This week, the United States signed a new Declaration on Women’s Participation. Next year, we should each announce the steps we are taking to break down economic and political barriers that stand in the way of women and girls. That is what our commitment to human progress demands. -President Obama’s Address to the United Nations General Assembly, September 21, 2011 (White House)

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton launched the Equal Futures Partnership on behalf of the United States along with 12 other founding members (Australia, Benin, Bangladesh, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Jordan, the Netherlands, Peru, Senegal, Tunisia, and the EU). Multilateral stakeholders including U.N. Women and the World Bank and leading businesses and non-profit institutions have also pledged support for the partnership.

Additionally, global health issues affecting children were at the top of the international agenda. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated that eradicating polio is at the top of his second-term goals, and he expressed optimism about achieving it in the next few years:

“We have reduced polio by 99% worldwide,” Ban said during the UN General Assembly, and he called on leaders to help Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan eliminate the last remaining cases. Timothy E. Wirth, president of the United Nations Foundation, called it “the most important international meeting on polio eradication in the last 20 years.” (Google/The Associated Press)

Another important task before the General Assembly was coming up with a strategy for creating a new set of international development goals once the MDGs expire.  The MDGs were a set of eight global health and poverty eradication goals world leaders agreed to at the U.N. in 2000; however, they expire in 2015. The international community has begun to nail down the details of a post-MDGs global development agenda. “We need a clear post-2015 development agenda — an agenda with shared responsibilities for all countries, with the fight against poverty at the fore and sustainable development at the core,” said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (AlertNet).

In his address titled,  “A Call to Ambition,” to the 67th session of the U.N. General Assembly, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated,

“Still, we must raise our levels of ambition.  Poverty and inequality remain rampant.  Ecosystems are reaching the breaking point.  The world’s best science is irrefutable:  we must change course.  That is why I have urged world leaders to press ahead with initiatives on sustainable energy, education, nutrition and women’s and children’s health. The economic crisis should not be an excuse to default on commitments to the basics that all people need.”

AUTHOR: Cassandra Clifford
URL: www.bridgetofreedomfoundation.org and http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com
E-MAIL: Cassandra [at] btff.org

For most major development actors, the emphasis is squarely on individual learning. Achieving universal primary education, for instance, is the second Millennium Development Goal, coming just after ending poverty and hunger. Organizations such as the World Bank believe that education is “universally recognized as one of the most fundamental building blocks for human development and poverty reduction,” and that, as DFID puts it, it is “fundamental to everything we do.”

Yet, societies and states must also learn if they are to develop the new institutions, new knowledge, and new capacities that are essential to creating wealth, improving governance, and enhancing resilience. And this larger, macro level learning requires very different types of investments from those individuals need—investments that rarely get prioritized in the development field.
How Societal and State Learning Differs From Individual Learning

State or societal learning differs from individual learning in a number of ways. First, it involves a different type of knowledge. Know-how that enhances how a society operates may be very different than that which helps individuals get ahead. For instance, states need lots of people with strong organizational management skills. Companies, government ministries, and NGOs are not effective without a large group of experienced administrators who know how to run the systems that make their organizations work well. Second, they need knowledge that is group or organization based. Maintaining property rights, adjudicating disputes, and running education systems all depend on institutional knowledge built up over a long time period and which is maintained in a way that is not dependent on individuals. Third, states need to learn from experience to develop new institutions (such as hybrid legal systems) that help them solve collective action problems. This requires learning and cooperation on a society scale that goes well beyond anything done in a classroom. Fourth, states need to find ways to attract and retain knowledge within their borders, something individuals do not have to worry about. This may mean creating incentives for diaspora to return or ensuring that key information is embedded in organizations that are not vulnerable to brain drain. Fifth, states need feedback loops that improve how systems work. Improving policies requires understanding where existing policies do not live up to expectations and what can be done about it.

While enhancing the wellbeing of individuals obviously matters, countries only progress as fast as they can learn on a societal level. The more a society can accumulate knowledge and experience about what works and does not work, the better its institutions will be, and the more able it will be able to enhance governance, productivity, and economic diversification. These, in turn, will enhance resilience and ensure growth is both sustainable and broad-based.

Countries in which individuals see widespread education gains but which fail to progress are likely to end up with frustrated populations, jobless growth, and political instability, as has happened in many Arab countries in recent years. Indeed, one of the main causes of the Arab Spring was that the countries were producing far more university graduates than their economies could employ.

How Do States Learn?

States and societies learn by trying out new ideas and methods, choosing those that work, discarding those that don’t, and spreading the best methods as widely as possible. Success depends on the quality of the encompassing institutions (most importantly the government), organizations actually doing the experimenting (companies, NGOs, and state entities), infrastructure, and feedback loops judging performance.

The best description of this process that I have seen appeared in last year’s China-DAC Study Group report “Economic Transformation and Poverty Reduction: How It Happened in China, Helping It Happen in Africa”:

What makes rapid transformation processes possible? Development as a learning process.

The common features of the transformation process are deeply connected to the fundamental sources of economic growth – ideas, innovation and organisation. This is what is replicable with development-oriented leadership. And these sources of growth are becoming more powerful than ever as knowledge accumulates and disseminates faster than ever before in history, as China’s record shows.

A dynamic learning process takes hold in a country via interactions with new ideas, products and organisational models that are increasingly abundant in the multipolar, connected, global economy of the 21st century. Business models that are found to work locally, become widely replicated and then progressively improved, in an endogenous process of continual upgrading, across the economy – agriculture, industry, infrastructure and services. . . .

The state plays an active role in supplying “hard” and “soft” infrastructure at each stage, generating large externalities which are essential to the growth process. Rising employment and incomes stimulate the local economy and create new jobs. Poverty rates begin to fall dramatically. Intensive feedback mechanisms between the state and the enterprise sector identify what is working and what needs corrective action. Performance, rather than established interests, becomes the reference point for policymaking.

What China’s Experience Teaches

Among the many elements mentioned in the report as “fundamental elements in China’s success in massively reducing poverty and creating a middle-income country” are:

Puts a high priority on policymaking capacity and investment in research and extension capacities in universities and institutes and linking them to ministries and the decision and implementation processes . . .

Attracts talented people to return home to work for their countries . . .

Self-reliance has been a fundamental principle of Chinese strategy. This principle is imbedded deeply in China’s strong ownership of its own development path while absorbing knowledge from a wide range of external actors, including investors and experts, and engaging with bilateral and multilateral policy processes….

Policy development and technical capacities have always been central policy concerns, providing a basis for monitoring and accountability systems at both the central and local government levels….

Significant decentralisation generated bottom-up initiatives that were widely replicated….

The transformation process is intensive in on-going policy testing and adaptation based on evidence. China has created an extensive set of institutional capacities in the hard and soft sciences to enable the analysis of performance, problems and solutions. The experiment-evaluate-scale up success principle is widely applied and rapidly implemented. This has demanded the expansion of higher education and the development of research institutions linked to policy decision making and implementation. World expertise has been sought and attracted through incentive schemes, international partnerships and often via aid programmes.

China’s policy review and adjustment processes, informed by feedback mechanisms and global change, are more important than ever, both domestically and internationally.

Helping Countries Learn

Helping countries learn requires strengthening the institutions that underpin the societal learning process by how their own learning and dissemination of information affects all other institutions within the country. This means a much stronger emphasis on building the knowledge institutions—including business, public administration, and law schools; rule of law institutes (to study/document legal multiplicity and find creative homegrown solutions); universities; teacher training colleges/teacher evaluation institutes; policy think tanks; good governance institutes; technological research centers; independent monitoring organizations, etc.—that promise to have multiplier effects across a whole country.

Building up human capital is essential, but building up the institutions that enable states themselves to analyze their own problems, experiment with possible solutions, formulate responses, and upgrade people wherever necessary is even more valuable. Although government has a large role to play, both as an absorber and disseminator of information, it is really only one part of a much larger network of entities that work together and compete against each other in ways that enhance overall learning.

Thinking of society as an entity in itself—a system or a network or a set of interacting components that must work together effectively to maintain its vibrancy and resilience—makes the development process clearer. This entity must, just like individuals, constantly upgrade itself through learning, adaptation, and incremental enhancement. Nurturing this process is as important—if not more important—as helping individuals improve their wellbeing if countries are to progress.

AUTHOR: Seth Kaplan
URL: http://www.fragilestates.org
E-MAIL: seth [at] sethkaplan.org

This comprehensive plan calls for strengthening routine immunization to meet vaccination coverage targets, accelerating control of vaccine-preventable diseases and introducing new and improved vaccines besides spurring research and development for the next generation of vaccines and technologies.

The plan is expected to reduce global childhood mortality, surpassing the targets of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4.

Currently, four out of every five children receive at least a basic set of vaccinations during infancy that allow them to lead healthy, productive lives. However, this means 20 percent of children still do not benefit from basic immunization.

“While immunization already prevents millions of deaths and uncounted illness, we cannot rest until life-saving, cost-effective vaccine technology reaches people in every community and every country through this global plan,” said Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Executive Vice President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and co-chair of the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration’s Steering Committee.

“The Global Vaccine Action Plan focuses on the health needs of people at all stages of life,” said Dr. Flavia Bustreo, Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health of the World Health Organization. “The plan promotes greater coordination and synergies between immunization and other child, adolescent and reproductive health interventions leading to healthier communities everywhere.”

The GVAP was coordinated by the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration, a group of leading international vaccine experts, and represents the collective vision of hundreds of global health stakeholders to extend the full benefits of immunization to all people, regardless of where they are born, who they are, or where they live.

Following the approval by the ministers of health during the World Health Assembly, the GVAP will be adapted for implementation at the regional and country level.

Country involvement in this process reinforces a key tenet of the GVAP, which is to increase national ownership of immunization programs. The collaboration will also establish a monitoring and evaluation framework and finalize estimates for funding needs as well as potential cost savings.

“By supporting countries to strengthen their health systems and introduce powerful vaccines that prevent the biggest killers of children, we can have a dramatic impact on the lives of millions of people. We need to work together to make the vision of the Global Vaccine Action Plan a reality, and I am proud that GAVI will play its part in this,” said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance.

Innovation is a guiding principle of the GVAP beyond the vaccines themselves. The plan identifies priorities for improving program efficiency and increasing vaccine coverage.

The plan also focuses on building capacity and human resources in low- and middle-income countries to conduct research and development and operational research.

“We know vaccines work to save and improve lives,” said Dr. Chris Elias, president of the global development program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “We must urgently work to reach all children with the vaccines they need.”

Lending further support to the Decade of Vaccines, world health ministers also endorsed a resolution declaring polio a global public health emergency. The eradication of polio is a critical step in protecting all children from vaccine-preventable diseases and is an important early milestone in the Decade of Vaccines.

“It is unacceptable that children are still dying from diseases that are preventable with existing vaccines,” said Dr. Abdul Majeed Siddiqi, Head of Mission for HealthNet TPO in Afghanistan and Pakistan and Chair of the GAVI Civil Society Steering Committee. “This is an actionable plan across the discovery, development and delivery of vaccines – now we must all do our part to make it happen.”

Key representatives from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the GAVI Alliance, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the African Leaders Malaria Alliance had central roles in the DoV Collaboration Leadership Council and working groups.

AUTHOR: Henry Neondo
URL: http:// www.africasciencenews.org
E-MAIL: neondohenry [at] yahoo.com

May be Millennium Development Goals were set up prematurely, too?

With earth resources threatened and Planetary ‘tipping points’ dangerously close, the UN urges the global leaders to set up ambitious goals for a sustainable future, something study after study are observing to be hopelessly bleak. “Achieving sustainability requires us to transform the global economy. Tinkering on the margins will not do the job,” said the UN Panel’s report. There are talks of decoupling traditional economic growth from the idea of development and greening the economy that opens up bitter protest from developing countries that fear any effort to institutionalize green economy will be divisive and block their developmental space.

The Environmental Policy Research Centre of Frerie Universität Berlin in their report Green Economy discourses in the run up to Rio+20 , finds three main rifts in the world view of such green economy, namely; Greening the existing economy by predominantly the industrially developed West, Green Development by incorporating social capital of culture and welfare concepts in emerging countries whose economic growth is substantial yet human developmental goals not fully realized and lastly Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) and right to development by developing super powers. The rifts are deeper than polite multilateral discussions reveal because each has its characteristic stakeholder’s immediate interest to protect.

Political convergence to bridge over the rifts and finding a compromise look remote because world is involved in a grand beating around the bush. The Industrially developed West fears to lose luxuries and wealth it amassed since Industrial Revolution. Capitalist Growth Models have no place for idea of austerity or sacrifice of personal luxury. The developing superpowers fear to stop or de-escalate their economies as people keep on demanding life standards that a Global market has wooed them with. This mutual distrust divides the world in a more complex way than North-South; there are ‘North’s in South and vice verse. In the confusion a very basic truth escapes attention, or are we just not sincere enough to see it?

In the Run up to Rio+20 there are seven ideas that are gaining ground and popularity as All Africa summarizes from IRIN . Each of these ideas at its core has the same unspoken truth. So when UN urges us to be ambitious in setting goals and priorities, we may respond with a list.

1. Eradicate excessive wealth alongside poverty, which we, in 20 years, have failed to get a grip on anyway.
2. Tax over-consumption of food, energy and key resources of earth, alongside carbon which we have failed to tag with polluters with a transparent and ethical manner.
3. Replace Multinational Corporations with Multinational Aids. Grow and consume local. It is an absurd and perverted pleasure to eat grapes from Middle East in Iceland.
4. De-centralize democracy and governance. Communities far from seats of televised democracy are faring comparatively well managing and consuming resources in sustainable manner.
5. Decrease military spending when we have not enough budgets for healthcare, education, housing and food.

There can be many entries in such a list, but that’s beside the point. The point is: we need to be rational, compassionate and dignified human beings who are sensitive to values of fulfilling and responsible life. What we are facing here is not a political crisis but a crisis of common resources and logically we need to review and redesign our whole ways of life and draw a clear line between necessity and excess, so that such resource pool is not strained any further.

Time and again these simple realities are presented to us and we get carried away with the petty details and technicalities of the presentation thereby missing the essence of the messages. Take Elinor Ostrom’s ground breaking work that earned her a Nobel in 2009 and you will see that it basically speaks of 2 and 4 of the list above.

Similarly, each of Rockstrom’s planetary boundaries, Kate Raworth’s Doughnut and Social Capital has in its core the dichotomy of excess vs. necessity and surprisingly there is silence about the very basic question: how much do we need as individuals for being happy and socially well? The silence is not due to the fact that it is an insurmountable question – it is due to the fact we are not sincere enough to confront it. We are content to think Governments and Corporations will make decisions for us while we can go about in life without so much of conscious action and effort to change things.

In rural folklore of India, there is this story of a king who dug a pond and ordered each of his subject to pour a jug of milk in it so that a milk pond is created. Next day there was a pond filled with water because everyone thought his jug of water will not be noticed in so much milk.

AUTHOR: Pabitra Mukhopadhyay
URL: http://pabitraspeaks.com
E-MAIL: mukhopadhyay.pabitra [at] gmail.com

Minister, Samuel Kofi-Woods, speaking at the start of the High Level WASH Meeting in Washington D.C, USA. (Thanks to our U.S dispatch)

The Liberian government has expressed satisfaction for the level of global achievement for the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target for drinking water and is calling for joint efforts in providing access to safe sanitation which according it say is more crucial in tackling killer diseases in developing countries.

The Liberian Government’s call was made by Public Works Minister, Samuel Kofi Woods when he proxy for President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (WASH Goodwill Ambassador for Africa) at the start of the High Level WASH Meeting on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for All in Washington DC, the United States on Thursday.

Minister Woods said although significant progress has been made in achieving global percentage of the overall target for water, there are still over 783 million people that do not have access to safe water which 300 million of that number are to be found in Sub-Sahara Africa.

He indicated that the current rate at which Africa is moving at the sanitation front, it will take over 150 years or more to accomplish significant target which if imagine, the terrible consequences of any delay will create negative and downward trend in realizing the needed objective.

Minister Woods said, to mitigate the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) crisis in Liberia, the government of Liberia signed a Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) partnership, an international platform aimed at achieving universal and sustainable access to sanitation and drinking water.

According to him, Liberia hosted a Joint Multi Donor Mission that resulted in the development of a Compact on Water and Sanitation which was adopted into Liberia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy document. He further said the compact underscores the commitments of the Liberian Government and lays out a roadmap for improvement over the next two years.

Minister Woods also informed the gathering that Liberia plans to establish a Water Supply Board to ensure that the WASH sector is given an institutional home and top priority on the Country’s development agenda.

Other important supporting strategies, including the sector according to Minister Woods have been developed and will ensure that Liberia’s planning system at the highest level are able to guide and capture progress. “This is especially important because we want to ensure that the service reaches the poorest and most vulnerable group”, Minister Woods maintained.

“SWA is a global intergovernmental partnership that has brought us together and presents opportunities for innovative approaches. For example, the development of the WASH Compact in Liberia was carried out with support from Ghana, a clear illustration of South-South cooperation. We are adopting the same approach with Sierra Leone because we believe that other countries can learn and benefit from this approach”, Minister Woods further asserted.

Over sixty Ministers responsible for finance, sanitation and hygiene portfolios from over thirty countries including Liberia are participating in the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) 2-day High Level Meeting which commenced on April 19-20 at the World Bank in Washington, DC.

The aimed of the Meeting is to agree on urgent action towards ensuring that access to sanitation and safe drinking water becomes a reality for billions of people who still live without them.

The Public Works Minister used the occasion to invite and encourage other developing nations, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, to join the SWA partnership by making clear commitments for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), fundamental to reducing poverty and improving GDP. “I also want to encourage our development partners to ensure that their support and funding are targeted at countries where the need is greatest. Transparency and accountability must serve as guideposts in our actions”, Minister Woods indicated.

As success story continues to rise in the WASH sector in Liberia, Minister Woods shared with other governments the initiatives the Country has taken and said Liberia looks forward to learning from the exercise of others and what they can learn from the successes and challenges of the Nation. According to him, Liberia has not done all that needs to be done, but the Nation is well on its way.

He further said if they were to achieve the MDGs for water and sanitation in all the countries represented at the Meeting, it is estimated that they could save the lives of over 400,000 children by 2015 and make life better for hundreds of millions more.

Liberia success case was highlighted in several of the meetings especially the recent endorsed WASH compact by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

According to Darren Saywell, Vice Chair of SWA, Liberia has increased political prioritization and succeeded greatly in robust country planning in the WASH sector through a defined National Policy aimed at reconciling the sector in an appreciable level.

Former Ghanaian President, John Agyekum Kufuor, Chair of SWA highlighted the importance of the availability of safe drinking water to the sanitation need of the people. He expressed the hope for continuous commitment from both government and donor communities in accomplishing this noble objective.

The 2-Day Meeting highlighted government and donor success stories and by extension commitment in the Sanitation and Water front and the way forward.

Liberia was represented by Public Works Minister, Samuel Kofi woods, WaterAid Team Leader for Liberia and Sierra Leone, Apollos Nwafor, Assistant Public works Minister for Community Services, George Nyango, and the Chairman of the Liberia CSOs WASH Network, Prince D. Kreplah.

AUTHOR: Shout Africa
URL: http://www.shout-africa.com
E-MAIL: news [at] shout-africa.com

Mr. Apollos Nwafor, WaterAid Team Leader for Liberia Sierra Leone

An international aid agency, “WaterAid” has released a new report in which it says the lives of 3,783 children could be saved in Sierra Leone if it met its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to halve the proportion of people without safe sanitation by 2015.

The report, “Saving Lives”, reveals that Sierra Leone is one of 57 countries currently most off-track to meet its sanitation MDG target. On current trends Sierra Leone is due to halve the proportion of people lacking sanitation by 2435, missing the MDG sanitation target by 420 years.

According to the latest figures released by UNICEF and the WHO, only 13% of the population has access to safe sanitation. The MDG target for Sierra Leone is for 56% to have access for improved sanitation by 2015.

According to the Country Representative of WaterAid in Sierra Leone, Apollos Nwafor, by meeting the Millennium Development Goal target on sanitation by 2015, they can save the lives of nearly four thousand children in Sierra Leone, noting that they need to do more to save these lives.

The report comes as 70 ministers from governments around the world attend the Sanitation and Water for All High Level Meeting on the 20th of April, 2012 in Washington DC, the United States of America.

Mr. Nwafor further said the Washington Meeting is crucial to turning the corner on providing essential life saving access to safe water and sanitation. He called on the government and the international community to grasp the opportunity and act in response to the crisis of lost lives

The WaterAid report also says that the lives of 2.5 million people around the world would be saved if everyone had access to safe water and adequate sanitation.

The report concludes that there are more people in the world today without sanitation than there were in 1990, and “the poor quality of sanitation and lack of access to safe drinking water causes 1.4 million child deaths every year due to diarrhoea, and that present deaths are preventable”.

Diarrhoea caused by unsafe drinking water and a lack of quality sanitation is the biggest killer of children under the age of five in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the second biggest killer of children worldwide.

The Sanitation and Water for All meeting in Washington on 20th April brings together 100 ministers and delegates from over 50 countries to discuss the water and sanitation crisis. Participating governments have to bring pledges to the table on increasing access to water and sanitation for the next two years; donor governments also have to provide commitments ahead of the meeting.

The meeting is part of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank spring meetings and brings together governments, NGOs, the private sector and civil society.

WaterAid is an international aid agency that transforms lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. The Organization works with partners and influence decision-makers to maximize our impact.

AUTHOR: Shout Africa
URL: http://www.shout-africa.com
E-MAIL: news [at] shout-africa.com

Photo: AMREF UK

In December’s post, Expectant American Mothers Help Raise Funds for Mothers in Developing Nations,  the Imagine Me & You contest finalists had been announced.  The Million Moms Challenge has now chosen a winner from its photo contest, in which hundreds of expectant mothers from across the United States submitted images with original messages, written on their “baby bumps,” stating their wishes and dreams for their children.  In partnership with ABC News and the United Nations Foundation, the contest was aimed at engaging a million Americans with millions of mothers in developing countries around issues that impact pregnancy, child birth, and children’s health.  The contest is part of ABC News’ year-long global health series, “Be the Change: Save a Life,” sponsored in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and focused on health conditions endured by those in poor developing countries.

The winning photo and message was submitted by Allison Dearstyne, a ninth grade history teacher from Maryland, and was selected by Anne Geddes from among the 12 finalists.  Dearstyne’s winning ”baby bump” message read: “May You Stay Forever Young,” a lyric from a favorite Bob Dylan song and a dream that all mother’s across the globe hold in their hearts for their children. “I’m moved by how many mothers have come together through this contest,” said Geddes. “The Million Moms Challenge designed this contest to celebrate the dream of mothers everywhere for healthy, happy babies who will grow to reach their full potential. I’m looking forward to meeting the Dearstyne family and continuing to be part of this strong community of mothers helping mothers.” (UN Dispatch).

While the contest and it’s winning photos leave most full of fuzzy warm feelings as they ooh and aah at the creative and cute “baby bumps” and their messages of love and hope, the real motivation behind the contest runs much deeper.  While the mothers, and their expectant bundles of joy, are privileged enough to have access to adequate medical care and nutrition, for expectant mothers in developing nations the story of pregnancy and childbirth is often haunted by fear, as every 90 seconds a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth. That’s 1,000 girls and women a day, more than half a million women every year.  Additionally, for every woman who dies, 20 or more experience serious complications, and 1 million babies are stillborn each year because their mothers could not access the proper medical care. Additionally, some 8 million children will die this year before they are 5 years old, that’s almost 21,000 children each day.  More than 80 percent of these deaths could have easily been prevented.

Working for the survival of mothers and children is a crucial international development priority that must remain on the global agenda. Both the International Conference on Population and Development and Millennium Development Goals have set a goal to reduce maternal mortality between 1990 and 2015 by 75 percent.  The simple yet imperative strategic goals include, ensuring that all women have access to contraception to avoid unintended pregnancies and reduce unsafe abortions (see the recent post, Unsafe abortions on the rise),  provide all pregnant women with access to adequate medical care at the time of birth, and see that mothers with complications have timely access to quality emergency obstetric care.

Therefore, the message behind the Million Mom’s Challenge is simple and clear.  By educating communities and bringing awareness to the plight of mothers and children in developing nations we can save millions of lives.  The solutions for saving mothers and their babies are simple and not far from our grasp.  For less than a dollar a day, we can provide mothers and their babies with proper nutrition, proper training for midwives, vaccinations for children, and simple technologies to deliver crucial health information to women and health workers in remote areas.  To be part of the message and the solution, join the Million Mom’s Challenge here to see how you can save the lives of women and children around the world.

AUTHOR: Cassandra Clifford
URL: www.bridgetofreedomfoundation.org and http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com
E-MAIL: Cassandra [at] btff.org

On October 31, the world’s population is expected to reach 7 billion people.

In recognition of this milestone, UN Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth released the following statement  calling for investment in international reproductive health and voluntary family planning as a means to achieving progress on all of the Millennium Development Goals.

“In a world of 7 billion, it is more important than ever that we address fundamental issues of poverty and inequality. We know that investing in women’s reproductive health and voluntary family planning is one of the most cost-effective means to tackling our most pressing global development challenges.

Today there are 215 million women who want the ability to prevent pregnancy, but lack access to quality reproductive health care and voluntary family planning. Meeting this demand would have numerous benefits — not least of which is saving lives. Pregnancy-related complications are the leading cause of death among young women in developing countries. If the demand for family planning were met, maternal mortality would decrease by 32 percent, and infant mortality by 10 percent.

Empowering women with the tools they need not only improves their health and ability to raise stronger, healthier families, but it also promotes more prosperous and stable societies, resource and food security, and environmental sustainability.

Let’s be clear — investing in women and girls is one of the smartest investments that we can make. As we mark this milestone, we must ensure that women and girls are at the top of the global agenda, because the investments we make today will have a multiplier effect across all of the Millennium Development Goals, dramatically improving the lives of the next generation.”

Investing in women and girls is undoubtedly a “smart investment” and health education and empowerment should not be taken lightly as a key to sustainable development.

AUTHOR: Cassandra Clifford
URL: www.bridgetofreedomfoundation.org and http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com
E-MAIL: Cassandra [at] btff.org

“Even if the MDG were achieved by 2015, some 600 million people in developing countries would still be undernourished,” said UN experts. “Having 600 million people suffering from hunger on a daily basis is never acceptable. The entire international community must act today and act forcefully to banish food insecurity from the planet.”

The report emphasized that investment in agriculture, particularly small farmers, remains critical to sustainable, long-term food security. Investment is required in irrigation, improved land-management practices and better seeds developed through agricultural research.

NGOs point out that developed countries have yet to live up to their pledge to invest $22bn in agriculture development. The money was promised at L’Aquila, Italy in 2009, following food crises that triggered riots in 30 countries across three continents.

The report said predictable policies and openness to trade were more effective strategies for governments than export bans and other restrictive policies, which risk increasing volatility and high prices on international markets.

AUTHOR: Richard Matthews
URL: http://thegreenmarket.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: smallbusinessconsultants [at] gmail.com

This year on the one year anniversary the Every Woman, Every Child report for 2011 was released, and in the report there were5 innovative approaches which could serve as models for countries struggling with high maternal and infant mortality: self-contained “aid pods” that can fit into unused crate space when beverage supplies are distributed; training in reproductive health, nutrition and infectious disease for female employees at factories; a 10-week program of text messages reminding mothers to remember health appointments and give medication; a chain of hospitals for women who earn about between $3 to $6 a day that provides a discounted all-inclusive maternal care package; and a public-private partnership that uses text messages, along with a data system, to chart stocks of malaria medication to avoid fatal shortages.  PBS, gives a great summary of these programs.

“Many of the ideas have come up from local entrepreneurs,” Dr. Tore Godal, special advisor to the Norwegian prime minister and co- author of the report, told IPS. “A large number of innovations are based on public and private sector cooperation, creating a potential for reducing maternal and child mortality.” (Inter Press Service).

As the report illustrates that the most effective initiatives to improve women’s and children’s health are those which are modified to that of the specific local communities and country conditions, while also following a clearly defined model that are based on the identification of an intervention or product’s added value, beneficiaries/buyers, distribution channels; resource needs; organizational format and long-term viability.

AUTHOR: Cassandra Clifford
URL: www.bridgetofreedomfoundation.org and http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com
E-MAIL: Cassandra [at] btff.org