High-Level Meeting on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
7-9 April 2005,
Background
Objectives
Topics of Discussion
Delhi Declaration
NEW DELHI -- The need to increase the scale of
interventions that could prevent millions of deaths of mothers, newborns and children around the world will be the focus of a high-level international meeting, “Lives in the Balance: The Partnership Meeting on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health”. The meeting will be held in New Delhi immediately following the global launch on 7 April of the World Health Organization’s The World Health Report, which this year features the theme of Make Every Mother and Child Count.
Together with the Government of India, the Partnership for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health, the Healthy Newborn Partnership and the Child Survival Partnership are bringing together ministers of health from 11 countries and representatives of international agencies, development partners, civil society and other stakeholders in a shared effort to mobilize new commitments and action for improving maternal, newborn and child health. The Executive Director of UNICEF, Ms. Carol Bellamy, and the Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Lee, will also attend this important meeting.
A wide range of issues related to the health of mothers and children will be considered, including health systems and the human resource crisis, poverty, education, family and community practices along with financing and national budgets. Focus will be on addressing country challenges and developing recommendations for regional and country specific plans for action.
Rather than focusing on just one part of the life cycle, experts and advocates are looking at the full range of care that is needed by the mother, the newborn and the child with a particular focus on the intra-partum and early post-natal period, the period during which women and babies are most at risk. Integrated approaches that combine the delivery of multiple health interventions can be an effective strategy that delivers high quality care at low cost.
“We are pleased to be the host of this critical meeting at this critical time,” said Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Hon. Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. “We share a mission to improve the health and survival of children and their mothers and we are joining together to see that countries and global agencies place this issue high on their agendas.”
Technical support for the meeting is provided by WHO, Save the Children – USA, the World Bank, UNFPA and UNICEF. Financial support is provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USAID, DFID, JHPIEGO, ACCESS Project and the World Bank.
