In the first-ever maternal death case to be decided by an international human rights body, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women established that governments have a human rights obligation to guarantee that all women in their countries—regardless of income or racial background—have access to timely, non-discriminatory, and appropriate maternal health services. Read more…
Updates
Historic U.N. Ruling Finds Brazil Violates Woman’s Human Rights in Maternal Death Case
August 18th, 2011
The Born Healthy Initiative: Giving Everyone the Best Start in Life
August 17th, 2011
Newborn health is intrinsically linked to the health of the mother and the care she receives before, during and immediately after giving birth. As deaths from infectious diseases fall, they are replaced by birth defects as the leading cause of childhood death. Every year, around eight million babies are born with birth defects, and at least three million children die. Many more face a lifetime of disability, poverty and stigma. Read more…
USAID Study Shows Effectiveness of Collaborative Improvement Approach for Improving Health Systems
August 10th, 2011
A new study from the USAID Health Care Improvement Project shows that a quality improvement method widely used in the US called collaborative improvement is also effective in low- and middle-income countries. The fundamental concept underlying the field of improvement is that a system left unchanged can only be expected to continue to produce the same results. Read more…
Celebrate Solutions: Simple Technologies Prevent Transmission of HIV During Breastfeeding
August 8th, 2011
By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver?
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I’d like to highlight a new innovation that has the potential to save the lives of babies born to HIV-positive mothers. With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers from Family Health International, University of Cambridge, Drexel College of Medicine, and PATH have developed a low-cost nipple shield which will deliver HIV preventative compounds to a newborn during breastfeeding. Read more...
Ensuring Universal Access to Reproductive Health Supplies
August 2nd, 2011
Helping women around the world gain universal access to reproductive health supplies demands that the development community pursue three strategies across the next five “especially critical” years, according to the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition. This period will see the global community intensify efforts to meet Millennium Development Goal 5 to reduce maternal mortality by three quarters and achieve universal access to reproductive health. Read more...
High Level Meeting on Youth Engages Young People Across the World
July 27th, 2011
By: Mariko Rasmussen, Communications Specialist, and Janna Oberdorf, Director of Communications and Outreach at Women Deliver
We are back in the office after an exciting few days at the United Nations. Government representatives, heads of UN agencies, advocates, and youth from across the world gathered in New York July 25-26, 2011 for the United Nations High Level Meeting on Youth. The theme of the High Level Meeting was “Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding” and began on July 25 with two thematic panel discussions focusing on strengthening international cooperation and addressing challenges regarding youth and social integration, employment, poverty eradication and sustainable development. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: For New Moms, Linking Long-Acting Family Planning with Child Immunizations
July 25th, 2011
By: Madeline Taskier, Partnership Coordinator at Women Deliver
Last month I attended a session at the 38th Annual Global Health Council Conference on immunization as a platform for family planning integration. Today I’d like to highlight a program featured at this session: a project aiming to reach high-need, postpartum women in Bamako, Mali with family planning services and counseling. Read more...
2015+: What Happens After the MDG and ICPD Deadlines?
July 7th, 2011
By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver
With 2014 and 2015 approaching, advocates are beginning to talk about what will happen to maternal health and sexual and reproductive health and rights when major international agreements, like ICPD and the MDGs, reach their deadlines. What will happen to the global architecture for maternal health if and when these targets are or are not met? There is some talk of collapsing all the health MDGs (MDG 4, 5, and 6) into a solitary goal to make room for other critical issues, like non-communicable diseases, pandemics, or terrorism. Some thought leaders are talking of creating a whole new framework, while others think the MDGs and ICPD should be extended or have no timeline. Read more...
NPR Summer Series on Maternal and Child Health
July 5th, 2011
This summer, NPR’s afternoon newsmagazine All Things Considered is doing a summer-long series called “Beginnings: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Beyond.” A far-reaching collection of reports and features looking at medical, cultural and economic aspects of birth around the world, "Beginnings" will air Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through August 2011. Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: Community mobilization guide to improve the health of mothers and babies
June 27th, 2011
By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest
The infant mortality rate in India is estimated at about 39 deaths per 1,000 live births and nearly double that in rural areas --so it's notable when a new project results in a 45 percent drop in newborn deaths. That's precisely what has happened with a community mobilization effort in India and Bangladesh. Read more...
ViiV Healthcare Awards Small Grants from Positive Action for Children Fund
June 20th, 2011
ViiV Healthcare announced today that it has awarded £1 million to 82 projects in 21 countries across the globe aimed at improving the health and welfare of women, children, and families affected by HIV in small grants from the Positive Action for Children’s Fund. With this large number of smaller community grants, the Positive Action for Children Fund hopes to stimulate grassroots community action in support of global PMTCT (Preventing Mother to Child Transmission) community efforts to eliminate vertical transmission of HIV. Read more...
Save the Date: Women Deliver Announces Third Conference Will Be Held in Malaysia in 2013
June 16th, 2011
A global event devoted to increasing investment in girls and women will bring together advocates, UN agencies, researchers, government officials, and global leaders
New York – Women Deliver announced today that it will hold its third conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 28-30 May 2013. The first Women Deliver conference to take place in Asia, this landmark event will push global and local leaders to deliver solutions that will ensure the health and well-being of girls and women around the world. Read more...
The Power of Business to Impact the Health of Girls and Women
June 9th, 2011
By: Kristin Rosella, Program Associate for Strategic Partnerships at Women Deliver
Last week (June 1-2, 2011), GBCHealth, formerly known as the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, announced that it will expand its mission to a broader public health mandate, including a focus on girls’ and women’s health, education, and empowerment. The announcement came during the GBCHealth 10th Anniversary Conference held in New York, NY on June 1-2, 2011. For more than a decade, GBCHealth has been working to engage the private sector in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, to increase the number of corporate health programs, and to improve partnerships with civil society and governments. And now, GBCHealth will not only take on a new name, but it will take on new responsibility in the fight for better global health. Read more...
High Level Forum on HIV/AIDS: Protection and Prevention Saves Lives
June 8th, 2011
Over 120 ambassadors, ministers, parliamentarians, advocates, youth and media gathered today at the International Peace Institute (IPI) for a high-level policy forum, Prevention and Protection Save Lives: Girls, Women and HIV, co-hosted by Women Deliver, IPI, the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations and Family Care International. This week’s High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS at the UN marks 30 years of global efforts to stop the AIDS epidemic, and today’s forum was an innovative and energizing discussion on how far we have come, what challenges lay before us and what the road forward will look like. The UN Secretary General’s Every Woman Every Child effort was particularly highlighted as a critical step forward in ensuring quality care for all girls and women, as well as collaborative efforts across sectors and throughout the world. Read more...
Ending HIV Starts With Women
June 8th, 2011
By: Serra Sippel, President of the Center for Health and Gender Equity in Washington, D.C.; originally posted on the Huffington Post
We can end HIV/AIDS right now if we want to. We already know how. We know how it is transmitted; we know how to prevent and treat it. We are just not doing what it takes to end it.
The United States and other countries represented at the United Nations High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS, which starts today, can change that. Unfortunately, there are already signs that we are going to stay the same failed course. Some country delegations, led by the Holy See (note: a non-member state with no epidemic that is neither a donor or aid recipient country), are working to block all references in the final outcome document to womens rights and access to sexual and reproductive health services. Despite the fact that sexual transmission is the number one way HIV is spread, despite the fact that women account for half of all people globally living with HIV, some countries would rather pursue a moralistic agenda around sex and women than put an end to AIDS.
High Level Meeting On HIV/AIDS: Prevention and Protection Save Lives
June 8th, 2011
Today Women Deliver, the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations, the International Peace Institute and Family Care International are co-hosting a high-level policy forum, Prevention and Protection Save Lives: Girls, Women and HIV, which will bring together some of the key players in the global fight against AIDS as they gather this week at the UN to look at lessons learned, current challenges, and the path forward.
G8 Leaders Recommit to Improve Maternal Health and Reduce Child Mortality
May 31st, 2011
The 37th G8 Summit was held in Deauville, France from May 26-27, 2011. The three priorities of the French Presidency of the G8 Summit were the internet and green growth, international peace and security and partnership with Africa. Though health was not a priority of the G8 this year, the Deauville statement reaffirmed a commitment to improving maternal health and reducing child mortality, most notably through the Muskoka Initiative for Maternal, Newborn and Child health launched in 2010. Read more...
Delivering Real Results and Resources for Girls and Women
May 23rd, 2011
By: Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver
Last week, the UN Commission on Women and Children’s Health released the final report, “Keeping Promises, Measuring Results,” with recommendations that will serve to hold countries and organizations accountable for the commitments they make to save the lives of girls, women and children around the world. I am honored to have been a part of this Commission. The brief and intense process has produced an accountability framework to deliver real results and resources for girls and women through monitoring, review and action. Read more...
Live From Kenya: Equal Treatment at Birth
May 22nd, 2011
By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest
In rural Kenya, a majority of women give birth at home and without a skilled attendant--often because hospitals, and the transportation to even get to a hospital, are simply too expensive and inaccessible for so many women.
Now imagine the situation for HIV-positive women, who should give birth by C-section to reduce the risk of transmission from mother to child. According to the Ministry of Health, only 65 percent of hospitals in the country provide that procedure. It's also more expensive, so even if it's locally available, it's not always a realistic option. Read more...
Live from Kenya: So Much More Than Water
May 21st, 2011
By: Rachel Cernansky, winner of the Women Bloggers Deliver contest
It was raining when we got to the Malava Girls school--the loud, heavy kind of rain that makes it hard to hear your own voice inside--and we weren't sure we would get to visit with the girls we came to see. The plan was to demonstrate a LifeStraw Family and to hear what they had to say about clean water and the impact of waterborne diseases on their lives.
But we waited the rain out and did get to see the girls, just an hour or so later than scheduled. And we got to hear about so much more than just water. Read more...