By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver, and Nalini Saligram, Founder & CEO of Arogya World; originally posted on the Huffington Post
There are times in the history of the world when the actions of people with foresight and wisdom have averted crises on a mass scale. We are hopeful that this will be another of those times, and that the 100th observance of International Women's Day on March 8 will be the catalyst. Read more...
Updates
International Women’s Day: Catalyst for a Healthier Future
March 8th, 2011
Delivering for Women in 2011
March 3rd, 2011
By: Jill Sheffield, president and founder of Women Deliver, originally posted on the ONE Blog
This week, Women Deliver announced the “Women Deliver 100,” a list of the top 100 people in the world – men and women, young and old – who are delivering for women. When I read the stories of the individuals honored, I am overcome with inspiration and gratitude. These are some of the most intrepid and committed people in the world, who are dedicated to improving the lives of girls and women…at many costs. These are people who get that girls and women make the world go round, and that investing in them – prioritizing them, protecting their rights, telling their stories – pays. Read more...
Women Deliver 100: The Most Inspiring People Delivering for Girls and Women
March 2nd, 2011
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, Women Deliver is announcing the “Women Deliver 100,” our list of the hundred most inspiring people who have delivered for girls and women. This list recognizes women and men, both prominent and lesser known, who have committed themselves to improving the lives of girls and women around the world. Honorees derive from the fields of health, human rights, politics, economics, education, journalism, and philanthropy, and represent a great diversity of geographic and cultural backgrounds. The 100 honorees were selected from among hundreds of potentials and feature some of the most intrepid, committed, and results-driven people in the world. Click through to read the full list.
CARE Conference 2011 and International Women’s Day Celebration
February 2nd, 2011
March 8th will mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, a day when thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. To commemorate, CARE USA will host the CARE Conference and International Women’s Day Celebration March 8 – 10, 2011 in Washington, DC. Read more...
Harper Government Announces New Maternal, Newborn and Children Health Initiatives
February 1st, 2011
Last week, at the first meeting of the Information and Accountability Commission on Women’s and Children’s Health, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced support for new development projects that will save the lives and improve the health of mothers and children in Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Bangladesh, demonstrating Canada’s commitment to the G-8 Muskoka Initiative. Read more...
Upcoming Publication: The State of the World’s Midwifery
January 21st, 2011
The role of skilled birth attendants, in particular midwives and others with midwifery competencies, is widely acknowledged as being crucial to addressing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity, and to promoting women’s and children’s health. An upcoming publication entitled The State of the World’s Midwifery, from UNFPA and a coalition of partners, will take stock of recent analyses showing that both midwifery personnel and services are unequally distributed - both between and within countries.
Who Do You Think Delivers for Women?
January 5th, 2011
As we approach the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (8 March 2011), we want to put a spotlight on the "Women Deliver 100: the most inspiring individuals delivering for women." This year marks 100 years of International Women's Day having been celebrated around the world. To celebrate this momentous occasion, Women Deliver is creating a list of advocates, activists, policymakers, artists, journalists, philanthropists, and overall change-makers who are truly “delivering for women.” Want to get in on the fun? Tell us your ideas of who should be added to the list by clicking through.
DFID Launches “Framework for Results”
January 4th, 2011
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...
Watch: ABC News Series “Be the Change: Save a Life”
December 16th, 2010
Tomorrow night, Friday 17th December 2010, ABC News will kick of a new series called, "Be the Change: Save a Life" at 10pm. This series will be a yearlong project to focus attention on the diseases and health conditions that disproportionately afflict the world's poorest people, and it will be led by "World News" anchor Diane Sawyer and ABC News Chief Health and Medical Editor Dr. Richard Besser. Read more...
Top 10 Maternal Health Highlights in 2010
December 15th, 2010
Looking back over the past year, we have much to celebrate. The following list is not exhaustive, but recaps some of the most prominent maternal health-related milestones and events of 2010. As we push forward into 2011, we celebrate both the successes and solutions of the past year, as well as the barriers to success we can learn from in order to streamline our strategies to best reach MDG 5. Click through to read the top 10 highlights.
11 Actions to Take for World AIDS Day 2010
December 1st, 2010
By: Joanna Hoffman, Program Associate for Women Deliver
Today marks World AIDS Day, and with it comes reflections over both progress made and what lays ahead in preventing HIV/AIDS transmission, exploring treatment options for those infected, and removing stigma and discrimination from the disease. A new report by UNAIDS provides ground-breaking data from 182 countries, and is hailed by the Director of the World Bank’s Global HIV/AIDS Program, Dr. David Wilson, as “one of the most encouraging and substantive reports on the course of the epidemic we’ve seen in years.” Read more...
How Public Health Logisticians Are Working to Strengthen Health Systems
November 17th, 2010
By: Mariko Rasmussen, Program Assistant at Women Deliver
The International Association of Public Health Logisticians (IAPHL) was initiated in 2007 as an online community to connect and support public health logisticians around the world in their vital efforts to supply the people of their countries with the health products they need. At various conferences, workshops, and trainings, the project coordinators noticed the excitement generated when people from several countries come together to share and learn from one another, only to return home with very few means of maintaining the collaborative relationships they had formed. Read more...
mHealth Solutions to Improve Maternal Health
November 4th, 2010
By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver
In developing countries there are currently 5 billion mobile phone subscriptions, nearly three times the amount in developed countries. Given the prevalence of mobile phone use and the overwhelming predominance (99%) of maternal deaths occurring in the developing world, what kind of potential does mHealth technology have to change the state of maternal health? According to the presenters at the Maternal Health Task Force Policy Series event on mHealth, the impact of mobile phone technology is far reaching, replicable, and cost-effective.
Celebrate Solutions: Increasing Women’s Access to Mobile Technology Worldwide
October 18th, 2010
By: Mariko Rasmussen, Program Assistant at Women Deliver 
Imagine a woman home alone and going into premature childbirth. She feels helpless and scared, and begins to bleed. Now imagine this woman has a mobile phone. She feels connected and more secure, knowing help is a text or phone call away. And if she had had access to a phone during her pregnancy, prenatal text messages could have prepared her for such an emergency. It is no surprise that increasing the use of mobile phones among women is a key strategy to reducing maternal and newborn mortality, and one of the five technologies that Women Deliver is championing to reach MDG5. Read more...
The Girl Effect: The Clock is Ticking
September 28th, 2010
Girleffect.org tells the story of girls creating a ripple impact of social and economic change on their families, communities and nations. Launched a few years ago, this compelling video showed the world the power of investing in girls. Last week, at the Clinton Global Initiative, the Girl Effect launched a new video that builds on the original message, and discusses important issues like child marriage and early pregnancy for adolescent girls.
Despite Progress, Universal Access to HIV Medicine Still Out of Reach
September 28th, 2010
Earlier today, WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS launched the report Towards universal access, the fourth report tracking progress made towards achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by the end of 2010. Significant strides have been made in the past year, particularly among the low and middle income countries:
- 15 countries provided more than 80% of HIV-positive pregnant women with the services and medicines needed to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission;
- 14 countries provided HIV treatment to more than 80% of HIV-positive children ;
- Eight countries have achieved universal access to antiretroviral treatment (ART) for adults.
Read more...
Maternal Health and Mobile Technology: New Tools for an Important Fight
September 27th, 2010
By: Josh Nesbit, co-founder and executive director of FrontlineSMS:Medic
The magnitude of certain problems is fully evident and inexcusable. Each year, 350,000 women and girls die every year from pregnancy-related causes, and over 100 million lack access to family planning. My generation has had access to these staggering statistics for years. As global citizens, we must now choose to act.
I was honored to join heads of UN agencies and government officials, as well as corporate and nonprofit leaders at last week’s Women Deliver event, “Accelerating Action on the MDGs: Delivering for Women, Girls, and Babies.” The theme threading the event’s discussions was clear - low-hanging impact exists, and if we want to increase access to proven interventions, we need to get creative. Read more...
The Launch of the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health
September 21st, 2010
Yesterday, the Aspen Institute launched the Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health, and issued a call for resolve: Universal Reproductive Health Access by 2015. The Global Leaders Council for Reproductive Health is a group of sixteen sitting and former heads of state, high-level policymakers and other leaders committed to advancing reproductive health for lasting development and prosperity. Chaired by former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, these leaders will mobilize the political will and financial resources necessary to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015 – a key target of the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Dr. Fred Sai Speaks Out and Releases His Memoirs
September 21st, 2010
The distinguished Ghanaian physician Fred Sai has devoted his entire career to issues of health and reproductive rights. He is best known for drawing attention to the food and nutrition problems of Africa – particularly in connection to children – and is an internationally recognized authority on health, nutrition, population and family planning. He was also the honorary co-chair of the Women Deliver 2010 conference, where he spoke on the issues affecting girls and women around the world. Now, he has released his memoirs in a book called, With Heart and Voice: Fred Sai Remembers.
MDG5: What’s in a Maternal Death?
September 17th, 2010
By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver; originally posted at GLOBAL HEALTH Magazine Blog
It has been a big year for maternal health advocates. Next week we gear up for a global review of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the Secretary-General will launch the Global Strategy for Womens and Childrens Health. These are huge steps forward, with path-cutting initiatives that will enable maternal health advocates, providers, and donors to do our work more effectively.
The recent UN maternal mortality figures are further good news, which confirm what we have all been hoping for: globally, mortality rates are down and we have been doing something right.
But have we been doing enough right? While the latest estimates are welcome good news, we know more must be done - both to save womens lives and better understand the magnitude of the problem.