Deliver Now is a major new advocacy drive to eliminate maternal and child deaths and improve the health of women and children around the world. More than 10 million women and children die every year. The overwhelming majority of these deaths can be prevented with greater access to basic health resources. Deliver Now is coordinated by The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (www.who.int/pmnch), a global alliance of more than 170 partners. The Partnership is hosted and administered by the World Health Organization, based in Geneva.
Saving Women and ChildrenEvery minute of every day, a woman dies needlessly during pregnancy or childbirth. Every three seconds a child under five dies. Four million newborns die in their first four weeks of life, 3 million of those in the first week. And with 42 percent of pregnant women around the world experiencing a complication, up to 15 percent of which are life-threatening, the issue of protecting the lives of women and children during pregnancy, childbirth and beyond is one of the most critical facing the world today.
Most of these deaths can be prevented through greater political commitment, increased support to communities to demand quality health care and increased investment. At least US$9 billion a year are needed to meet the basic health care needs of women and children. As of 2004, only US$2 billion - less than a quarter of what is needed - was available to support such services in developing countries.
The Bigger PictureDeliver Now responds to alerts raised by the UN that the world is lagging far behind in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for reducing maternal and child deaths. MDG4 calls for the reduction of two-thirds of child deaths; MDG 5 aims to reduce maternal mortality by three-quarters by 2015 (as compared to 1990). As such, Deliver Now is a key part of the new "Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals", unveiled September 26, 2007, by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg of Norway at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City (www.norad.no).
The Global Campaign is supported by several governments including the UK, Norway, Canada, France and Germany, as well as a number of prominent global health and advocacy organizations. The launch of Deliver Now follows the recent launch of the International Health Partnership in London by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other world leaders.
The Action PlanDeliver Now launched in New York on September 26 amidst rallies in Manhattan and the Bronx and awareness-raising events across the city to build popular support for the drive throughout the week. The launch will also coincide with the convening of a panel at the United Nations, "Saving 77 Million Lives", featuring women UN leaders and global health activists discussing the critical issues facing women and children around the world.
The launch will be followed by other global events, such as the high-profile conference Women Deliver in London October 18-20 (www.womendeliver.org), and the roll out of intensive local programs in individual countries, beginning in 2008 in India and Tanzania. In these countries, Deliver Now will bring together local government agencies, civil society, media and other national and international members of the initiative to allocate resources and more effectively bring basic health services to women and children. The results of these programs will be closely monitored to ensure success and accountability.
Join Us, Deliver NowYou may add your name and voice to the Deliver Now campaign. Simply click Promise to join now and you will receive e-mail updates about the campaign. Your name will be added to a list of the growing global community who believes that 10 million mothers and children dying every year is too many to ignore.
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