Updates

By Linda Alexander, Vice President of Women's Health and Global Advocacy, QIAGEN

I’m here in Beijing, at the 20th annual Global Summit of Women (May 20-22), where women business, NGO and government leaders have assembled to discuss strategies for advancing women’s economic opportunities and to lead, shape, and transform the global future.

The theme on this 20th anniversary year of the Global Summit is "Women at the Forefront of Change," and few cities in the world more embody rapid change than Beijing. From ancient pagodas to jaw-dropping modern architecture, and from rickshaw rides through alleyways to bustling subway stops, Beijing is vibrant and colorful, and feels both new and old at the same time.

Maureen Anne McTeer, Canadian author and lawyer, and the wife of Joe Clark, the 16th Prime Minister of Canada wrote an op-ed in The Globe and Mail this week with a message to Prime Minister Harper. She gets to the heart of it when she writes, "Canada has a historic opportunity to lead on this issue." With just one month to go before the G8/G20 summits, Canada is primed to make a real, strong, and lasting commitment to maternal health that can convince other G8/G20 countries to follow suit.

By: Paula R. DeCola, Senior Director, External Medical Affairs, Pfizer, Inc

Global collective action is a pre-requisite to addressing the complex and interrelated development challenges that face our nations. International development is currently viewed as being a part of national security, which has traditionally been limited to measures related to military strength. It is now recognized that sharing knowledge, skills and other resources is a critical prelude to security, as well as to international relations and global advancement. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton stated that, “Development was once the province of humanitarians, charities, and governments looking to gain allies in global struggles. Today it is a strategic, economic, and moral imperative…”¹

Women Deliver is excited to announce a wonderful new program developed for the Women Deliver 2010 conference called the “Professional Allies Program.”

The idea is to connect professionals in different and varying fields attending Women Deliver 2010 with the 100 Young Leaders who will be attending the Women Deliver youth pre-conference to facilitate information exchange and help them navigate the conference. The partnership will require 3 things from the “professional ally”: a pre-conference email exchange, a Sunday meet-and-greet, and a Wednesday follow up. 

For more information, please read this letter. If you are interested in participating, please fill out this form and return to us by May 14, 2010. Please note, this program is only open to registered participants. To register for the conference please go here.

By Peer Schatz, CEO of QIAGEN

In every country, community, business, and family, girls and women are an economic force. This is especially true in the developing world, where women are the anchor of the family and community and provide the majority of labor and transportation for cultivation and production. With the tremendous loads they carry already, imagine being able to lift the burden of cervical cancer from women in the developing world. Out of 250,000 women that die each year from cervical cancer — the second-most common cancer in the world — about 80 percent of these occur in the developing world, This vision to lift the burden of cervical cancer from women in the developing world is within reach today, if we all work together to ensure that women and girls become a global priority. The health and empowerment of women form the cornerstone of a healthy society.

We are pleased to announce the two honorary co-chairs for the Women Deliver 2010 conference:

Frederick Torgbor Sai, Ghanaian physician
Dr. Fred Sai, a Ghanaian family health physician, trained in the Universities of London, Edinburgh and Harvard, is an internationally recognized gender and reproductive health advocate.

Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile
Michelle Bachelet is the former president of Chile, and the first woman to hold the position. A moderate Socialist, her presidential campaign was based on a platform of continuing Chile's free market policies, while increasing social benefits to help reduce the country's gap between rich and poor.

Registration is now officially open for the Women Deliver 2010 conference. Register now to secure your spot at this international event and receive the early-bird discounted rate!