The new constitution of Somalia officially bans female genital cutting/female genital mutilation (FGC/FGM). Under Article 15, the constitution explicitly states “Circumcision of girls is a cruel and degrading customary practice, and is tantamount to torture. The circumcision of girls is prohibited.”
According to the World Health Organization, about 140 million girls and women worldwide have been directly impacted and are living with “consequences” of FGM. In the African continent alone, 92 million girls age 10 and older have undergone the procedure, with most procedures happening between infancy and the 15 years. Read more...
Updates
New Somali Constitution Bans Female Genital Cutting
August 20th, 2012
Celebrate Solutions: Integrating Family Planning into the Health System
August 20th, 2012
By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
In 1998, Russia’s federal government withdrew funding for national family planning programs, leaving the task to municipal and regional governments. In response, USAID and John Snow Inc. stepped in to fund the Women and Infants’ Health [pdf] (WIN) pilot project from 1999 to 2003, followed by the scale-up phase called Maternal and Child Health Initiative (MCHI) from 2003 to 2006. Read more...
Latin America and Caribbean Regional Consultation Youth Pre-Conference
August 1st, 2012
From June 4-6 2012, Women Deliver, held its second regional consultation in Mexico City, in partnership with Grupo de Trabajo Regional para la Reduccion de la Mortalidad Materna (GTR). Discussion from the consultation is being used in agenda planning for Women Deliver's 2013 Global Conference.
This consultation gathered more than 180 participants and 12 young leaders from 13 different countries, who had the opportunity to attend through scholarships. Read more...
Corporate Buzz: Philips Electronics Showcases Clinical Solutions for Maternal Health
July 5th, 2012
By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
Philips Electronics, a signatory to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), announced in June that it would continue its work towards MDG 4 and 5 to reduce newborn and maternal deaths. The announcement took place during the 2012 Cairo to Cape Town Roadshow, while on a stopover in Ghana. During the stopover, Philips representatives showcased several clinical solutions designed to make progress towards reaching MDG 4 and 5. Read more...
65 Finalists Advance in Saving Lives at Birth Challenge
June 29th, 2012
The second Saving Lives at Birth Challenge has elicited more than 500 submissions from almost 60 countries on innovative solutions to save the lives of mothers and newborns around the time of birth. On June 14, Challenge partners, which include US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), announced that 65 finalists will move on to the next and final stage of the competition at the DevelopmentXChange, on July 12-14, 2012. Read more...
The Guardian Announces Journalism Competition Finalists
June 20th, 2012
The Guardian newspaper has announced 16 finalists in the 2012 Guardian International Development Journalism Competition. The competition, which aims to highlight overlooked or underrepresented issues in the developing world, called on contestants to submit a feature piece on an aspect of global poverty deserving of greater attention. Of the hundreds of entries submitted, a long list was narrowed down to 40 contestants, and then short-lists of eight amateur and eight professional writers were finalized. Read more...
Countdown to 2015 Report: Fewer Maternal/Child Deaths; Too Many Still Dying
June 13th, 2012
Countdown to 2015 launches its 2012 Report on June 14, 2012, at the Child Survival Call to Action, a two-day high-level meeting in Washington, D.C.
Countdown’s new report, Building a Future for Women and Children: The 2012 Report, highlights country progress—and obstacles to progress—towards achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health. Read more...
65th World Health Assembly Meeting Addresses Women and Children
June 12th, 2012
The World Health Assembly, which took place this year from May 21-26, 2012, resulted in 21 newly adopted resolutions and three health-related decisions. The resolutions and decisions revolved around early marriage and young pregnancies, international health regulations, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), non-communicable diseases, and social determinants of health, and several other health- and disease-related topics. Read more...
Maternova’s Innovations Shape a Better World For Mothers and Newborns
June 8th, 2012
By: Meg Wirth, Maternova; Maternova is a winner of the Women Deliver 50
Maternova focuses on making innovations for maternal and newborn health accessible in an efficient and rapid marketplace.
Our venture is a social enterprise dedicated to accelerating the reduction of maternal/newborn morbidity and mortality. Maternova began as a knowledge platform but swiftly added its marketplace for path-breaking innovations based on input from its users. Read more...
Regional Maternal Health Advocates Convene in Mexico
June 7th, 2012
This week, over 200 key decision-makers, civil society advocates, donors, journalists, health workers and youth activists gathered in Mexico City for the regional consultation “Maternal Health in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Unfinished Agenda.” Convened by the Regional Task Force on Maternal Mortality (GTR) in partnership with Women Deliver, the meeting featured discussions on proven life-saving maternal health interventions and on the future development framework.
The meeting was the third regional consultation to be held by Women Deliver with partner groups. The sub-Saharan Africa consultation took place in Kampala, Uganda in collaboration with Partners in Population and Development’s Africa Regional Office, and the Asia consultation took place in Dhaka, Bangladesh in partnership with USAID’s flagship MCHIP program. Read more...
Corporate Buzz: GBCHealth Announces New MDG Health Alliance
June 7th, 2012
By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
The creation of the MDG Health Alliance was recently announced by GBC Health, a private sector nonprofit coalition that works to improve health around the world. The announcement took place at their two-day GBCHealth Conference, in May.
The Alliance is working in alignment with the Millennium Development Goals targeting maternal and child health. According to the Alliance, there are 5 underlying initiatives, and they will work towards 7 main goals: 1) improve child health; 2) improve maternal health; 3) achieve near-zero malaria deaths; 4) achieve near-zero transmission of HIV from mother to child; 5) recruit, train, and equip one million community health workers; 6) save one million lives from TB-HIV co-infection; and 7) ensure universal access to reproductive health. Read more...
GBC Health Coalition Conference Features First Maternal Health Panel
June 6th, 2012
The Global Business Coalition on Health held its conference “Define Forward: Business, Health and the Road Ahead” on May 14-15, bringing together more than 700 corporate executives, government leaders, policy makers, civil society visionaries and media champions to explore the intersection of business and health. GBCHealth featured its first panel on maternal health, entitled “Milestone Moments on the Path to Healthier Motherhood.” Read more...
Corporate Buzz: Johnson & Johnson Supports Maternal Health Trainings in Nigeria
May 24th, 2012
By: Denis Robson, Director of African Affairs, Johnson & Johnson
Despite the quiet and formal surroundings of Dr. Aminu Mai’s office, matters of birth and death are always at the front of his mind. As an obstetrician in Nigeria, where one expectant mother dies every 10 minutes through no fault of her own, Dr. Mai spends a lot of time thinking about how closely the two events are linked – and how important it is that the country’s birth attendants receive updated information and training to save lives. Read more...
Global Leaders Celebrate Innovations in Reproductive Health Funding, Policies and Services
May 24th, 2012
2012 has been a breakthrough year for reproductive health. On 22 May, 2012, the Honourable Joy Phumaphi, former Minister of Health Botswana, presented the 2012 Resolve Award to government representatives from four countries who have embodied these gains: Ethiopia, Malawi, Nepal, and Rwanda. Read more...
Parliamentarians Meet on ICPD Plan of Action
May 24th, 2012
Over 300 Parliamentarians from around the world will gather in Istanbul today and tomorrow for the Fifth International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action. Discussions will focus on holding governments accountable to the promise made at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 in Cairo—to protect and empower women in exercising their reproductive health and rights. Read more...
World Pulse Shares Voices of Women “Laboring for Change”
May 21st, 2012
By: Smita Gaith, Women Deliver
World Pulse, a non-profit global communications network, is sharing a powerful new series called Laboring for Change. As part of the series, they share five stories of five women from different countries who are calling for increased attention and equality in maternal health and reproductive rights. As World Pulse explains, in the United States, advocates for maternal health and reproductive rights have seen a huge wave of recent legislation prohibiting health services, comprehensive sexual education, access to contraception, and abortion. Read more...
Save the Children’s 2012 State of the World’s Mothers Report
May 17th, 2012
This year’s thirteenth annual State of the World’s Mothers report features more than 60 countries and a foreword by USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah. Filled with ground-breaking research, this year’s report focuses on the importance of nutrition during the first 1,000 days between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday.
This year’s report also includes their annual Mother’s Index, ranking the best and worst countries in which to be a mother based on health and status indicators for women and children in 165 counties. Norway, as in 2011, ranks first; Niger, replacing Afghanistan in 2011, ranks last. The United States comes in at #25 among the 43 developed countries ranked. Eight of the 10 worst countries to be a mother are in sub-Saharan Africa. We must continue to work to ensure that moms everywhere can care for their kids. Read more...
New Report Indicates a Global Reduction in Maternal Deaths
May 16th, 2012
A new report launched today by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank found that maternal deaths have fallen by nearly 50 percent over the past two decades, demonstrating that global investments in maternal and reproductive health programs are having a measurable impact around the world.
According to the report, the number of maternal deaths around the world has dropped from 543,000 in 1990 to 287,000 in 2010 – a 47% decline. Additionally, the maternal mortality ratio (MMR, or number of women dying for every 100,000 live births) declined from 400 in 1990 to 210 in 2010. This new data comes at a critical time, with just three years remaining before the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG 5 aims to reduce maternal deaths by 75 percent globally. Read more...
Nigeria Should Invest in Family Planning Supplies, Programmes
May 15th, 2012
By: Sola Ogundipe; Originally posted on Vanguard
WITH a 20 percent unmet need for family planning in Nigeria, the need to invest in country-specific family planning supplies and programmes has been stressed. President of the Women Deliver, Jill Sheffield who disclosed this in an interview, said: “Nigeria should invest in family planning supplies and programmes, which would drastically reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, maternal deaths, newborn deaths, and unsafe abortions.” Read more...
Celebrate Solutions: PATH’s Sure Start
May 14th, 2012
By: Lindsay Menard-Freeman, Women Deliver
If you brave the helter-skelter road out of the capital city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh—where rickshaws, motorcycles, and oversize trucks compete with cows for two narrow lanes—then turn onto the dirt road between the rice fields, you will find something remarkable in the quiet village of Devpuri. Despite India’s dire maternal and newborn health record (each year, 78,000 women die giving birth and a million babies don’t survive their first month), mothers and newborns are surviving. Read more...