Experts say that fighting maternal mortality will cost the world a total of $24 billion annually, or an additional $12 billion per year, the Toronto Star wrote in an article about Canada's G8 maternal and child health initiative and Women Deliver.
Jill Sheffield, president of Women Deliver, said, "We know how much it's going to cost to do this. And it's $12-billion additional each year to what we're doing now."
Updates
Toronto Star Examines Cost Of Fighting Maternal Mortality, Canada’s G8 Initiative
April 6th, 2010
Jill W. Sheffield: Fighting for Moms Worldwide
March 16th, 2010
This week, Jill W. Sheffield, President of Women Deliver, was profiled by Adam Phillips in a news article and audio podcast on Voice of America. The profile highlights Sheffield’s longstanding dedication to the field of maternal health, starting with her volunteer work at a Nairobi, Kenya family planning clinic in the 1960s and leading up to the upcoming Women Deliver 2010 conference in Washington, DC...
New Report Shows Maternal Mortality Rates Rising in the US
March 16th, 2010
Women in the USA have a higher risk of dying of pregnancy-related complications than those in 40 other countries, according to a new report, Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA, by Amnesty International. And while countries around the world are fighting to reduce maternal mortality to meet Millennium Development Goal 5, maternal mortality ratios have more than doubled in the US from 1987 to 2006...
More Than 600 People in Stockholm March Against Maternal Mortality
March 12th, 2010
The Unite for Women campaign was launched by RFSU, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education, to shine a spotlight on maternal mortality. This past International Women’s Day, March 8th, the campaign culminated with more than 600 people marching with prams to show solidarity and support to all the women all over the world who have not had the same possibilities to choose a pregnancy and have access to safe maternal health care as mothers in Sweden...
Maternal Mortality in Afghanistan: A Way Forward
March 11th, 2010
Orginially posted on 8 March 2010 on Huffington Post by Rahim Kanani, Research Associate, Justice and Human Rights, Harvard Hauser Center
Today, when we think of Afghanistan, a cauldron of chaos comes to mind: massive international counterinsurgency and counternarcotics operations, countless NGOs struggling to maintain neutrality and operational integrity amidst the militarization of aid and development, and the sheer deprivation of dignity suffered by the overly-occupied Afghan people, among other such indictments of the international community's historic and present-day involvement. While these issues continually make above-the-fold headlines, today is International Women's Day (IWD), and I wish to highlight yet another travesty in Afghanistan: maternal mortality...
Global Leaders to Promote Investment in Maternal Health, Supporting International Women’s Day
March 8th, 2010
This International Women’s Day, March 8, will mark a new era—one where women’s health emerges as central to the agendas of major governments, donors, and policymakers.
“International Women’s Day is unparalleled in its commemoration of the tremendous and invaluable contributions women worldwide make to society each day,” said Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver, which will bring together more than 3,000 policymakers, activists, business leaders, and public figures from around the world on the eve of the G8 Summit in June. “The Women Deliver conference will seek to reinforce the idea that investment in women makes economic sense, mobilizing action on this issue and bringing it directly to policymakers.” Read more...
Report: How Unsafe Abortion Affects Women in Kenya
March 4th, 2010
Every year, at least 2,600 women die from unsafe abortion in Kenya; 21,000 more women are hospitalized annually with complications from incomplete and unsafe abortion, according to a new report by the Center for Reproductive Rights titled, “In Harm’s Way: The Impact of Kenya’s Restrictive Abortion Law.” Although staggering, these numbers do not account for the number of women killed or disabled by unsafe abortions who never visit a health facility or whose cause of death is not recorded.
What is the True Cost of Unwanted Pregnancies?
February 26th, 2010
Today, Sarah Boseley, the health editor of the Guardian, dedicated her Global Health Blog to the issue of maternal health and family planning. In her post, Boseley discusses the difficulty in combatting maternal mortality. But, she references the true "quick win" when it comes to saving women from dying of complications from pregnancy and childbirth: Family Planning. She says...
Early Research Results: Why MDG5 is So Off-Track
February 19th, 2010
Suzanne Ehlers, the Interim President of Population Action International, wrote an op-ed piece for the Huffington Post on the early findings of their joint research with the Maternal Health Task Force on maternal health supplies. Ehlers writes in her post about maternal health research in Bangladesh and Uganda where they're learning...
Maternal Health in Haiti on PBS
February 2nd, 2010
The PBS newsmagazine show NOW on PBS highlighted maternal mortality in Haiti on Friday night with an interview from Ann Starrs, president of Family Care International. While Haiti's catastrophic earthquake has left lives and institutions in ruin, it has also exacerbated a longtime lethal risk in Haiti: Dying during childbirth. Challenges in transportation, education, and quality health care contribute to Haiti having the highest maternal mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere, a national crisis even before the earthquake struck.
Canada’s Prime Minister Highlights Maternal Health
January 28th, 2010
Ottawa, Canada - Canada's Prime Minister, Stephan Harper, is highlighting the healthcare plight of mothers and infants in the developing world as a means of transforming the role of the G8 club of wealthy countries.
Harper is asking the group to focus on development and international security issues and he's hoping maternal and child health will become Canada's "signature" focus at the G8 meeting. Since the G20 has usurped the G8's role as an economic forum, the Prime Minister is hoping these development issues can take center stage at the G8 meetings.
Ideas for Change: Investing in Women
January 25th, 2010
Change.org just launched the 2010 Ideas for Change in America competition and the White Ribbon Alliance has submitted a call to the US government to make maternal and newborn health a priority by investing in women. Their idea is titled: Invest in a More Stable World, Invest in Women.
Emergency in Haiti: Maternal Health Supplies Rushed to Disaster Areas
January 16th, 2010
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – A major earthquake centered just 10 miles from Port-au-Prince has devastated the country, killing an estimated 200,000 people. Survivors are struggling to find necessary resources, such as food, water and health supplies. The Reproductive Health Response in Conflict (RHRC) Consortium estimates that there are approximately 63,000 pregnant women in Port-au?Prince, 7,000 of whom will deliver in the coming month. Further, 15% (9,450 women) of all pregnant women will also require care for life threatening pregnancy complications.
Maternal Health Task Force: Funding Opportunity
January 7th, 2010
The Maternal Health Task Force has asked us to distribute a request for letters of intent to submit funding proposals that will focus on indigenous developing country initiatives. Through this request, they are seeking innovative ideas from non-profit NGOs based in developing countries working to improve maternal health in their communities.
Human Rights Day 2009
December 10th, 2009
Today, December 10, is Human Rights Day. As we at Women Deliver have been saying all year, MATERNAL HEALTH IS A HUMAN RIGHT. And as we said in our blog for Conversations for a Better World:
Mobile Phones: A New Tool for Saving Women’s Lives
December 4th, 2009
Cell phones have cut dramatically the number of women dying during childbirth in Amensie village in south-central Ghana, according to an article posted on AlertNet.
Let’s Put an End to Gender-Based Violence
December 1st, 2009
It’s time, right? Gender-based violence (GBV) can pervade a woman’s entire life cycle, beginning with selective abortion of a female fetus to female genital mutilation/cutting to intimate partner violence. GBV is usually perpetrated by men against women and girls, and it can take many forms – sexual abuse, physical violence, emotional or psychological abuse, verbal abuse, economic abuse or beatings during pregnancy. GBV jeopardizes a woman’s health and well-being and detracts from her reproductive health.
Women Deliver: A Global Conference To End Maternal Deaths
November 30th, 2009
Women Deliver, a landmark global conference, will be held in Washington DC on June 7-9, 2010 to halt the needless deaths of over 500,000 girls and women who die every year during pregnancy and childbirth, and the four million newborn babies. These tragic deaths are a major contributor to poverty around the world, and can be easily prevented with effective, low-cost investments.
Health Systems are Failing the World’s Women
November 20th, 2009
Despite progress, health system shortfalls and gender discrimination are severely impacting women’s health worldwide, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report Women and Health: Today’s Evidence, Tomorrow’s Agenda.
Family Planning Saves Mothers’ Lives
November 19th, 2009
Recent research indicates that between 25 per cent to 40 per cent of maternal deaths could be avoided by ensuring access to family planning. This data was cited in the 2009 Report of the UN Secretary-General to the Commission on Population and Development, World Population Monitoring, E/CN.9/2009/3, on page 20, citation 35, which is an article by Oona M.R. Campbell and Wendy J. Graham, “Strategies for reducing maternal mortality: getting on with what works”, that appeared in The Lancet, vol. 368, 2006.