20 April 2008
Maputo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Sunday met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, to discuss the drive to reduce under-five and maternal mortality in developing countries.
The two men met during an interval in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) heads of state summit on poverty and development, under way in the Mauritian capital of Port Louis.
At the meeting Guebuza signed a letter, addressed to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who is hosting this year's summit of the G8 group of most industrialized countries, urging him to prioritise the issues of child and maternal mortality.
The fourth and fifth of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the UN in 2000, are to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds and the maternal mortality rate by three-quarters by 2015. But half way to the cut-off date, there is no sign that either of these targets can be met.
The letter to Fukuda praises the Okinawa Infectious Disease Initiative that Japan launched at the Okinawa G8 summit in 2000. This had yielded impressive results leading to such steps as establishing the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The drive on infectious diseases has meant that "more than two million people are now receiving AIDS treatment, tuberculosis rates are stabilizing across much of the world, polio is closer to eradication than at any time in human history, measles deaths have fallen by 70 per cent, and malaria is being pushed back in many countries".
But the same progress has not been achieved in reducing child and maternal death rates. The letter's signatories warn "it is difficult to accept that in 2008 a woman dies in pregnancy and childbirth every minute".
They call for a major collective effort to meet the health-related MDGs, to launch "a movement to refocus and accelerate international efforts, to get us back on track to meet the MDGs by 2015 and to deliver on the world's promise to the weakest and most vulnerable".
They urge Japan "to lead the G8 in pushing the boundaries of the possible, by setting an ambitious agenda backed by the level of resources needed to make a difference in the seven years remaining to 2015".
In addition to Guebuza and Stoltenburg, the letter is signed by the Presidents of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and by Mozambique's former first lady, and champion of children's rights, Graca Machel.
Signatories from other continents are the presidents of Chile, Brazil, and Indonesia, namely Michelle Bachelet, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Asked by reporters his position on the current impasse in Zimbabwe, arising from the 29 March elections, Guebuza said "We are following the situation with a lot of interest. SADC observers are present in Zimbabwe, and they will be present again if there is a second round in the presidential election. We are always ready to help Zimbabwe solve its problems".
At the opening session of the summit, Stoltenberg had warned that "the lack of results from the elections casts serious doubt on the willingness of the government to respect the voice of the people". This had led Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who is leading the Zimbabwean delegation to the summit, to dismiss Stoltenberg as "ignorant".
Asked by a Norwegian journalist for his reaction to this insult, Guebuza said he could not comment, since it was the first he had heard of it.
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