Updates

The official site for the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, www.everywomaneverychild.org, is live. Click through to make a commitment to women's and children's health.

The need for increased efforts to improve women’s health was highlighted during the 61st session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, which took place in Malaysia last week from October 11-15th.  WHO Regional Director of the Pacific Shin Young-Soo, a participant at Women Deliver’s “Accelerating Action on the MDGs” brunch event during the UN summit, remarked during a pre-session press conference that “…it is absolutely shameful in this day and age that so many women in the region are dying in childbirth or pregnancy.”   Each day, more than 100 women in the region die from pregnancy-related causes. Read more...

Last Monday, October 11^th, the United Nations released a report entitled "Supporting Efforts to End Obstetric Fistula" which estimates that $750 million will be needed to treat existing and new cases of obstetric fistula occurring between now and 2015. 

Despite being almost entirely preventable when universal and equitable access to quality maternal and reproductive health services exists, the Lancet has reported that at least 2 million and as many as 3.5 million women suffer from obstetric fistula.  According to the World Health Organization, adolescent girls are especially vulnerable, and their risk for maternal mortality is two to five times greater than that faced by women in their twenties. Read more...

The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for urgent action to curb maternal death. The Human Rights Council reaffirmed that pregnancy-related deaths and injuries are a human rights issue, and therefore human rights must be integrated into maternal health policies and programs. In addition, the Council called for disaggregated data collection and the adoption of national-level targets and indicators in order to identify and address underlying causes of maternal mortality and morbidity. Ninety-five countries co-sponsored the resolution. Read more...

Culminating a global summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Heads of State and Government, along with the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research organizations, kicked off a concerted world-wide effort to save the lives of more than 16 million women and children. At a special UN event to launch the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, stakeholders pledged over $40 billion in resources for women’s and children’ health, as well as many other commitments of efforts and resources. Women Deliver launched a commitment earlier in the week at the event, “Accelerating Action on the MDGs.” (Download here)

“I welcome Women Deliver’s commitment to galvanise world-wide advocacy around MDG 5 – improving maternal health,” said United Nation’s Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. “Ensuring that women and girls can access the prevention, treatment and care they need is one of the best investments we can make for this and future generations."

Women Deliver Philippines, the country's first-ever localization of the global initiative that started in London, brings to spotlight the tragic deaths of women during pregnancy and childbirth, and of newborns dying during their first month of life to mobilize investment for the improvement of maternal and newborn health.

The number of women dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth has decreased by 34 per cent from an estimated 546 000 in 1990 to 358 000 in 2008, according to a new report, "Trends in maternal mortality", released by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet to head United Nations Women (UN Women), a newly created entity to oversee all of the world body’s programs aimed at promoting women’s rights and full participation in global affairs.

The Live & Living MDG 5 Shadow Report is an interactive, web-based report on the progress of the Millennium Development Goals 3 & 5 in twelve countries in Asia. The countries covered include the South Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan; the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines; the Mekong countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as well as the East Asian country of China.

Driving forward the momentum gathered from a successful second global conference, Women Deliver is organizing a side event, “Accelerating Action on the MDGs: Delivering for Girls, Women and Babies”, for delegates to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). On Sunday, September 19th from 9:30-11:30am, a day before the Special Session begins, UN member country delegates, NGOs, corporations, donors, UN agencies, youth leaders and media will gather in New York City to discuss progress made on the Millennium Development Goals as well as concrete steps to be taken. Read more...

The United Nations General Assembly resolution to establish "UN Women" was agreed to on 30 June and formally adopted by the General Assembly on Friday, 2 July. The UN previously had four separate entities dedicated to women’s issues which will be combined in the new single entity focused on gender equality and the empowerment of women: the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), and the Office of the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI).

Updated data on mortality rates among mothers and young children are likely to encourage G8 leaders, who at their meeting later this week will make this health issue – long considered a neglected area of international development efforts – a 2010 priority.

According to the United Nations annual assessment of progress on the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), released today, the number of deaths among children under the age of 5 has dropped from 12.6 million in 1990 to an estimated 8.8 million in 2008, corresponding to a decline in the mortality rate from 100 deaths per 1,000 live births to 72 in 2008 (a 28 per cent decline). But progress is falling short of the MDG target under Goal 4, for a two-thirds reduction in childhood mortality rates between 1990 and 2015, and millions of children continue to die each year at a tragically young age.  

Earlier this month, six UN agencies issued a joint statement that called for accelerated efforts to fulfill the human rights of marginalized adolescent girls. The statement, issued during the Commission on the Status of Women, sends a strong message that the UN and its partner organizations believe empowering adolescent girls can bring about desired changes in the world.