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As many of you know, the first Women Deliver conference in 2007 put MDG5 on the international development agenda. Now, the Women Deliver team is thinking about a second conference that would secure the [...]

The International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights (IIMMHR) just released a publication called “The Missing Link: Applied Budget Work as a Tool to Hold Governments Accountable for Maternal Mortality Reduction Commitments.”
This report, co-authored with the International Budget Partnership, explores the relevance of civil society budget analysis and advocacy and its potential as a [...]

Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out! I just read an article from AllAfrica.com about doctors in Ghana who have had to halt special prenatal home visits because road crash casualties are taking up so much of their time and scarce resources, medical workers say. According to the article, in March and [...]

Yesterday, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution recognizing maternal death and illness as a pressing human rights concern. Over 70 UN member states (including the US) co-sponsored this resolution, led by Colombia and New Zealand.
Through the Human Rights Council resolution, governments recognize that the elimination of maternal mortality and morbidity requires [...]

Today, world leaders and international health experts agreed to an urgent action plan to save the lives of millions of mothers and newborns at a luncheon hosted by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Foreign Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre. The plan comes as the global economic crisis – having previously affected mainly rich countries [...]

The USAID | Health Policy Initiative, Task Order 1, is implementing an important training event to build the capacity of women leaders to reinvigorate family planning/reproductive health (FP/RH) programs, funding and policies within their communities and countries. The initiative will conduct WomenLead in Repositioning Reproductive Health on September 7 – 25, 2009, in Washington, D.C. [...]

Of all public health measures, maternal mortality rates show the greatest level of disparity. In a fantastic op-ed in the Boston Globe, Mary Robinson and Alicia Yamin, advisory council members of the International Initiative on Maternal Mortality and Human Rights, discuss the issue of preventable maternal deaths as a violation of women’s rights. As the article [...]

 
Akimbo, the blog for the International Women’s Health Coalition, just posted a fantastic video interview with Graça Machel, a renowned advocate for women’s and children’s rights. In the video she talks about women’s lack of rights and equality around the world. She says: “Governments believe that women can wait. Even if women are dying.” We [...]

This year, the United Nations Population Award recognized the work of a Nicaraguan non-governmental organization, Movimiento Comunal Nicaragüense, and an Egyptian doctor, Mahmoud Fahmy Fathalla, for outstanding contributions to population concerns and their solutions. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented the 2009 award on June 1st, and praised the winners’ work in helping mothers and [...]

To the Editor: The May 29 editorial, Preventable Deaths notes little progress in the last decade on reducing maternal mortality – 500,000 deaths annually, 99% in developing countries. Low-tech, cost effective solutions exist, but the funding and political commitment to prevent these deaths do not. An often overlooked fact is that women are truly an [...]