International
Women
ONE in Ottawa with Christy Turlington-Burns
On June 3, ONE hosted a parliamentary reception at the National Gallery in Ottawa, Canada to raise awareness on maternal and child mortality ahead of the G8 in Muskoka later this month. Featuring a special appearance by model and activist Christy Turlington-Burns, we showed a clip of her new documentary No Woman, No Cry.
Ottawa-based ONE member Kirika Bussell attended the screening, and sent us this great photo and blog update:
People often advocate for a cause because of a direct link to a situation, or because we know someone who has been affected. It was her health scare following the birth of her first child that prompted Christy Turlington-Burns to learn about and then advocate for maternal and child health. She survived a common post-partum complication because of timely access to quality medical treatment, but not all women are so fortunate. It was this experience that inspired No Woman, No Cry.
ONE member Kirika Bussell and Christy Turlington-Burns at the event in Ottawa
Every minute a woman dies from preventable complications during pregnancy or birth. What is stopping us from keeping these preventable deaths occurring again and again? If the answer lies in education, compassion and understanding, then Ms. Turlington Burns has made the job of spreading the message more accessible, and more importantly, she has put a human face on what could simply be seen as another sad statistic.
At the screening I was fortunate enough to speak with Christy Turlington Burns about the concept that we all have a stake in the future of maternal and child health. She agreed that it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, a father or mother, or if you’re childless- this is a universal issue.
When I volunteered to assist with the ONE’s screening at the National Gallery, one of my goals was to help maximize the opportunity to generate interest and keep the issue moving. Reflecting on this event after the fact, I can say my interest in this issue has only grown the more I’ve learned. I hope other ONE members come to feel the same way. Everyone’s reasons to act are different, but when we do act, together we can act as ONE voice for proactive, comprehensive change. The future is ours, but the choice to act is yours.
Kirika M. Bussell, Ottawa, Canada
If you’d like a sneak peak at Christy’s documentary, visit www.everymothercounts.org.
To sign ONE’s petition to the G8 for 3.5 million new health workers go to:
The G8 agrees: Maternal and Child health a ‘top priority’
ONE members Jana Henderson (middle) and Nicole Yeadon (right) handed over ONE’s petition to Canadian Minister for International Cooperation Bev Oda © ACDI-CIDA/Mike Dembeck
Earlier this week G8 development ministers met for a crucial round of planning and negotiations on a maternal and child health initiative they will announce this summer at the G8 summit in Muskoka, Canada. At the top of the agenda: how to best address the global problem of 8 million plus children around the world still dying before their fifth birthday.
ONE ran a petition ahead of the meeting encouraging Canada, as host of the G8, to create a plan that was as ambitious and effective as possible. Any initiative to tackle maternal and child mortality must be specific, results-based and ambitious, with new funding for key global health initiatives.
The goal of the petition was demonstrate public support for the initiative and to encourage the G8 to be as visionary as possible. Find out more about the specifics of what ONE thinks a good G8 maternal and child health initiative would look like.
On 28 April ONE member Jana Henderson met with Canadian Minister for International Cooperation, Bev Oda, to hand over the 9,000+ signature-strong petition. Jana said:
“Today could not have gone any more smoothly. While we waited to meet Minister Oda I saw all the ministers for the G8 countries milling around me. We then had a quick handover with Bev Oda herself. It was the opportunity of a lifetime and I couldn’t have asked for any better treatment from those at the G8.”
At the close out of the meeting, the G8 released a joint statement recognising maternal and under-five health as a ‘top priority’ along with a statement of principles which should guide the final product. ONE will continue working with decision makers across the G8 in the lead up to the summit to ensure that the specifics of the initiative reflect our priorities.
G8 set to develop women and children’s health initiative
On 26 April, G8 development ministers will be meeting in Halifax, Canada, to develop an action plan on maternal, newborn and child health. This builds on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s pledge in January that as president of the G8 in 2010, Canada will use this year’s summit to “champion a major initiative to improve the health of women and children in the world’s poorest regions.”
For those of us working to fight global poverty, this announcement came as welcome news. Despite improvements in global health in recent years, progress on maternal and child health is still far from where it should be. More than 300,000 mothers still die a year during pregnancy and childbirth and nearly 9 million children die before their 5th birthday.
Yet most of these deaths are the result of preventable and treatable causes. New support for cost-effective, proven interventions could make a dramatic impact on maternal, newborn and child health.
In the past, the G8 has acknowledged the urgent need in maternal and child health along with some of the solutions, but has made few concrete commitments on how it will help African countries make improvements. With Canada’s leadership and public commitment to this issue, 2010 can be the year when the G8 finally takes action.
It’s also an important time for these issues to be highlighted. When African Heads of State meet at the African Union Summit in July they will focus on maternal and child health. In September all global leaders will meet in New York to review progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and with MDGs on maternal and child health being some of the most off-track, a robust plan from the G8 on this issue could galvanise the international community.
Ahead of the meeting of G8 development ministers in Halifax, ONE is outlining its recommendations to the G8. In order to be effective and to make a real difference in the lives of families in the world’s poorest regions, the G8‘s action strategy should:
- Be results-oriented - Canada and other G8 countries should commit to an action plan that combines high-impact interventions and long-term investments in local capacity with the ultimate goal of training 1 million health care workers in countries with a high burden of maternal and child deaths. They should work towards universal access to skilled birth attendants, universal access to bed nets, vaccination packages (including pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines) and anti-malarial drugs, and support comprehensive education campaigns about pregnancy to women of child bearing age. Finally, any initiative should have the goal of eliminating mother-to-children transmission of HIV by 2015.
- Mobilize new resources - Canada and other G8 countries should double bilateral Overseas Development Assistance to maternal, newborn and child health from approximately USD $4 billion in 2010 to USD $8 billion by 2013. This funding should be channelled through existing bilateral initiatives or new multilateral approaches in the future, such as an expanded Global Fund. In addition, the G8 should commit to full replenishment of multilateral organizations already working to improve maternal and child health such as GAVI (Global Alliance of Vaccines and Immunizations), the Global Fund, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Bank.
- Emphasise integration, coordination and country ownership – In addition to new resources, Canada and other G8 countries should also commit to improving the quality and effectiveness of maternal and child health efforts through a commitment to the principles of country ownership, integration and coordination. The G8 and other donors should commit to working with developing countries to devise technically sound national health plans through their internal processes and mechanisms like the International Health Partnership and the private sector to coordinate support and mobilise resources. The G8 should also support and encourage efforts by developing country governments to transparently mobilise domestic resources for improving maternal, newborn and child health and the expansion of affordable access to quality care.
- Ensure accountability based on the TRACK principles – Canada and other G8 countries should use this initiative to pilot a robust G8 focus on accountability in line with the accountability matrix and the TRACK principles, which calls for new promises to be Transparent, Results-orients and Accountable, while also articulating any Conditionalities and mapping out a strategy to ensure that will be Kept.
Good News for Maternal Health
A study published in The Lancet this week reports that maternal mortality has declined significantly for the first time in decades. The study, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and conducted by researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle and the University of Queensland in Brisbane, found that the number of women who died during pregnancy annually fell to an estimated 342,900 (uncertainty interval 302,100—394,300) in 2008 from 526,300 (446,400—629,600) in 1980, representing a 1.3 (1.0—1.5) percent drop in maternal deaths each year since 1990. These findings come after years of no perceived progress.
The divide between these estimates and those reported earlier by the UN (which still estimates around half a million maternal deaths annually, but is expected to release new data later this year), underscores the need for better development statistics and consistent measurement methodologies. When we have accurate statistics, we can effectively target interventions and tailor our approach to priority areas.
Despite the wide uncertainty intervals surrounding the numbers, the message of progress is clear. The study credits a number of factors for the drop in maternal mortality, including lower birth rates, increased educational attainment for women, higher incomes, and better care during delivery.
Six countries were found to account for over half of all maternal deaths: India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Additional, targeted efforts are needed in these priority areas.
This study also emphasizes the link between HIV/AIDS and maternal and child health, finding that one in every five maternal deaths in 2008 was related to HIV. In the absence of HIV, annual maternal mortality would have dropped to 281,500 in 2008, supporting arguments for the increased integration of maternal and child survival programs into mechanisms like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Some countries showed an unexpected increase in maternal mortality, partially attributed to better reporting, such as the U.S., Canada and Norway.
These new data should drive accelerated efforts to use proven interventions to save the lives of mothers around the world. The study should also call attention to the importance of better development statistics to target interventions, and the need for those interventions to reflect the integrated nature of health issues on the ground.
Delivering in The Hague
In the past few weeks, ONE’s Women ONE2ONE Initiative has run an online campaign collecting signatures of members in order to draw attention to the critical work the Global Fund is doing on women’s health and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. While the Global Fund is best known for its disease-specific work around HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria, we’ve been learning in The Hague how much of an impact the Global Fund has made on maternal and child health in the last decade. They’ve also outlined the path for the world to eliminate PMTCT by 2015—an incredible, feasible opportunity to ensure that every child born across the world is born HIV-free.
This afternoon, we were able to catch up with the Global Fund’s Executive Director, Professor Michel Kazatchkine, and deliver nearly 20,000 ONE member signatures. In our time with him, we shared how grateful ONE is for the Global Fund’s emphasis on the health of women and children, and demonstrated to both him and the Global Fund’s donors that there is real grassroots support behind full funding for the Global Fund that will allow for an expansion of PMTCT and women-focused efforts. He shared his thanks to ONE’s signatories, and we feel confident that the Global Fund is serious about its commitment to the health of women around the world.
Thanks to all of our members who have shown your support to-date! If you haven’t had the chance to sign yet, or if you’d like to share this important message with your friends and family, please visit http://www.one.org/women/gobeyond.html.
How violence against women is undoing development
A third of women suffer violence at some point in their life, whilst women who have experienced violence are up to three times more likely to be living with HIV.
These are just some of the shocking facts from a new ActionAid report titled Destined to fail? How violence against women is undoing development, which was launched recently in London.
I was lucky enough to attend the launch, chaired by Hadeel Ibrahim from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and listened to fascinating contributions from Charlotte Watts, Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Christine Butegwa, Akina Mama Wa Afrika and the author of the report, Zohra Moosa from ActionAid UK.
ActionAid argues that unless violence against women is significantly reduced, the UN Millennium Development Goals won’t be met.
Zohra Moosa, the report’s author, said: “Violence against women is an appalling but depressingly common abuse of women’s rights. We can’t afford to ignore its impact on individuals and upon whole societies.”
One of the key recommendations in the report is that the UK Government put violence against women at the heart of its foreign policy by appointing a minister specifically on this issue. There was in fact some exciting news on this subject very recently as the Prime Minister announced that he was appointing Baroness Kinnock to take on a new role, leading on the Government’s work in this area and making sure that UK efforts are coordinated across the Department for International Development, the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence.
ActionAid’s report shows that violence against women is a barrier that hinders progress being made on eradicating poverty. Important steps have been taken internationally to recognise the extent of the problem, but what is needed now is urgent action.
A global health diva
A month ago I had the opportunity to travel across Ghana and Sierra Leone with Yvonne Chaka Chaka, South African musical legend and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Despite her modesty, Yvonne would inevitably steal the show at every stop we made, bursting into song in schools, hospitals and factories at the request of our hosts.
Yet it wasn’t until last weekend that I witnessed the true power of Yvonne’s voice on the continent. To help celebrate her 25 years in the music industry, fellow South African musicians Lira and Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse joined Yvonne in Sun City, South Africa. Lira and Hotstix helped warm up the crowd, but it was Yvonne who convinced three First Ladies and a handful of Ministers up to dance on stage and captured the audience with films from her travels to meet women across the continent.
After keeping first ladies and ministers up all night dancing, the next morning Yvonne brought them around a table for a much different purpose: a consultation on integrated preventative strategies to meet Millennium Development Goals 4, 5, and 6, which target the reduction of child mortality, maternal mortality, and the spread of infectious diseases.
Integration might seem like a bland topic to follow-up a concert, but considering the occasion – the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day- the discussion was anything but boring. Women across the continent are perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of integrated, comprehensive approaches to healthcare. Here in DC and in African capitals, programming and funding for health is often compartmentalized into buckets like HIV/AIDS, child survival and malaria; but for women, interventions like clean water, vaccinations, skilled birth attendants and insecticide-treated bed nets are all part of a single package to keep them and their families healthy. Although I was one of the only observers from the Washington, D.C. advocacy community, this conversation felt especially timely given the administration’s commitment to both an integrated and women’s centered approach in the Global Health Initiative outlined last month.
The forum kicked off with three presentations on integrated strategies. First, Debrework Zewdie, Executive Director of the Global Fund, talked about the Fund’s success at promoting integration and supporting health systems in countries like Ethiopia and Malawi, as well as its current financing challenge. She was followed by Sophia Musaka Monaco of UNAIDS, who spoke of the remaining barriers to achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS, treatment, prevention and care and warned that through disease specific interventions we are “treating our people like programs.” Finally, Dr. Eric Lugada presented on a pilot program that CHF International launched in Kenya last year with the help of Yvonne and a firm called Vestergard Frandsen launched last year in a Kenyan community. To tackle the three interrelated challenges of HIV, malaria and diarrhea, the program used a community-based model to deliver CarePacks, which include bed nets, “Life Straw” water purifiers, condoms and educational materials. You can read about it here.
After the presentations, a lively discussion ensued on the impact of poverty and disease on women and what needs to happen to make real progress in healthcare across the continent. The spectrum of topics reflected the diversity of the participants, ranging from greater accountability and spending by African governments and to better incorporating men into women and family health programs, to greater financing for integrated approaches through demand-driven mechanisms like the Global Fund. A need to address women’s health and utilize their role as leaders in their community was central to all these strategies.
The meeting concluded with a commitment by Yvonne to bring everyone back together in August for a second “Leading African Women’s Forum,” and to continue to offer up her voice for not just AIDS or malaria or child health, but for an integrated approach to address the health of women and their families. Ideas and opinions on all these topics will continue in DC and other hubs across the globe, but it takes often someone like Yvonne- a true global health diva- to bring them together and extend them to the communities where they matter the most.
A busy women’s week
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| 3000 white roses highlighted the fact that every minute of every day a mother-to-be from somewhere around the world dies simply because they don’t have access to the vital healthcare they need before and during childbirth. © Save the Children |
Last week was an unofficial women’s week in the UK with a string of events starting with International Women’s Day on the Monday, the launch of ONE’s Women ONE2ONE campaign, and ending with Mothering Sunday (Mothers Day here in the UK).
On Friday I joined a gathering outside the Houses of Parliament in London to take part in the ‘Minute for Mothers’ event organised by our friends at Save the Children. The idea was to bring people together to remember the women and babies who unnecessarily lose their lives every day.
Everyone was given a tag to write a personalised message of support, which was then attached to a white rose and added to the display.
The singer and campaigner Annie Lennox spoke at the event, which also included a moving minute’s silence in memory of the women who die in childbirth every minute of every day, and for the 2 million babies who die on their first day of life every year.
Afterwards, just as the rain started (it’s Britain after all) we headed into the House of Commons for a mum’s cafe run by the online forum Mumsnet. Following some lovely tea and biscuits served by the Mumsnet folk dressed in brightly coloured dresses and aprons, we listened to moving speeches, which literally brought a tear to my eye.
Annie Lennox spoke passionately about the fact that HIV has become the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age worldwide. Whilst Gareth Thomas MP, Minister of State in the Department for International Development talked about his trip to Sierra Leone and what he saw there, urging people to continue to advocate strongly on this important issue. Jasmine Whitbread, CEO of Save the Children in the UK closed the event, highlighting her recent visit to Niger and northern Nigeria where she saw firsthand the benefits of informal groups and networks of women supporting each other and passing on advice, particularly in the more remote rural areas.
It was a powerful end to a week of events focussing on the situation that many women today find themselves in around the world. But it also showed that when women have access to education, health services, economic opportunities and political process, they, their children, their communities and their countries reap the benefits.
P.S. It’s not too late to take part. Send a virtual flower, which will be delivered to the party leaders in the UK.
Joining women on the bridge
On a sunny Monday hundreds of women met on London’s Millennium Bridge to show their solidarity with women around the world on International Women’s Day.
They were joined with thousands of other women in more than 100 Join Me on the Bridge events in 18 different countries around the globe.
From Sudan, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United States women came together to show that they build the bridges to peace and development.
They also remembered those women in other countries who were not able to meet on bridges due to the insecurity and for fear for their lives.
Watch a video of what happened in London:
In the last 100 years, since International Women’s Day was first celebrated, a great deal has changed for many women. But for those in developing countries change has not been so swift with an estimated 70% of people living in poverty being female.
In 1910, when International Women’s Day was established, 355 women per 100,000 live births died as a direct result of childbirth or pregnancy-related causes in England and Wales. Today the number of maternal deaths stands at around 14 per 100,000 across the UK.
Meanwhile recent figures show that in developing countries an average of 450 women per 100,000 live births die in childbirth.
By joining other women on the bridge on Monday we showed our commitment to change this.
P.S. If you weren’t able to take part in an event you can still join the Join me on the Bridge campaign and show your government that you want them to invest in women.
Take a minute for mothers
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Around the world a woman dies needlessly every minute in childbirth and 2 million babies are lost each year on their very first day of life. It’s a scandal that hasn’t much changed for a hundred years.
But even more tragic is the fact that almost all of these deaths are preventable and often caused by the same treatable complications that face mother’s in richer countries.
In advance of Mothers Day in the UK, which is on 14 March, a coalition of leading charities including Save the Children, Oxfam and Amnesty International are appealing for members of the public across the UK to take part in their Minute for Mothers campaign.
If you live in the UK there are lots of things you can do:
1) Add your voice to the campaign at www.millionmums.org
2) Lay a flower for mums
On Friday 12 March at 10:30am, join hundreds of people at Old Palace Yard in Central London (opposite Parliament), to lay a flower in honour of the babies and mothers who have died. Wear white, the traditional Eastern colour of mourning. But wear it as the colour of light and hope, for the mothers and babies of the future. RSVP on the facebook event page
3) Send a flower
Send a virtual white flower to the leaders of political parties in the UK.
4) Spread the word on Twitter
Tweet the following message: Every minute a mother dies. Politicians need 2 b aware that #mothersmatter RT 2 make it a trend b4 Mothers day
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About the Blog
The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
TAGS: Canada, G8, Maternal and Child Health, Uncategorized, Women