On September 20, White Ribbon Alliance Global Patron Sarah Brown, Mothers Day Every Day Advisor Arianna Huffington and Donna Karan will host the first annual Women: Inspiration & Enterprise (WIE) Symposium for some of the most powerful women in politics, philanthropy, media, fashion and the arts. The WIE Symposium is an opportunity to highlight the ways in which people from all walks of life can contribute to the global effort to put an end to needless deaths from pregnancy and childbirth. In order to ensure that the symposium includes the next generation of powerful women, the WRA has hosted two competitions to support the participation of young champions for women from our National Alliances and from the United States. 50 Young Champions for Women and 7 National Alliance Young Women Advocates were selected to attend the event.
Updates
Brief Insights From the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010: Day Two
September 2nd, 2010
Written by Kate Mitchell of the Maternal Health Task Force; originally posted at MHTF Blog
Plenary one at the Global Maternal Health Conference in Delhi was about finding common ground amidst two sets of maternal mortality estimates. Much like plenary one, plenary two, Community and facility interventions: reframing the discussion, was also about finding a common ground. It was about closing the divide between those who advocate for community-based care and those who advocate for facility based care–an issue that has caused major debates in the maternal health community for decades. This session was about reframing the discussion from “one or the other” to “both”. Plenary speakers called for an understanding that improving global maternal health must be about striking the right balance–and scaling up evidence-based interventions both at the community level and within facilities.
Click through to read brief insights from the second plenary.
Making Outpatient Abortion Services a Reality
September 2nd, 2010
By: Janna Oberdorf, Communications Manager for Women Deliver; originally posted at the MHTF Blog
Every year, an estimated 20 million unsafe abortions take place. And of all maternal deaths, unsafe abortion accounts for 13%. Imagine if we could change that. Imagine if we could make a serious dent in the deaths and morbidities that are caused from botched abortions, from unhygienic surgeries, and from unskilled providers.
Now, imagine if we could change that with a few simple, low-cost pills. That’s what the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol are doing for women around the world.
I am 27. And I am a maternal health advocate.
August 31st, 2010
By: Janna Oberdorf, Communications Manager for Women Deliver; originally posted at MHTF Blog
These are two things I’m very proud of. I’m proud to be young (or at least young-ish) and passionate about women and mothers. I’m proud that when I see images of women giving birth in low-quality health facilities, I want to yell at the world. I’m proud that the first time I learned what fistula is, I wanted to smash my computer screen and say, “Why didn’t I even know about this before?” This is a fight that I’m ready and willing to take – the fight for mothers around the world.
But why are there so few young people involved in maternal health, at the research level, at the advocacy level, and at the policy level?
Clean Birth Kits: Do We Need Them?
August 31st, 2010
By: Janna Oberdorf, Communications Manager for Women Deliver; originally posted at the MHTF Blog
Clean Birth Kits. It seems like a no-brainer. And, as one audience member at the Global Maternal Health Conference said, “There’s no doubt these would work.”
But, there is doubt, as I learned at today’s session, “Clean birth kits: do we need them?”. There’s serious speculation on what impact and effect clean birth kits (CBKs) would have on saving lives. The session panelists presented a review of the existing evidence on clean birth practices and the potential role for CBKs in supporting these preventive practices, and they found serious gaps in knowledge and research.
Power to the People: How to Use Policy and Advocacy Tools to Improve Maternal Health
August 31st, 2010
By: Janna Oberdorf, Communications Manager for Women Deliver; originally posted at the MHTF Blog
At today’s session on “Policy and advocacy tools” at the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010, panelists presented on web-based and new media options for disseminating maternal health research and messages. Though online technology is an often-untapped resource for the maternal health field, the panelists laid out specific ideas and strategies that have the potential to catalyze policy change.
Brief Insights From the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010
August 30th, 2010
By: Kate Mitchell from the Maternal Health Task Force; orginally posted at the MHTF Blog
Today (August 30, 2010) marked the first day of the Global Maternal Health Conference in Delhi. Throughout the day, the nearly 700 conference participants–made up of maternal health researchers, programmers, advocates, social entrepreneurs, policymakers, and young professionals–shared a number of insights, lessons learned, recommendations and innovative ideas for improving the health of women around the world.
Click through to read brief insights from the Inaugural Ceremony speeches...
Health Experts Convene at Global Maternal Health Conference 2010
August 30th, 2010
From August 30 to September 1, more than 600 maternal health experts will gather in Delhi, India, for the Global Maternal Health Conference 2010, the first international technical conference devoted exclusively to maternal health. Hosted by the Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth and the Public Health Foundation of India, the conference aims to increase consensus and coordination around the evidence, programs, and advocacy needed to advance maternal health. According to latest estimates, more than 342,000 women worldwide die due to preventable pregnancy or childbirth complications every year.
New Video Highlights “Adding It Up” Report Findings
August 23rd, 2010
"Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health," a report released in late 2009 by UNFPA and The Guttmacher Institute, has just launched a motion graphics video to help advocate for increased funding for family planning and maternal and newborn care.
New Report Details Rights Abuses Stemming From Philippine Abortion Ban
August 5th, 2010
The Center for Reproductive Rights released a new report, "Forsaken Lives: The Harmful Impact of the Philippine Criminal Abortion Ban," which illustrates the harmful consequences of the Philippine ban on abortion from a human rights perspective. By criminalizing abortion, the report states, the government has severely curtailed the reproductive rights of Filipino women and forces them to resort to dangerous alternatives. Despite the ban, each year, an estimated 560,000 clandestine abortions occur in the Philippines, 90,000 women suffered complications requiring hospitalization, and 1,000 women died.
The Maternal Health Task Force Announces New Grants
July 22nd, 2010
The Maternal Health Task Force at EngenderHealth announced today that it has awarded eight new grants supporting innovative maternal health research across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The research, which will be carried out by local organizations in developing countries, will lead to national policy recommendations for improving maternal health.
Each research project will evaluate an ongoing effort to advance maternal health in places where too many women still die from preventable complications of pregnancy and childbirth. Examples of such projects include integrating maternal health care with HIV prevention and treatment, organizing support groups for pregnant mothers, and outfitting health workers in rural communities with cellular phones to facilitate emergency care for pregnant women. Following are summaries of the new grants...
Midwifery Symposium at the Women Deliver 2010 Conference
July 8th, 2010
The Symposium on Strengthening Midwifery: Saving Lives and Promoting Health of Women and Newborns took place 5 June 2010 - 6 June 2010 in the days leading up to the Women Deliver 2010 conference in Washington, D.C. Capitalizing on the momentum pre-conference, the symposium convened over 200 midwives and others with midwifery skills, leading UN agencies, civil society, policy makers and donors (multi-lateral and bilateral) engaged globally in strengthening midwifery education and quality of midwifery services. The primary aim was to build the consensus required to make a fundamental push for investments in strengthened midwifery services, including education, regulation and association, as a way to reach MDGs 4, 5 and 6. The result of the symposium was a joint statement: A Global Call to Action: Strengthen Midwifery to Save Lives and Promote Health of Women and Newborns.
Parliamentarians at Women Deliver 2010 Commit to Turning Dialogue Into Action
June 18th, 2010
“The biggest enemy of women’s health and rights is political indifference”, Jill Sheffield, President of Women Deliver remarked during the opening plenary session. The Parliamentarians’ Forum on “Delivering Solutions, Delivering Resources, Delivering Leadership: The Role of Parliamentarians in advancing Maternal Health” was dedicated to prevent just that and discussed the way forward to achieve MDG 5 in the remaining five years from a Parliamentarians’ angle.
The Parliamentarians’ Forum culminated in a Parliamentarians’ Statement. Amongst others, Parliamentarians called for additional US $12 billion a year to be invested in women and girls and to actively work towards the establishment of a global funding mechanism for family planning, mothers and children with other international donors. The statement urges Ministers to establish realistic and verifiable annual action plans for reaching individual MDG targets with a special emphasis on MDG 5 (a and b) to be presented at the UN High Level Meeting on the MDGs and commit to take a leading role in communicating the societal, economic, political and cultural benefits of investing in women and girls to key stakeholders. The full statement is attached.
BBC: ‘Momentum’ on Tackling Maternal Deaths
June 16th, 2010
By Jane Dreaper, Originally posted at BBC News
Health correspondent, BBC News, at the Women Deliver conference in Washington DC
Campaigners have pledged to keep up pressure on finance ministers to fund efforts to stop women dying in pregnancy and childbirth.
Women Deliver president, Jill Sheffield, told meeting delegates that the economic arguments were "dramatic". It comes after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a boost in funds for women and child health. World leaders agreed 10 years ago that maternal deaths should be reduced by 75% by 2015. Progress on this - the fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG) - has until recently been slow - but activists say there is now a sense of momentum. Around 350,000 women around the world die each year from preventable problems such as infections or blood clots. Often, they have not had access to basic care during or after their pregnancy.
Help spend Bill and Melinda’s money!
June 11th, 2010
originally posted at Conversations for a Better World
This week, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have promised to spend $1.5 billion on family planning, nutrition and general health of women and children in developing countries over the next five years. But they didn't say exactly /how/ they will invest the money. This is where your ideas come into the picture! more...
Women Deliver 2010: Moving Commitments Into Action
June 9th, 2010
By: Joanne Omang
WASHINGTON, June 9 – The Women Deliver 2010 conference ended here today with new energy and commitments for action for women’s health from members of parliament, young people and the rest of the more than 3,000 participants.
“My government, like most governments, will react if public pressure is applied to them,” said Dr. Keith Martin, a member of parliament in Canada, at a panel session.
Women Deliver founder and president Jill Sheffield said the three-day gathering was, in Winston Churchill’s words, “not the end, not even the beginning of the end, but perhaps the end of the beginning” in the drive to halt the global toll of women’s deaths and disabilities from pregnancy-related causes. more...
Let Women Deliver For Us All
June 9th, 2010
By: Karl Hofmann, CEO and President of PSI, originally posted on The Huffington Post
In April, the Lancet released some encouraging statistics on maternal health: maternal deaths dropped from about 526,000 in 1980 to around 340,000 maternal deaths worldwide in 2008. This is a decline worth celebrating, but not a reason to pull back; if anything, this study should drive us to do more: to advocate for necessary policy changes and to push for funding increases for maternal health. We know progress is possible.
More than 3,200 people - everyone from world leaders to midwives working in rural Africa - will convene in Washington, D.C., today to attend the Women Deliver Conference 2010. We are meeting to map out this progress. more...
Good News and Bad in Countdown 2015 Progress Report
June 8th, 2010
By Joanne Omang
WASHINGTON, June 8 – Despite some encouraging signs, a “dramatic acceleration” of investment and action will be required if the world is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals related to maternal and child health by the 2015 deadline, the global tracking project Countdown to 2015 reported here today.
In new research findings released at the three-day Women Deliver 2010 conference here, the report said only 19 of the 68 countries being followed are on track to achieve MDG 4, reducing child deaths by three-quarters by 2015, and only five will achieve MDG 5, lowering mothers’ deaths by the same percentage. Ten countries actually lost ground in the past five years, the study said. more...
Every Mother Counts
June 7th, 2010
By: Christy Turlington, originally posted on The Huffington Post
Christy Turlington previewed her film, NO WOMAN, NO CRY Monday night at the Women Deliver 2010 conferernce
This week, nearly 3,000 people from more than 140 countries are gathering in downtown Washington D.C. as part of the world's largest international meeting of women's health and empowerment champions -- the Women Deliver Conference. At this critical time, these passionate and committed advocates are here to deliver a message that sustainable development around the globe can only be achieved if we prevent maternal deaths.
After the last Women Deliver Conference in 2007, I had my second child, traveled abroad to Peru with CARE as their Advocate for Maternal Health, and set out to make a documentary film about maternal mortality first-hand that hundreds of thousands of women die every year from pregnancy and childbirth complications, making reproductive health problems the leading cause of death worldwide among women ages 15 to 44; yet strikingly, experts estimate that 90% of these are preventable. The impact extends beyond individual lives. In fact each year millions of children are orphaned, and motherless children are twice as likely to die before the age of five. Economies suffer as well, with an estimated $15 billion lost in productivity each year. more...
To Deliver, Women Must Push
June 7th, 2010
By Joanne Omang
WASHINGTON, June 7 -- Racial disparities in U.S. maternal mortality rates are “unacceptable and unconscionable” and will be addressed by recent health care reform legislation, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the Women Deliver 2010 conference here today.
African American women die from pregnancy-related causes at a rate three times greater than white women do, a “pretty alarming” finding for which remedies are “long overdue,” Sebelius said. Speaking at a panel discussion to 3,000 conference participants at closing plenary on the first day of the three-day session, Sebelius called mothers’ deaths “a moral dilemma and a political dilemma” that the Obama administration is addressing at many levels. more...