UNITED NATIONS, Oct 2 (IPS) – A global coalition of governments and
organisations has launched a new campaign to drastically improve pre- and
post-natal healthcare in places like India, which alone accounts for a
staggering 25 percent of the world’s child deaths and 20 percent of maternal deaths.

Called “Deliver Now” — a reference to the pledge made by 189 world leaders
meeting at the United Nations seven years ago to reduce child deaths by
two-thirds and maternal deaths by three-quarters by 2015, among other goals –
it brings together local government agencies, civil society, media and others to
allocate existing health resources more effectively.

Halfway toward the deadline to achieve the so-called Millennium Development
Goals, more than 10 million mothers and children still die every year, mostly
from preventable causes. Four million newborns die in their first four weeks of
their life, three million in the first week.

“The cause of women’s and children’s health has remained in the shadows for too
long and been neglected on the political agenda,” said Dr. Francisco Songane,
director of the partnership.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 42 percent of pregnant women
around the world experience a complication, of which 15 percent are
life-threatening. These problems mostly occur in developing countries: 95
percent of all maternal and newborn deaths worldwide occur in 75 countries in
Africa, Asia and Latin America.

According to recent research, at least 7 million of these deaths could be
prevented by expanding access to health systems.

These relatively simple measures include regular vaccinations, breastfeeding,
access to antibiotics and the help of a skilled birth attendant.

The first specific country programmes will start in 2008 in India and Tanzania,
which currently faces a critical shortage of qualified health workers to assist
during childbirth. Some 54 percent of women receive no skilled attendance; as a
result, a woman dies of pregnancy-related complications there every hour of
every day.

Besides Norway, France, Canada, Germany and Britain are also supporting the
campaign. More donor countries will become engaged.

Experts say that at least 9 billion dollars a year is needed to meet the basic
health care needs of women and children. As of 2004, only 2 billion dollars –
less than a quarter of what is needed — was available to support such services
in developing countries.

Good health also requires a sound environment and commitment to upholding
women’s fundamental rights.