I’m excited to report from the Leadership for Health Summit, where 15 African First Ladies and their delegations are in LA to share their challenges, successes and hopes for their countries. One of the main themes of the Summit is the importance of country-owned leadership and support partnered with sustainable international partnerships and resources. The summit emphasizes the important role the First Ladies can play in linking the communities to the policy recommendations therefore encouraging grassroots progress. There was across-the-board recognition of the challenge of making progress in maternal mortality and the role First ladies can play in raising the profile of this issue on the international development agenda so that successes can be realized. First Ladies were also advised to move away from pet projects and start to approach development concerns in a more comprehensive manner to encourage sustainable interventions.

During the “Tackling HIV/AIDS and Malaria” panel Monday afternoon, Samuel Adenyi-Jones (Director of the Office of Global Health Affairs and African Affairs for the US Department of Health and Human Services) and Steven Philips (Medical Director for ExxonMobil’s Global Issues and Projects) offered specific examples of when local leadership was critical to increasing awareness and inspiring behavior change. Dr Phillips mentioned how former Nigerian president Obasanjo’s public HIV/AIDS test in 2006 helped to open dialogue and work towards decreasing the taboo of testing throughout the country. Jones shared that the Society of Women and AIDS was created due to the persistence and commitment of several African First Ladies. They both thanked the First Ladies for their leadership and reiterated that they have the power to use their position and voice to reach every village.

In the Maternal Health panel, family planning was a strong theme and Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, former Minister of Health, Ghana, and Vice President, IPAS, Africa Alliance, lamented the low use of contraception on the continent which is linked to the 5.5 million unsafe abortions a year responsible for 40% of maternal deaths in Africa. She also emphasized the importance of legalizing abortions as part of a comprehensive health strategy as this could help prevent up to 30% of maternal deaths. Other panelists stressed the importance of leadership once again, and particularly the First Ladies position as role models in encouraging social and behavioral changes, encouraging delayed marriages and delayed first births that could positively impact maternal health.

More to come!

-Margaret McDonnell and Edith Jibunoh

Yesterday, I had the great privilege of attending day one of the first ever African First Ladies Health Summit at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. This magnificent event, held over a two-day period, will attempt to tackle the complicated issues of HIV/AIDS and malaria, maternal health, girl’s education and most importantly, leadership.

As a Californian woman (and an attendee of the the Women’s Conference), it was exciting for me to witness First Lady of California Maria Shriver welcoming 17 African First Ladies to the Leadership for Health Summit today. Maria Shriver said that she understands the challenges and difficulties of being a first lady but remarked on how the position presents an incredible opportunity to make a difference. She said that this Summit is a launching pad for longer-term partnerships and an open dialogue for connecting and sharing journeys, lessons, challenges and successes. In fact, she mentioned that they are exploring ways to expand the Women’s Conference model into the African continent. In her speech, she also made references to existing initiatives and partnerships that work to save and improve lives, such as (RED), which raises millions of dollars for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

As a hunger/poverty activist and an advocate for ONE, I try to seize every opportunity I can to gain a deeper and more thorough knowledge about the issues I advocate. Up until now these have primarily been centered around more and better aid, ensuring that all children have access to health care and education and advocating for a more comprehensive approach to fighting HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and other deadly but preventable disease. I had never tackled the issues surrounding maternal health. At the end of the day today, I had learned exactly where maternal mortality fell in to the fight against global poverty and disease and how it is the one MDG that has not shown progress. The issue of maternal mortality is an urgent one and was the key theme of today’s events and discussions.

As I watched these beautiful and powerful women speak to one another and to us, I was inspired by the passion they showed for their countries and could see in them a very common bond and wish for their people, especially their women and children. They want their mothers to have healthy and safe pregnancies and births. They want their girls to grow up educated and not fall victim to too early motherhood or false information fueled by inadequate information and age old taboos. They don’t want their women to have to walk 50km to the nearest clinic to seek medical care. They don’t want their doctors and other health care providers that they have paid to train, leave them for better-funded health facilities in other countries because their own health facilities are ill equipped. 70% of disease in Africa is preventable so why not invest in prevention?

One of the First Ladies remarked that there is an old African adage, “Every pregnant woman has one foot in the grave.” How sad.

The consensus amongst the First Ladies was that what was lacking in Africa was the will of the people. This is where the First Ladies can find their true power. By demonstrating their will, they can be a beacon to the women of their countries. Social change must take place from inside Africa and leadership is needed for this to occur. They stressed the need to mobilize their own communities as well as the need to educate girls to delay their first birth and first marriage. These are just a couple of simple and cost effective ways to fight disease, maternal and infant death and, in the end, poverty.

The African First Ladies Health Summit is the vision of US Doctors for Africa and African Synergy, whose hope is for a broader partnership amongst the wide range of partners attending the summit and the First Ladies themselves. Hopefully together, they can provide these leading women with the tools and support they need to make real and lasting change in Africa.

-Amy Quinn, ONE Volunteer

First ladies from across Africa will meet with a range of top experts in a first-ever U.S. summit to develop and improve locally-run programs that benefit mothers and children throughout the African continent. The Leadership for Health Summit, to take place April 20 and 21 in Los Angeles is a joint effort of U.S. Doctors for Africa and African Synergy, a group formed by 22 first ladies from Africa.

Political leaders and policy experts, as well as representatives from aid organizations, charitable foundations and key businesses, will join the first ladies for the summit. The goal is to forge new partnerships to expand and enhance locally-run programs started by African first ladies. By linking the first ladies with the expertise and resources, organizers hope to improve the health of millions of mothers and children across Africa, saving hundreds of thousands of lives each year.

“Empowering Africa’s first ladies is an innovative approach to bettering the lives of millions of Africans. These are some of Africa’s most important leaders and aiding their efforts is critical,” said Ted Alemayhu, founder of U.S. Doctors for Africa.

During the invitation-only summit, the first ladies of Africa will introduce their domestic and region-wide efforts across Africa, engage in dialogues with other leaders from the field of global health, and set actionable goals for the coming year.

As an organizing partner for the summit, ONE is working to promote the first ladies’ work and leadership and to help develop sustainable partnerships towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The other organizing partners are allAfrica.com, Africare, Global Health Council, the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program, Until There’s A Cure Foundation, Vital Voices Global Partnership, White Ribbon Alliance, Women Deliver and the World Health Organization as well as corporate sponsors, Chevron, General Electric, ExxonMobil and the RAND Corporation.

This group of partners looks forward to building greater partnerships around the first ladies’ objectives, as laid out in African Synergy’s founding Statute: “strengthening the spirit of co-operation, partnership and collaboration among stakeholders at national, regional and international levels through a new approach and more active solidarity”; and of “pooling our efforts for more concerted and concrete action in order to alleviate suffering and effectively combat HIV/AIDS (and other scourges)”.

African Synergy’s collaborations include the opening of maternal health clinics, HIV treatment centers, orphan care programs and vocational training schools in Guinea, Niger, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Mali and Cameroon; as well as numerous other initiatives and advocacy efforts throughout all 22 member countries.

Immediately following the summit, the first ladies of Africa will be honored for their leadership at a gala benefit the evening of April 21, hosted by a committee of Hollywood activists and featuring musical performances by Natalie Cole and South African legendary musician Vusi Mahlasela.

ONE is honored to work in partnership with African SynergyUS Doctors for Africa, a humanitarian organization committed to increasing access to medical care for diseases and conditions affecting the people of Africa. Most of us can echo USDFA’s vision statement — We envision a future for Africa, free from the burden of preventable and treatable diseases and conditions, in which its people can prosper.

To learn more about the Leadership for Health Summit, go to: http://leadershipforhealth.org/. To purchase a ticket for the Gala, go to: http://www.usdfa.org/gala2009/.

-Margaret McDonnell, NGO Partnerships and Faith Relations Team