Updates

By: Janna Oberdorf, Communications Manager for Women Deliver; originally posted at MHTF Blog

These are two things I’m very proud of. I’m proud to be young (or at least young-ish) and passionate about women and mothers. I’m proud that when I see images of women giving birth in low-quality health facilities, I want to yell at the world. I’m proud that the first time I learned what fistula is, I wanted to smash my computer screen and say, “Why didn’t I even know about this before?” This is a fight that I’m ready and willing to take – the fight for mothers around the world.

But why are there so few young people involved in maternal health, at the research level, at the advocacy level, and at the policy level?

By: Janna Oberdorf, Communications Manager for Women Deliver; originally posted at the MHTF Blog

At today’s session on “Policy and advocacy tools” at the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010, panelists presented on web-based and new media options for disseminating maternal health research and messages. Though online technology is an often-untapped resource for the maternal health field, the panelists laid out specific ideas and strategies that have the potential to catalyze policy change.

"Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health," a report released in late 2009 by UNFPA and The Guttmacher Institute, has just launched a motion graphics video to help advocate for increased funding for family planning and maternal and newborn care.

By: Angella Musiimenta, one of the Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders, from Uganda; orginally posted at Conversations for a Better World

A young woman in Uganda contracts HIV/AIDS and faces relentless prejudice that alters every aspect of her life. She is only one of the millions of young people whose physical challenges are multiplied by the cruelties of social discrimination. Read Angella's blog and discuss how stigma affects young women.

By: Emily Akullu, one of Women Deliver's 100 Young Leaders and Deputy Resident District Commissioner from Uganda; originally posted at Conversations for a Better World

Ongoing migration is a reality. The goal is not to end migration, but to value, respect and integrate the people who leave their homes in search of resources and safety. Read more... and discuss how migration affects girls and women, especially pregnant girls and women.

By: Diana Sera, one of Women Deliver's 100 Young Leaders and Monitoring & Evaluation Manager of Northern Uganda Malaria AIDS & Tuberculosis Program (NUMAT). Originally posted at Conversations for a Better World.

HIV positive youth encounter profound and varied challenges. We say we want to help, yet we continually let them down when we don’t provide the services they need. It’s a growing problem without a single solution. NUMAT is one of many organizations that is serving the underserved through a layered approach that supports, nurtures and strengthens the youth whose lives have been redefined by HIV.

Ten years ago, I took an HIV test. I was motivated to take the test because I lost my closest relative to HIV. Knowing my own HIV status has empowered me to make informed decisions about my life and to reach out to my family and peers to encourage them to get tested early too. While at school, some of my peers were HIV positive and faced a number of challenges, including stigma and discrimination, and many didn’t know how to find youth-friendly HIV services. All of the above inspired me to join an organization that aims to fulfill the needs of HIV positive youth. Read more...

Today, August 12, 2010, is International Youth Day. It's a day to celebrate the power of young people to make positive change for their communities, countries, and the world. Even bigger, today kicks off the International Year of Youth. There are lots of ways you can get involved over the next few months, and year. Click through to read 10 actions you can take right now...

By: Jotham Musinguzi and Jill Sheffield; originally posted at Modern Ghana and Daily Monitor (Uganda)

Over the past few years, Africa has shown admirably strong leadership in an area that is critical to this continent’s advancement: women’s health. From increasing the number of pregnant HIV positive women on anti-retroviral drugs, to ensuring that women are accompanied by skilled caregivers when they give birth, the continent is working hard to demonstrate commitment and progress on this important issue.

Women are the thread that weaves this continent together. They drive local economies and run households. In Africa, they operate the majority of small businesses and farms. Much of our wives’, mothers’ and sisters’ incomes go to our families’ food, medicine, and education. Investing in women is the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do.

By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver, originally posted at The Huffington Post

These past few weeks especially, Kampala has been on my mind. Not least because of the senseless attacks that took place there last week. The injustice of terrorism is confounding, and it is a tragedy that innocent people pay the price. But Kampala is on my mind also because, amidst the grief over recent events there is an amazing opportunity. The city is host to the 15th African Union Summit.

The theme of this year's Summit, building on the momentum of Women Deliver and the G8 Summit in the past months, is "maternal, infant, and child health and development in Africa." I cannot imagine a more important theme for a meeting in Africa, taking place at a more momentous time. Millions of women across Africa still struggle to realize their rights and live healthy, fulfilled lives beneath the burdens of poverty, sexual violence and unplanned pregnancies. [Read more...]

By: Ernestine B. Greaves, one of the Women Deliver 100 Young Leaders

Globally, we now have the largest generation of youth in history: more than 1.2 billion young people are between 10 and 19 years old. We are the future. Yet our future is uncertain if our health systems and health services continue to fail this generation, and the next.

It’s an unfortunate truth that one woman, every minute, dies from complications due to pregnancy and childbirth around the world. This is also the leading cause of death for girls aged 15-19 in developing countries. Unplanned pregnancy rates continue to be high across the world, and of the 13% of maternal deaths worldwide due to unsafe abortions, almost half of those are aged under 19. The challenges of pregnancy and childbirth threaten young women’s lives every single day. 

Now is the time to deliver for these women. As her Excellency President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf attends the Summit of the African Union, she must take action on maternal health and protect and promote the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people.

Looking for an opportunity to become more involved in women's health? Keep reading to find out 10 ways you can make a difference this summer.

By: Frances Kissling, a member of the Women Deliver Conference team and is a visiting scholar at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, U.S., orginally posted at Impact, the magazine for PSI

Richard Horton,the editor of the The Lancet, called the 2010 Women Deliver conference “the most significant event for the future of women and children in 20 years.” What, might we ask, would lead Horton, a man not known for extravagant praise, to make such a claim for a conference? Even if it were one that brought together 3,200 experts and advocates including UN agency heads and the Secretary-General, ministers of health, parliamentarians, health workers, young professionals, and women’s and human rights advocates to talk about maternal mortality and raise public awareness about the need for more funding and better strategies to end maternal death and injury? Has not the world heard over and over again that more money is needed for every development and humanitarian cause in the world to the point of donor fatigue?

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the second Women Deliver global conference. To put world leaders on notice that the time for action on maternal health is now, 3,400 advocates, policymakers, development leaders, health care professionals, youth, advocates, and media from 146 countries converged on Washington, DC on June 7-9 at Women Deliver 2010. More than 800 speeches and presentations were given at the six plenaries and 120 breakout sessions. The heads of five UN agencies, plus the Secretary-General of the United Nations, attended. Thirty countries, UN agencies, the World Bank, corporations, and foundations helped support Women Deliver. Please click through for highlights and recaps of the conference.

By: Janna Oberdorf, Communications Manager for Women Deliver

On Sunday, the G20 Summit, a group of government leaders from 20 countries, followed up on the outcomes of the G8 meetings the day before that promised $7.3 billion to maternal and child health. The G20 usually focuses on matters pertaining to the international financial system, while the G8 talks about broader development issues like solving global poverty. For the first time ever, the G20 agreed to set up a working group on international development issues, giving itself a formalized a role in helping poor countries.

There were two key paragraphs that will affect the maternal and child health communities in the communiqué that was released by the G20...