It Is Time to Deliver for Women
Statement of Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA Executive Director,at the MDG Summit Roundtable on Health and Education“Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Just last week we heard the good news that the number of maternal deaths globally has dropped by a third since 1990. Now we need to build on this progress and redouble efforts to achieve MDG5 to improve maternal health and to reach the other Millennium Development Goals.
We need to build on existing momentum to ensure that every birth is safe and every pregnancy is wanted. There are still 1,000 women who die needlessly every day from complications of pregnancy and childbirth, 215 million women with an unmet need for family planning, and 2 million women suffering from the devastating childbirth injury of obstetric fistula.
With a strong concerted push during the next five years, we can reach the two targets of MDG5 to reduce maternal deaths by 75 per cent from 1990 levels and achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015.
Greater progress depends on national health plans that prioritize the health of women and adolescents, especially those who are poor and marginalized. Improving women’s health requires strong health systems that deliver an integrated package of essential health services, including family planning, maternal health and HIV prevention and treatment. These services must be accessible and affordable. Success also depends on education and tackling discrimination against girls and women.
UNFPA is committed to achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015. We are working with other UN agencies and the World Bank to reduce high rates of maternal and newborn deaths in high priority countries. Together with the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, we aim to expand family planning to 100 million women by 2015. To address health worker shortages, we are partners with the International Confederation of Midwives. And in more than 40 countries, UNFPA is engaged to prevent and treat fistula. UNFPA fully supports the Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health that will be launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday to save 16 million lives by 2015.
Critical to success is increased and sustained funding. While funding for global health rose considerably during the past decade, funding for reproductive health remained stagnant and actually declined for family planning. Now is the time to move from speech lines to budget lines. It pays to invest in women. Today I call on all governments to increase funding for reproductive health, including family planning.
Women deliver for their families, communities and nations, and now it is time to deliver for women. No woman should die giving life.”
It Is Time to Deliver for Women – Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, UNFPA
September 21, 2010 by
