers. We know what to do – Invest in Women, It Pays!
Stay tuned for the full speech next week.
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