Improving the Lives of Women and Children: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

Saving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach

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April 28, 2014
Toronto, Ontario

Introduction
The vast majority of women and children in developing countries die from simple, preventable causes that can be addressed with proven, affordable and cost-effective solutions that most Canadians take for granted.

Canada is a world leader in promoting the health of women and children in developing countries and in reducing the unacceptable mortality rates that these vulnerable populations face each year. To this end, Canada is hostingSaving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach, an international Summit that will shape the future of Child and Maternal Health collaborations in Canada and around the world, from May 28-30, 2014, in Toronto.

In advance of the Summit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the themes, key participants, logo, and official website. He was then joined by key members of the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health for a roundtable discussion.

The Saving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach Summit will bring together Canadian and international leaders and experts, Canadian charities, businesses, scientists, developed and developing countries, international organizations and global foundations to ensure that maternal, newborn and child health remains a priority of the global development agenda.

The Summit will focus on the following three themes:

• Delivering Results for Mothers and Children: Determining how, collectively, we have successfully delivered results and exploring how innovative technology and operating models are saving lives.

• Doing More Together Globally: Pushing new technologies and global partnerships to improve women’s and children’s health.

• Real Action for Women’s and Children’s Health: Identifying concrete steps that Canada and its partners will take to ensure that mortality rates drop, nutrition improves and more children live to see their fifth birthday.

The themes for the Summit were developed in consultation with key Canadian stakeholders active in global health along with international partners.
The Summit logo, which was created by the Government of Canada, represents the timeless and universal image of a mother embracing her child.

The official Summit website (www.canada.ca/MNCH) includes videos, photos, field stories and general information on actions to promote maternal, newborn and child health as well as a description of the Summit event. During the Summit, the website will include live-streaming and on-demand videos of many of the events. The website was developed by the Government of Canada and went public on April 28, 2014.


Prime Minister Harper chaired a roundtable with members of the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health to discuss the important role played by Canadians in delivering results for women and children in developing countries.

The Prime Minister and roundtable participants also discussed the importance of the upcoming Saving Every Woman, Every Child Summit, as an important and dynamic means towards reaffirming Canada's leadership in reigniting global efforts and building new momentum on improving women's and children's health, and demonstrating that continued commitment to saving the world's most vulnerable remains Canada's top development priority.

Quick Facts

• Thanks to the Muskoka Initiative and subsequent global action, maternal mortality rates are declining and millions more children are celebrating their fifth birthday.
• There is solid international progress being made to address maternal, newborn and child health. The number of women who die each year during pregnancy or childbirth has dropped substantially – from 543,000 deaths in 1990 to 287,000 in 2010.
• The global number of deaths of children under the age of five has dropped significantly as well, from nearly 12 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012.

Quotes

“Poor nutrition and preventable diseases continue to claim the lives of an unacceptable number of women, children and newborns, despite strong international efforts and progress.

Through this Summit and our ongoing engagement and support, Canada will help to ensure that the world continues to focus on these critical issues.” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper

“No mother should have to choose between herself and her baby because she doesn’t have the healthcare or food she needs to raise a healthy child. The Summit will chart the way forward for the next phase of international efforts to address maternal, newborn and child health.” – Prime Minister Stephen Harper


“Through Canadian leadership and the support of thousands of Canadians across the country these last 4 years, we can say without hesitation that thousands of mothers and millions of children are alive today who would not have been but for our collective and dedicated efforts.” – Rosemary McCarney, Co-Chair, Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

Related Products

• Saving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach
• Improving the Lives of Women and Children: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

Associated Link

• www.canada.ca/MNCH
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• BACKGROUND

Improving the Lives of Women and Children: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

April 28, 2014
Toronto, Ontario

Canada is a world leader in promoting the health of women and children in developing countries and in reducing the unacceptable mortality rates that these vulnerable populations face each year. In addition to focusing world attention and resources through the G-8 Muskoka Leaders’Summit in 2010, Canada has also been instrumental in helping focus global efforts where the needs are most pressing and coordinating how to address those needs most effectively.

As a result of global efforts, the number of women who die each year during pregnancy or childbirth has dropped substantially from 543,000 deaths in 1990 to 287,000 in 2010. The global number of deaths for children under the age of five has been cut in half. There were nearly 12 million deaths in 1990; in 2012, there were 6.6 million.

Between 2010 and 2013, an estimated two million deaths from disease were prevented through global efforts on immunization. An estimated 180 million children receive Vitamin A annually – a key nutritional element important for healthy development, immunity and eyesight. Tens of thousands of mothers and children have received antenatal care, pneumonia treatment, diarrhea treatment and access to insecticide-treated bed nets that prevent malaria.


Canada and the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

In June 2010, under Canada’s leadership, G-8 and non G-8 leaders committed $7.3 billion to mobilize global action to reduce maternal and infant mortality and improve the health of mothers and children in the world's poorest countries, through the Muskoka Initiative.

As part of the Muskoka Initiative, Canada committed to providing $1.1 billion in new funding between 2010 and 2015 to help women and children in the world’s poorest countries. Canada also announced it would maintain the ongoing spending of $1.75 billion in maternal, newborn and child health programming during the same period, resulting in a total commitment of $2.85 billion. According to the World Health Organization and the World Bank estimates, the funds leveraged by Canada’s Muskoka Initiative will save the lives of 1.3 million children and 64,000 mothers.
Canada is on track to meeting its Muskoka commitment, with 80 per cent of the funding already disbursed.


Canada focuses its bilateral efforts in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Sudan and Tanzania where maternal and child mortality rates are high.

Canada’s support through multilateral and global partners such as the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the GAVI Alliance and the World Health Organization is making a real difference.

Under the Muskoka Initiative Partnership Program (MIPP), the Government of Canada supported the efforts of 28 Canadian organizations to reduce maternal, newborn, and child mortality over three years in Haiti, Africa and Asia. The Government committed $82 million between 2010 and 2015 to the MIPP, as part of Canada’s contribution to the 2010 Muskoka Initiative. The program was open to Canadian organizations with at least three years experience managing and delivering maternal and child health initiatives in developing countries.

Key Canadian projects under the initiative

In Tanzania, Canada has helped provide primary health care services, including maternal, newborn, and child health services, to more than 43 million people through 4,600 local health facilities.

In Ethiopia, Canada, through Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada and its partners, helped more than 1.5 million children under the age of five receive vitamin A supplements and 1 million children receive de-worming treatment. These efforts are important for improving the overall nutritional status of these children and reducing their risk of death, blindness and illness.

In Mali, Canada’s support helped increase the percentage of infants receiving essential vaccines such as pentavalent, which prevents diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus. Coverage increased from 69 per cent in 2007 to 88 per cent in 2011. In addition, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, in partnership with the World Food Program, helped 1,100 children in Kayes region be referred to community health centres for acute malnutrition treatment.

In Malawi, Canada supports national efforts to treat acute malnutrition and reduce the number of young children who die each year. Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada has helped train 7,424 health workers and community volunteers in the treatment of acute malnutrition. The percentage of health centres in five Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada-supported districts offering community-based malnutrition treatment services for children under five has increased from 42 per cent to 84 per cent.

In Nigeria, Canada, in partnership with UN H4+ agencies (several UN health agencies and the World Bank), has helped improve the quality of childbirth since 2010 through the distribution of essential medicines. These efforts were important in reducing the incidence of pregnancy-related complications by 9,000 cases and of post-delivery haemorrhage by 6,000. In addition, these efforts helped improve access to contraceptive commodities for more than 2 million people.

Canada’s efforts within the United Nations (UN)

Canada has taken a leadership role within the UN to improve maternal, newborn and child health. In September 2013, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Jakaya Kikwete, President of the Republic of Tanzania, co-hosted a UN event entitled “Women’s and Children’s Health: The Unfinished Agenda of the Millennium Development Goals”. The event, organized in support of the Every Woman, Every Child Initiative, examined ways to accelerate progress on improving maternal, newborn and child health, and reducing the number of preventable deaths.

In addition to the Every Woman, Every Child Initiative, Canada is a key contributor to the UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Jakaya Kikwete also co-chaired the UN Commission on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health. In 2011, the Commission issued its report, Keeping Promises, Measuring Results, which included a recommendation to strengthen civil registration and vital statistics systems in developing countries where maternal and child health is at risk.
Canada has contributed to global efforts towards achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, which focus on reducing child mortality rates and improving maternal health.