JUNE 2012
From the Director
The World Health Assembly was in full swing recently, bringing more than 3,000 delegates to Geneva, including many PMNCH members. It was excellent to see the continued and increased commitment to the health of women and children. For PMNCH, highlights included welcoming more than 30 countries to the Breakfast Briefing on Born Too Soon: The Global Action Report on Preterm Birth, which we launched together with the March of Dimes, Save the Children and the WHO at the PMNCH board in New York earlier this month. At the meeting, we heard from the Minister of Health of China, Professor Chen Zhu, as well as Dr Charles Mwansambo, Principal Health Secretary of Malawi, about the situation relating to care and prevention of prematurity in their countries.
Also in conjunction with the Assembly, PMNCH reported to the independent Expert Review Group, chaired by Richard Horton and Joy Phumaphi, at its Consultation on 24 May about our progress in developing the forthcoming 2012 report on the Global Strategy commitments. The PMNCH 2012 report, commissioned at the request of the iERG, will be published in September at the time of the UN General Assembly in New York and is expected to inform part of the content of the iERG’s much-anticipated report on the implementation of the Global Strategy and the recommendations of the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health.
At the World Health Assembly itself, the debate touched often on women’s and children’s health. Member- states endorsed a report on early marriages and young pregnancies, pointing to the importance of implementing laws and policies and strengthening sexuality education. Members also adopted a resolution targeting improved nutritional status, with a focus on women and children, as well as endorsing the Global Vaccine Action Plan, a roadmap for more equitable access to vaccines.
The week ended with a successful meeting of the Advisory Group of the PMNCH 2012Report where methodological and content questions were debated, a further step towards the development of a robust report. Another Assembly highlight included the 2012 Resolve Awards
PMNCH Board meeting From PMNCH Director, Carole Presern:
I would like to thank all Board members who attended the 2-4 May 2012 Board meeting of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health in New York USA, kindly hosted by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). UNFPA, DFID and BMGF also took the opportunity to convene a Stakeholder Consultation for the up-coming Family Planning Summit planned for July 2012. World Vision International kindly hosted a dinner for participants on the evening of 3rd May. The key objectives of the meeting were to discuss current on-going initiatives and position and synergize these under the existing framework of the UN Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child effort. The board also continued discussions on RMNCH financing, following the report presented by the Task Team on RMNCH financing, which proposed options to strengthen and coordinate global financing channels for RMNCH following the board decision in October 2011.
Please join me as well to welcome all new PMNCH Board members: They include: Kate Gilmore, Deputy Executive Director, Programme, UNFPA, Dr Elwyn Chomba, ART representative from the University of Zambia, and first-time representatives for the Private Sector constituency, Craig Friderichs, Head of Health for GSM Association (an alliance representing more than 800 mobile operators), and Sharon d’Agostino, Vice- President, Johnson & Johnson.
I hope all members will download and read the Board documents and download the PMNCH Progress Report 2011, which was released at the meeting. Please also find the Photo Gallery for the meeting and full details and biographies of new members on the PMNCH web.
Born Too Soon: Global Action Report on Preterm Birth
2 MAY 2012 | NEW YORK – Born Too Soon provides the first-ever national, regional and global estimates of preterm birth and is a joint effort of almost 50 international, regional and national organizations, led by the March of Dimes, PMNC, Save the Children and the World Health Organization in support of the Every Woman Every Child effort, led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The report shows the extent to which preterm birth is on the rise in most countries, and is now the second leading cause of death globally for children under five, after pneumonia. Addressing preterm birth is now an urgent priority for reaching Millennium Development Goal 4, which calls for the reduction of child deaths by two-thirds by 2015.
The report was accompanied by more than 30 new and expanded commitments to prevention and care of preterm birth, joining more than 200 existing commitments. The very successful launch included articles in global newspapers including the New York Times, The Guardian, NBC, USA Today, Nature, and the BBC and a seven-hour TweetChat Relay with partners, which reached more than seven million people through more than 1500 Tweets. Link also to the Blog by PMNCH Director, Carole Presern, part of the Born Too Soon Blog series on the Healthy Newborn Network.
G8/G20 2012
19 MAY 2012 | CAMP DAVID, USA – In the G8 Camp David Declaration, G8 leaders pledged to fulfil outstanding L’Aquila financial pledges from 2009 and take new steps to accelerate progress towards food security and nutrition in Africa and globally. The G8 also welcomed "the Camp David Accountability Report, which records the important progress that the G8 has made on food security ... and in meeting (G8) commitments on global health, including the Muskoka Initiative on maternal, newborn and child health. “ Link to RMNCH coverage on the PMNCH 2012 G8 WATCH -- including an Editorial from PMNCH Chair (dean, Harvard School of Public Health) in the G8 publication - The G8 Camp David Summit 2012: The Road to Recovery - and a Blog from PMNCH Director, Carole Presern published on the Huffington Post, which made up a series of G8 Blogs from key NGO’s to G8 Leaders. Looking to the G20, PMNCH has joined GAIN and 1000 Days in an Open Letter to G20 leaders to make good on promises on nutrition. G 20 Watch 2012 .
PMNCH Chair: G8 Editorial Dr Julio Frenk: “When the G8 leaders gather at the US presidential retreat of Camp David in May, it will mark their third summit since the 2010 Canadian Summit, where the historic $5 billion Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) was launched. Last year, during the G8 Deauville Summit in France, I referred to Muskoka as ‘a game-changer in terms of donor commitments’ to save the lives and improve the health of pregnant women, newborns and children under five – the three groups most vulnerable to preventable disease.”
PMNCH Director: Blog to G8 Carole Presern: “In 1981, I was a nurse midwife on the Thai/Cambodian border tending to refugees fleeing the terror of Pol Pot. There, I dealt with a mini "baby boom." One side effect of chronic malnutrition -- which was a tragic hallmark for those who survived the genocide -- is very low fertility. Several months later, as nutrition levels started to improve, fertility rates shot up. But for some women, their nutritional state, and particularly low iron levels, led to far too many preventable deaths from haemorrhage sepsis and other complications Many babies were
RMNCH News Highlights
UN Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children meets in New York 22 MAY 2012 | NEW YORK – Affordable, life-saving medicines and health supplies with the potential to save millions of lives are not reaching the children and women who most need them. To help change this, members of the United Nations Commission on Life-Saving Commodities for Women and Children has reviewed and finalized recommendations to help increase access, reduce costs, and increase demand for 13 products. The Commission‘s Co-chair are Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Link to the full press release and list of Commission members
New UN report shows maternal deaths halved in 20 years, but faster progress needed 6 MAY 2012 | UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK – The number of women dying of pregnancy and childbirth related complications has almost halved in 20 years, according to new estimates released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank. The report “Trends in maternal mortality: 1990 to 2010”, shows that from 1990 to 2010, the annual number of maternal deaths dropped from more than 543,000 to 287,000 – a decline of 47 per cent.
US and Norway invest in new partnership: Saving Mothers, Giving Life 1 JUNE 2012 | OSLO, NORWAY — The US and Norwegian governments and have joined Merck for Mothers, Every Mother Counts, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in a new initiative to reduce maternal mortality. At a global health conference on Friday, 1 June sponsored by the Norwegian government, entitled “A World in Transition: Charting a New Path in Global Health,” US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced $75 million to the "Saving Mothers, Giving Life" partnership. Norway pledged about $80 million to the initiative.
African Ministers acknowledge great challenges, despite progress, in women’s and children’s health 19 MAY 2012 | ADDIS ABABA – African Ministers of Health meeting at the special session of the fifth African Union Conference of Ministers of Health endorsed the“2012 Status Report on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health,” which points to unacceptably high maternal and child mortality and morbidity, despite some progress in improving the health of women and children.
East Africa Assembly: Improving Information to Secure Women's and Children's Health related MDGs 26-27 MAY 2012 | ARUSHA, TANZANIA – African parliamentarians of the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) have renewed pledges to make governments accountable to pledges made to improve women’s and children’s health and identify quality health information as the basis of their contributions to advocacy, policymaking and oversight including budget scrutiny and approval.
Save the Children’s Annual State of the World’s Mothers Report is released for 2012 8 MAY 2012 | WESTPORT, Conn. — Save the Children's thirteenth State of the World's Mothers report shows Niger as the worst place to be a mother in the world — replacing Afghanistan for the first time in two years. Norway comes in at first place. The “Best and Worst Places to Be a Mom ranking”, which compares 165 countries around the globe, looks at factors such as a mother's health, education and economic status, as well as critical child indicators such as health and nutrition.
India forms Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Coalition MAY 2012 | NEW DELHI, INDIA – A RMNCH Coalition has been formed in India by all key stakeholders to provide and advocate for policy and programme directions to achieve improved RMNCH outcomes. The Coalition has been recognized and led by the Government of India, with the Secretariat based at Save the Children India. Read an interview with the new Coordinator of the Coalition and PMNCH Board member Dr Rajiv Tandon.
Innovation Working Group Meeting Report: Scaling-up Innovations for Impact on Women's and Children's Health 25 APRIL 2012 | NEW YORK - The Innovation Working Group (IWG) of the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, Chaired by Tore Godal of Norway and Scott Ratzan of Johnson and Johnson met for the first time in New York, hosted by Columbia University, with remote participation from London, Geneva and other locations. Highlights included presentations from IWG Task Forces, the pre- publication Private Sector Engagement Guide, and agreeing next steps and setting IWG strategy for the coming year which may include the potential for scaling-up innovations in countries.
Calls and Requests for proposals
Selection of a new NGO representative to the PMNCH Board June/July 2012 4 JUNE – 26 JUNE 2012 - There is presently one open vacancy on the PMNCH Board to represent the NGO (non-governmental organization) constituency. The call for nominations is open for three weeks from weeks from 4 June 2012 until 26 June 2012. Find full details on the PMNCH website.
New contract opportunity at PMNCH : Countdown to 2015 Project Manager - Countdown to 2015 (Countdown) is an initiative aimed at tracking the progress towards achieving MDGs 4 and 5, in 74 priority countries, supported by the PMNCH secretariat in Geneva.
Reproductive Health Matters: Call for papers : Re: young people’s sexual relationships and sexual health
In brief from RMNCH News
- PMNCH members mark Mother’s Day 2012
- Safe Motherhood Day observed in Bangladesh
- PMNCH members mark International Day of the Midwife 2012
- Africa Public Health Alliance calls on AU to make water management top priority
- Asia Regional Meeting on Interventions for Impact in Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care
Coming up on the RMNCH Calendar
- 6 JUNE : Women Deliver: Latin America and Caribbean Regional Consultation
- 2-7 JUNE: American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) Annual Meeting
- 5-6 JUNE : Pacific Health Summit
- 12-14 JUNE : Child Survival Summit : A Call to Action
- 18-19 JUNE : G20 Los Cabos Summit
- 20-22 JUNE : UN RIO+20: Conference on Sustainable Development
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