Thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the second Women Deliver global conference. To put world leaders on notice that the time for action on maternal health is now, 3,400 advocates, policymakers, development leaders, health care professionals, youth, advocates, and media from 146 countries converged on Washington, DC on June 7-9 at Women Deliver 2010. More than 800 speeches and presentations were given at the six plenaries and 120 breakout sessions. The heads of five UN agencies, plus the Secretary-General of the United Nations, attended. Thirty countries, UN agencies, the World Bank, corporations, and foundations helped support Women Deliver. Please see below for highlights and recaps of the conference.
Women deliver enormous social and economic benefits for their families, communities, and nations. Investing to improve maternal health and save women’s lives—and achieve Millennium Development Goal 5—is the right thing to do. It is also sound economics.
Women’s Well-being determines country’s Well-being.
• Women drive economic development: they operate the majority of small businesses and farms in developing countries
• Women’s work makes everyone more productive: more of their income goes for food, medicine, education, and other family needs
• Women contribute to economic growth: their unpaid work at home and on the farm equals about 1/3 of world GDP
• When women survive, families thrive maternal deaths are preventable.
There is global consensus on these cost-effective solutions:
• Family planning programs
• Skilled care for mothers and newborns before, during, and after childbirth, including emergency obstetric care
• Safe abortion, when and where legal
Delivering these solutions requires that we:
• Prioritize young people
• Strengthen national health systems that deliver for women
• Advance and protect human rights for girls and women
www.womendeliver.org
These tragic facts can be changed.
In developing countries each year:
• 215 million women who want to avoid pregnancy do not use an effective method of contraception
• Pregnancy and childbirth complications are the leading cause of death and disability for young women
• Nearly half of all pregnant women do not receive skilled care
• About 20 million women have unsafe abortions
• 10 to 15 million women suffer severe or long-lasting illnesses or disabilities caused by complications during pregnancy and childbirth investing in Women makes sense right now and is essential for our future.
Investing another US $12 billion a year (for a total of US $24 billion) would fulfill the unmet need for family planning and provide every woman with the recommended standard of maternal and newborn care. The results:
• Reducing unintended pregnancies by more than 66%
• Preventing 70% of maternal deaths
• Averting 44% of newborn deaths
• Reducing unsafe abortion by 73%
• Cutting disability-adjusted life years lost to pregnancy- related illness and premature death by 66%
Investing in women brings positive returns.
It would also:
• Return as much as US $15 billion dollars in productivity, now lost to maternal and newborn death
• Improve public health for all by developing strong, accessible health systems
• Prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce HIV and other sexually transmitted infections
• Empower girls and women with greater opportunity for education and employment
• Strengthen families, communities, economies, nations, and our world
©2010 Women Deliver. Based on Focus on Five, New York: Women
Deliver, 2010, and Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health, New York:
Guttmacher Institute and United Nations Population Fund, 2009
Invest in women - it pays!
http://www.womendeliver.org/assets/Pock_2010_Eng.pdf
We Credit Women Deliver and Sam Hurd for all pictures. Thank you so much.
