缅北禁地

Photograph: 缅北禁地DPI. Full-size poster can be downloaded .

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today began a massive drive to save the lives of over 16 million women and children, with more than $40 billion already committed to scale up health services worldwide.

鈥淭he 21st century must be and will be different for every woman and every child,鈥� Mr. Ban, who launched the for Women鈥檚 and Children鈥檚 Health at 缅北禁地Headquarters on the margins of a high-level summit on the Millennium Development Goals ().

The MDGs, a series of globally agreed social and economic targets with a 2015 deadline, include a number of health objectives, such as Goal 4 on reducing the mortality rate for children under the age of five by two thirds and Goal 5 on slashing maternal mortality rates by three quarters, both from their 1990 figures.

Today鈥檚 launch, which included the private sector, foundations, international organizations, civil society and research groups, represents a major step towards filling the gap between the investment needed and what is currently provided for women鈥檚 and children鈥檚 health 鈥� with over $40 billion in resources committed over the next five years.

鈥淲e are teaming up to put women and children first backed by $40 billion in resources and many ambitious pledges to do more for women鈥檚 and children鈥檚 health,鈥� Mr. Ban after the launch. 鈥淭hese commitments will ensure more health for the money, and more money for health.鈥�

The Global Strategy identifies the finance and policy changes needed, along with vital interventions to help improve health and save lives. It is expected to prevent, between 2011 and 2015, the deaths of more than 15 million children under five, as well as 33 million unwanted pregnancies and the deaths of 740,000 women from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

To help ensure that it is successful, several agencies, including the 缅北禁地Children鈥檚 Fund (), the 缅北禁地Population Fund (), the Joint 缅北禁地Programme on HIV/AIDS (), the World Health Organization () and the are collaborating to mobilize ongoing political and operational support, including fighting for universal access to care for all women and children.

This team will identify and connect resources to the people who need them based on the priorities set by countries in their national health plans.

In addition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are working with this team to ensure integrated services and efforts across a range of health needs.

鈥淭he Global Strategy asks us to be smart, strategic and resourceful as never before,鈥� said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. 鈥淏y integrating their actions, the eight international health-related agencies will strengthen capacities across the board, in ways that meet the comprehensive needs of women and children.鈥�

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, stressed the need to advance the health and rights of women worldwide. 鈥淲omen deliver for their families, communities and nations. Now it is time to deliver for women!

鈥淭o improve women鈥檚 health and achieve the health-related MDGs, we need to address inequities, engage communities and scale up reproductive health services,鈥� she added.

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Related

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• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon鈥檚