Updates

Last week in Brussels, the European Development Days 2012 convened nearly 6,000 participants and 1,500 organizations from the development community to address the theme of “Sustainable and Inclusive Growth for Human Development” through a series of sessions and meetings. At the event, a high-level panel was organized by Action for Global Health (AfGH), Countdown 2015 Europe, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), UNAIDS, and the Oxfam International European Union Office. The panelists of this meeting examined the role, strategies, actions and challenges of the European Union (EU) in implementing the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Read more...

A network of professional and civil society organizations are urging Ministers  of Parliament in the United Kingdom to use their “unique powers of advocacy, scrutiny, debate, legislation, budget setting, and monitoring” to ensure the government fulfills its funding pledges toward maternal and child health. Read more...

The British Government unveiled a landmark plan December 31, 2010 for improving reproductive, maternal and newborn health that could save thousands and impact millions of lives worldwide. Two strategic priorities shape the plan – to prevent unintended pregnancies by enabling women and girls to choose whether, when and how many children they have, and to ensure pregnancy and childbirth are safe for mothers and babies. Read more...

Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that despite Irish law allowing for abortions in cases which pose “real and substantial risk” to the life of the mother, in practice the government makes it impossible for women to obtain abortions in these circumstances. This ruling was in response to the case of a pregnant woman with a rare form of cancer who was forced to travel to Britain for an abortion after doctors in Ireland  were unwilling to inform her if her pregnancy was jeopardizing her health. The ruling found Ireland in violation of its own constitution and ordered the government to pay the woman 15,000 Euros, or about $20,000. Read more...

By: Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister of the UK, published on the Poverty Matters Blog of The Guardian

Nick Clegg write for the Poverty Matters Blog on maternal mortality and says, "Women are often the heart of the family and without healthy mothers, families communities and societies fail." Read more...