Every Woman, Every Child' saves lives, but challenges remain
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Joy Phumaphi, Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA)
A Global Strategy for women's and children's health endorsed by the Secretary-General has made impressive strides in accelerating the push to reduce maternal and child mortality, according to a new UN report.
'Every Woman, Every Child' launched in September 2010, has attracted enormous political and financial support.
It's estimated that the Global Strategy has delivered close US$ 20 billion in additional funding to the cause, the report says.
A group of independent experts appointed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon prepared the report, tasked with reviewing the progress, identifying the obstacles and putting forward recommendations.
However, because of the declining rates of donor funding and failure to target countries with the greatest needs, the global health goals for 2015 regarding women and children's health may not be met.
Joy Phumaphi, a member of the group and Executive Secretary of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance (ALMA) calls on countries and donors alike to keep the momentum going.
"And the crossroads we are at right now is that we have sunk a lot of capital into making the progress that has currently been made by the developing world. And if we do not protect this investment, countries are going to slide back, they are going to regress. And it's going to be much more difficult in the coming ten years to bring the countries back up again. As a global community we must appreciate that it is not a question of can we afford to continue to fund women and children's health, but it is a question of can we afford not to." (Duration: 42")
Phumaphi adds that more focus is needed on middle income countries, like India, Nigeria and Brazil in order to have a wider impact.
