adminRoselyne Sachiti in Sandton, S. Africa
Over 800 leaders and public health experts from around the world who are gathered here have called for accelerated action to improve maternal, newborn and child health.
The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH) 2014 Partners’ Forum was on Monday opened by Graça Machel, chairperson of PMNCH and African Ambassador for Committing to Child Survival.
This was her first public appearance since the death of her husband, Nelson Mandela.
“The world has made remarkable progress to improve health and expand opportunities over the past 14 years. Despite all efforts, there is still much more to be done,” said Machel.
“Women and children have not been covered adequately. We must ensure that all women, adolescent girls, children and newborns, no matter where they live, are able to fulfil their rights to health and education, and realise their full potential.”
In support of the UN Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child movement, the Partners’ Forum builds on two months of high-level meetings in Toronto, Prague, and Washington DC, where global leaders and health experts meet to discuss strategies to promote the health of women and children.
At this forum, leaders discussed steps to assist countries that have lagged behind in efforts to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health and made specific recommendations for how to maintain the focus on women and children within the post-2015 development agenda.
Notably, participants also pledged their financial and policy support and a range of new resources to support the implementation of the new Every Newborn action plan (ENAP), a roadmap to improve newborn health and prevent stillbirths by 2035.
South Africa’s Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, said the global gathering gave them the opportunity to learn from each other’s successes and challenges and to identify new approaches. He said countries should focus on achieving MDG 4 and 5, which were lagging behind as the 2015 deadline approached.
Despite improvements, 289 000 women still die every year from complications at birth and 6,6 million children do not live to see their fifth birthday, including nearly three million newborns.
At least 200 million women and girls are unable to access family planning services the world over.
Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Community Health at the World Health Organisation, Dr Flavia Bustreo said: “There is absolutely no reason for so many newborns to die every year when their lives can be saved with simple, cost-effective solutions.
“The WHO remains committed to support countries and work with partners as the plan gets implemented, and to the accountability agenda, which includes reporting on progress achieved every year until 2030.”
The government of South Africa is a Forum co-host, together with PMNCH, Countdown to 2015, A Promise Renewed and the independent Expert Review Group.
Online Reporter