South Africa: Give Babies, Mothers a Fighting Chance

"Women give life, and the right to life is one that we all hold sacred", highlighted Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa last week at the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health 2014 Forum. With less than 500 days remaining before the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) deadline, the Forum reminded governments from around the globe that the fight against high maternal and childhood mortality is far from over. The Countdown to 2015 report released during the Forum confirmed that fewer than half of the 75 countries studied would meet the target to reduce the deaths of children under the age of five by two-thirds by next year, and very few would have cut their maternal mortality ratio by three-quarters.

The report however indicates that South Africa has made significant progress especially in addressing childhood mortality. We have reduced under-five child mortality from 61 per

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