allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Women Deliver Conference in London

Twenty years ago, the world gathered in Kenya to launch the Safe Motherhood Initiative. Last week, October 18 to 20, they met at London's Excel Conference and Exhibition Centre to mark the 20th anniversary of the initiative and assess progress made in preventing maternal deaths and promoting child survival. The event was attended by more than 1,500 politicians including Ministers from Africa and Asia, human rights activists, NGOs, faith based organisations, health professionals and economists. Women Deliver was co sponsored by a partnership of UN agencies, including the World Bank, the World Health Organisation, UNFPA and UNICEF; the official international assistance agencies of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and several International NGOs. A series of activities were held simultaneously ranging from a private Minister's Forum, workshops and special programmes for government officials and leaders of civil society and the corporate world. It was the biggest conference on women's health in the last 20 years.

The opening ceremony was attended by the cream of the international community. In her welcome address, the Executive Director of UNFPA Thoraya Obeid drew the attention of the participants to the WHO's dismal statistics on maternal health. More than half a million women die from complications in pregnancy and childbirth every year-that is one death every minute!!! In Africa this means that a woman has a one in 16 chance of dying as a result of pregnancy and childbirth in her lifetime. To be able to provide better services to these needy women and close the gap in funding for maternal health, the UN body needs an additional 80million dollars over the next five years. Obaid called for a unified effort. "We cannot do it alone as women, men must be part of this struggle".

British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown expressed support for the Women Deliver conference. He commended the strategy of the conference organisers which is directed at building political will to reduce maternal deaths. The Prime Minister who was away at a crucial world meeting told participants in a taped message at the opening session of the conference that investing in women is the most productive strategy for countries to adopt. "We need an international effort that harvests the power of everyone and women are central to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. MDGs"

The UK Secretary of State for International Development, Hon. Douglas Alexander declared the conference open. He announced an additional donation of 100 million pounds (more than 200million US dollars) over five years to the UNFPA to provide reproductive health services to Africa and Asia where they are most needed. Secretary Alexander said 'the death of a mother deprives a child, a family a community and ultimately a country of one of its most valuable sources of health, happiness and prosperity. More than 10 million women mostly in Africa and South Asia have died in the last 20 years. This is a tragedy but so is the fact that these deaths could have been prevented. We need to ensure that health services not only function, but also reflect the needs of women. Women must have a voice to demand better services and to vote for a member of parliament who puts women's health on the agenda."

The government of the Netherlands also contributed 125 million Euros to the UNFPA a move that earned it commendation from the participants.

Another donor that announced an impressive donation was the John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation, a private US based grant making organization. The Nigeria Country Director of the Foundation, Dr Kole Shettima invited the Nigeria delegation to a panel discussion at the Speakers Corner where the President of the foundation Jonathan Fanton announced that the MacArthur Foundation will invest 11million US Dollars to reduce significantly maternal deaths due to post partum hemorrhage in India and Nigeria. The centre piece of this new effort according to MacArthur's President Mr Fanton is "distribution of anti shock garment, a low cost neoprene suit that helps to stabilize women who are bleeding after child birth. The life saving initiative include using anti -shock garment, the uterus contracting drug misoprostol to prevent bleeding, a calibrated blood collection drape to diagnose bleeding and transportation to get patients to a health facility for assessment and treatment as appropriate." This promises to be very useful because 30 percent of maternal deaths are due to hemorrhage, particularly in rural areas where transportation to health facilities is often delayed due to poor roads and poor communication.

The organisers of the conference invited and sponsored a four person delegation from each country comprising the Minister of Health, Minister of Planning, a parliamentarian and a civil society leader. The Minister of Health Dr. Adenike Grange was represented by Dr Moji Odeku of the Maternal Health Department in the Ministry of Health and Dr Alero Roberts, the parliament was represented by Hon. Abike Dabiri, and Hon. Saudatu Sani the Chairperson of the House Committee on MDGs while my humble self was nominated to represent the civil society. The Senior Special Adviser to the President on MDGs Mrs. Amina Ibrahim was invited to present a paper on Financing Maternal Health: Global and Country Level Challenges and Opportunities. The wife of the Governor of Kwara State, Mrs Toyin Saraki, and founder of the Wellbeing Foundation also attended as an ambassador of maternal health. Other participants from Nigeria included country representatives of various donor agencies and NGOs working in women's health and rights. Over 300 panel discussions, working group sessions, capacity building workshops, speakers corner events and exhibitions featured simultaneously during the three day conference. The Ministerial Forum which was open only to country delegations was attended by all the ministers and key organisers of the conference and held simultaneously with the other activities.

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