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CEDPA Calls for Increased Action on Safe Motherhood at the UN
CEDPA Calls for Increased Action on Safe Motherhood at the UN
September 25, 2007—CEDPA will join leading global agencies working on maternal and child health at a Sept. 26 panel at the United Nations to call for increased action to save the lives of millions of women and children each year.
The panel, “Saving 77 Million by 2015: Advancing the Health of Women and Children,” will be held in UN Conference Room 6 from 4:30-6:30 pm. Featured speakers include:
- Aparajita Gogoi, CEDPA/India;
- Asha-Rose Migiro, UN Deputy Secretary-General;
- Thoraya Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director;
- Ann Veneman, UNICEF Executive Director;
- Margaret Chan, World Health Organization Director-General; and
- Maureen Mwanawasa, First Lady of Zambia.
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The panel is timed with the launch of a new global campaign, Deliver Now for Women & Children, which seeks to spur action to save the lives of more than 500,000 women who die each year in pregnancy or childbirth, and the more than 10 million children die before their fifth birthday.
The Deliver Now for Women & Children campaign will advocate for advancements in maternal and child health through greater political commitment, increased investment in health services, and support for communities to demand better access to quality health care.
CEDPA has worked worldwide to raise awareness about maternal health risks and mobilize actions to make pregnancy and childbirth safer for all women. For example:
- CEDPA helped found White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood in India in 1999. To date, the coalition’s grassroots and media campaigns have reached hundreds of millions throughout India with messages on preventing maternal deaths.
- In Nepal, where sixty percent of girls are married by age 18, a higher percentage of women die in pregnancy and childbirth than anywhere else in South Asia. CEDPA worked with the Nepal Red Cross Society to bring reproductive health services closer to rural women, who are least likely to access maternal care.
- In Nigeria, where eight out of every 1,000 women die due to maternal health complications, CEDPA joined with religious leaders to increase support for and access to lifesaving reproductive health services.
Throughout its work, CEDPA has joined hand-in-hand with local partners to ensure that communities support actions that are needed to make safe motherhood a reality for all families.
Read more about CEDPA’s work on safe motherhood in India.
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