Updates

By: Stuart Halford, Advocacy Officer, International Planned Parenthood Federation

(This editorial reflects the thoughts and views of the author, and not necessarily those of the International Planned Parenthood Federation)

Late last year, Yemen, on behalf of the G77, and China put forward a resolution that was adopted by the General Assembly. The resolution entitled “Follow-up to the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014”extended the Programme of Action (PoA) and called for an United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) in 2014, to assess the status of ICPD’s implementation. It noted that the goals and objectives of the ICPD remained valid beyond 2014, but that many governments were still not on track to achieving them. Read more...

By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest

The Millennium Development Goals are set to expire in 2015, which means it's time to start looking ahead to what happens once they do. And looking back to see what good they've served. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon released a report in July, highlighting progress achieved toward the goals so far, including: Read more...

A Call for Engagement by the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Community

By: Alicia Ely Yamin is Director of the Program on the Health Rights of Women and Children at the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University. She served on the 2011 PMNCH Commitments Report advisory Panel.

It is understandable that the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) communities have generally maintained a critical distance from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) process, as MDG 5 represented a dramatic departure from the hard-won, holistic vision of reproductive health set out in the 1994 Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and reaffirmed in the subsequent Beijing Declaration. Read more...

By: Serra Sippel, President of the Center for Health and Gender Equity

The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadlines are coming up in 2014 and 2015 respectively, and will quickly pass. What will come next? Deadline extensions? A single health MDG? A combined solution of a new mechanism with new deadline? When it comes to maternal health—to women’s health—does this matter? 

Consider the ICPD goal of universal access to reproductive health through the primary health system by 2015. The goal was adopted in 2007 as a target for reaching MDG 5 on maternal health. Universal access to reproductive health through primary care is not merely access to contraceptive supplies, or safe delivery in pregnancy. Read more...

By: Mabel Bianco, President of Fundación para Estudio e Investigación de la Mujer – FEIM

Prior to the creation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and particularly MDG 5 (to improve maternal health), there were many international agreements for improving the status of all citizens, including those focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Although these international agreements, including the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), Programme of Action (PoA) and the Beijing Platform for Action (PfA), preceded the MDGs, the responsibilities and commitments to sexual and reproductive health and rights that governments and donors established are broader than those encompassed in MDG5 and 5B. Read more...

By: Maria Inés Romero (26, Paraguay) and Wieke Vink (20, the Netherlands), members of the Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights

This next blog in our series "2015+" is a conversation between two Youth Coalition members (ages 20 and 26) about youth sexual and reproductive rights and why they think it’s important to put young people at the heart of the next development agenda. Read more...

By: Susana Edjang, Project Manager for Every Woman Every Child effort in the United Nations’ Secretary-General’s Global Health Team

As people across the globe deliberate, whose perspective should be sought out and how can their participation be ensured?

I would like to think that everyone – no matter the background, gender, ethnic group or age – stops to think about the value of the lives of those mothers, sisters, friends, partners and daughters, and sons, that someone just like us loses unnecessarily every day due to preventable causes. The good news is that today we are doing more than just thinking or talking about it. The Every Woman Every Child effort, spear-headed by the UN Secretary-General, aims to ensure that we all work together and that our efforts towards saving and improving the lives of women and children, are better coordinated and enhanced putting into action the Global Strategy for Women and Children’s Health. Read more...

From time to time, we will step out of our sector to see what others are saying about post 2015 goals. This is a blog from Tim Crocker-Buqué of Generation Development, first published in August 2011. 

One of the many striking omissions from the current set of MDGs is no real consideration for the severe lack of healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, technicians, support workers, skilled birth attendants, pharmacists, therapists etc etc) in low and middle income countries. Even with aspirational targets that the current MDGs set, many of them (4, 5 & 6 especially, but arguably 1 and 3 as well) cannot be reached with the current shortage of healthcare workers. Read more...

From time to time, we will step out of our sector to see what others are saying about post 2015 goals. This is a blog from Camilla Toulmin of International Institute for Environment and Development, first published in June 2011.

IIED’s name brings together environment and development — both are essential for sustainability but they are often treated separately. Too often, we get bracketed as an environmental organisation rather than an organisation aiming for development that is consistent with long-term management of natural resources. Read more...

By: Dr. Frederick Torgbor Sai, a Ghanaian family health physician and honorary co-chair of Women Deliver 2010 conference

The eight MDGs are too well known to warrant repetition here. MDG 5 asked for a reduction of the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters between 2000 and 2015. Other goals related directly to MDG 5 are focused on child health, improvement in women’s status and the reduction of poverty. The attainment of all the other MDGs would also influence MDG 5, as would its attainment also impact all the others. Read more...

From time to time, we will step out of our sector to see what others are saying about post 2015 goals. This is a blog from Andy Sumner of Global Policy, first published in February 2011.

The debate on what, if anything might replace the MDGs in 2015 is starting to emerge. One might imagine three stylized options – more of the same, something that builds on the MDGs, or something completely new. Read more...

By: Gill Greer, Director-General of IPPF

In 2010, after too many years of neglect and denial, the value of womens and girls lives was finally recognised by Heads of State at the MDG summit, in the Muskoka G8 initiative, and in the Global Strategy for Womens and Childrens Health, Every Woman Every Child. Billions were pledged and promises made, by donor and partner governments, foundations, civil society, NGOs, professional groups and others. Yet two initiatives, which drove the largest commitments to womens and childrens health in many years and inspired optimism for a better world, came from outside the MDG and ICPD frameworks. But this is not surprising when we consider recent history. Read more...