Women Deliver: Invest in Women - It Pays!

London – Every minute of every day, a woman dies needlessly during pregnancy or childbirth, most in the developing world. Ten million women are lost in every generation. Four million newborn babies die every year, also from causes that are mainly preventable. In addition, huge disparities exist between rich and poor countries, and between the rich and poor in all countries. Experts agree that with increased political will and adequate financial investment, most women and newborns can survive so that families, communities and nations can thrive.

This week, more than 1,600 participants from 105 countries, including Ministers of Health from around the world, UN agencies, celebrities, human rights activists, religious leaders, economists, nongovernmental organizations and health professionals are meeting in London at Women Deliver. The three-day global conference, 20 years after the launch of the Safe Motherhood Initiative, is aimed at attracting the political and financial will needed to save the lives of women and children. Below, are some of the voices heard at the conference:

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid
Executive Director, UNFPA
To make the world safe for mothers, we need to make the world safe for all women and girls. This means that we must join together to advance gender equality, empower women and girls, promote zero tolerance for all forms of violence against women, enlist men as partners and ensure women’s ability to control their own fertility and enjoy the right to sexual and reproductive health. We need urgent, coordinated and sustained action, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where maternal deaths remain high. Maternal health can be improved through strengthened political commitment and dedicating of increased resources. Life or death is a political decision. It is time for governments to deliver on their commitment to ensure universal access to reproductive heath. No woman should die giving life.

Jill Sheffield
President, Family Care International
Organizing Partner, Women Deliver
The year marks the 20th anniversary of the launch of the global Safe Motherhood Initiative. Over the last two decades, we have learned what it takes to save the lives of most of the mothers and infants who die needlessly around the world. Yet we have not put these lessons into widespread practice. While some countries have achieved remarkable progress in reducing maternal deaths, every minute of every day a woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth, nearly all in the developing world. Huge disparities exist between rich and poor countries and between the rich and the poor in all countries. Avoidable? Yes! What is lacking is the political will to do the right thing for women and for the world. All of us are watching the clock tick down to 2015, the target date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG 5—reducing maternal mortality by 75 per cent—is often called the heart of the MDGs. It underpins all the other MDGs, particularly those aimed at improving newborn and child health (MDG 4), reducing the toll of HIV and AIDS (MDG 6), ensuring universal access to education (MDG 2), and promoting gender equality (MDG 3). If we fail to meet our target with maternal mortality, the others will fail too.

Dr. Francisco Songane
Director, Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
We are here to discuss issues about women. We agree it is unacceptable that progress has been so slow. We have to change this. Addressing maternal health is addressing health systems. If any of those countries with a high burden of mortality can offer a Caesarian section to a woman whenever she needs it, done by a competent person, that country has got a working health system! That’s the direction we have to work towards. It’s not just for women, it’s for children too. We have heard that we are not progressing in improving child health because of the stagnation in neonatal deaths. We are not progressing because neonatal health isn’t linked with maternal health. If we succeed in taking care of the mother we will see an improvement in child health.

We are here to discuss issues about women. We agree it is unacceptable that progress has been so slow. We have to change this. Addressing maternal health is addressing health systems. If any of those countries with a high burden of mortality can offer a Caesarian section to a woman whenever she needs it, done by a competent person, that country has got a working health system! That’s the direction we have to work towards.  It’s not just for women, it’s for children too. We have heard that we are not progressing in improving child health because of the stagnation in neonatal deaths. We are not progressing because neonatal health isn’t linked with maternal health. If we succeed in taking care of the mother we will see an improvement in child health.

Douglas Alexander
Secretary of State for International Development for the United Kingdom
The death of a mother deprives a child, a family, a community and ultimately a country of one of its most valuable sources of health, happiness and prosperity. Every minute a woman dies from complications during pregnancy or childbirth. More than 10 million women, mostly in Africa and South Asia, have died in the last 20 years. This is a tragedy but so is the fact these deaths could have been prevented. We need to ensure health services not only function, but also reflect the needs of women. Women must have a voice to demand better services and to vote for the Member of Parliament who puts women’s health at the top of the political agenda.

Purnima Mane
Deputy Executive Director, UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund
Today, far too many women die during pregnancy and childbirth, one every minute, over half a million women a year, and these deaths are preventable through reproductive health services. To save the lives of women, every woman needs family planning, skilled attendants at birth and emergency obstetric care if complications arise. Given the world’s wealth and technology, no woman should die simply by having a baby. Women’s health is an issue that concerns all of us. It is an issue of human rights, and it is linked especially to the right to sexual and reproductive health. Every woman has the right to plan her family and to make decisions regarding reproduction, free of violence, coercion and discrimination. Making the world safe for mothers means making the world safe for all women and girls. 

- Compiled by Angela Walker

Contact Information

Angela Walker, +44 (0) 7975805316, awalker@unfpa.org
Katja Iversen, +1 917 403 3063, iversen@unfpa.org