PHA-Exch> Safe Maternity and the World of Work

Fri Oct 19 18:16:50 PDT 2007

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) <ruglucia at paho.org>
Crossposted from: EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org

 *Safe Maternity and the World of Work***

 International Labour Office, ILO Geneva, 2007, to be presented at the Women
Deliver Conference in London, October 18-20, 2007

*Women in the workplace: New ILO report highlights how action in the world
of work can help reduce maternal deaths*

Every minute of every day, a woman dies needlessly in pregnancy or
childbirth. With nearly 60 per cent of the world's women of childbearing age
in the labour force in 2006, the importance of paid work in the lives of so
many women makes maternity protection at work a key to safeguarding the
health and economic security of women and their children. A new ILO report
to be presented at an international conference in London on 18 October
reviews the progress and priorities in the world of work to ensure women's
rights to safe maternity.

Press Release:
http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Media_and_public_information/Feature_stories/lang--en/WCMS_084620/index.htm

Women Deliver Conference – London - October 18-20 2007 website:
http://www.womendeliver.org/

Coverage by Global Health TV at: http://www.globalhealthtv.com/

* *

*Reports and Research **
*

*Making Motherhood Safe in Developing Countries *

*The New England Journal of Medicine April 2007*

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/14/1395

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Safe Motherhood Conference in
Nairobi, an event that launched a global initiative to reduce maternal
mortality in developing countries. At that time, maternal and child health
programs focused primarily on the health of infants and young
children.1Providing pregnant women with lifesaving medical care was
thought to require
high technology at large hospitals, and policymakers thought it more
feasible to reduce child mortality with preventive measures such as
immunization, oral rehydration, and breast-feeding. The conference
spotlighted the number of pregnant women dying each year and issued a call
to action. So, how far have we come in the past 20 years?

*The State of the World's Children 2007*

*Women and Children: The Double Dividend for Gender Equality *

http://www.unicef.org/sowc07/docs/sowc07.pdf

UNICEF

The State of the World's Children 2007 reports on the lives of women around
the world for a simple reason: Gender equality and the well-being of
children go hand in hand. When women are empowered to live full and
productive lives, children prosper. UNICEF's experience also shows the
opposite: When women are denied equal opportunity within a society, children
suffer.

*Gender Equality at the Heart of Development*

*Why the role of women is crucial to ending world poverty.
*http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/gender-equality.pdf

DFID Department for International Development

Introduction by Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for International
Development.

This publication is about making a difference. It's unacceptable that women
and girls continue to face discrimination in their everyday lives;
discrimination limits the choices they have, the freedoms they enjoy, and
the contribution that they can make.

I want the UK to be at the forefront of putting women's rights and their
freedoms at the heart of development. We know from experience, and from the
UK's own history, that where women have equal chances in education, work or
in politics, they make a real and lasting difference, one that benefits us
all. This booklet sets out what we'll do and invites you to help us.

*The Lancet Maternal Health Survival Series *

*Healthy motherhood: an urgent call to action*

http://www.womendeliver.org/pdf/Maternal_Lancet_series.pdf

While the past 3 years have ushered in a new phase of commitment to child
survival,1 issues surrounding maternal survival have remained largely
neglected. The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG-5) is to reduce
maternal mortality by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015. Yet, sub-Saharan
Africa seems to have stalled in its efforts to improve maternal survival.
Only two out of five births benefit from skilled attendants at delivery—and
that share has remained unchanged between 1990 and 2003. South Asia has seen
improvements: from 27% to 38% coverage with skilled attendants. But coverage
rates still remain far too low.

Improving the health of mothers and babies: Breaking through health system
constraints

April 2007, id21 insights health, Issue #11
http://www.id21.org/insights/insights-h11/index.html

Improving maternal health remains the most elusive of the Millennium
Development Goals. Every minute, at least one woman dies from
pregnancy-related causes: 99 percent of these are in developing countries.
The majority of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, and
are avoidable through using standard interventions and health care which all
pregnant women and their newborns need.

*The Lancet Series on Sexual and Reproductive Health *

*Executive Summary of Lancet Sexual and Reproductive Health Series
*http://www.womendeliver.org/pdf/FINAL_SRH_Exec_Summary.pdf

Sexual behaviour, family planning, abortion, sexually transmitted infections
(STIs), and sexual and reproductive rights are not commonly discussed
topics. These subjects often generate strong opinions, make people
uncomfortable, and are prone to misinterpretation. So why cover these
challenging social and developmental issues in a medical journal?

*The world health report 2005 - make every mother and child count
*http://www.who.int/whr/2005/en/

World Health Organization

The World Health Report 2005 – Make Every Mother and Child Count, says that
this year almost 11 million children under five years of age will die from
causes that are largely preventable. Among them are 4 million babies who
will not survive the first month of life. At the same time, more than half a
million women will die in pregnancy, childbirth or soon after. The report
says that reducing this toll in line with the Millennium Development Goals
depends largely on every mother and every child having the right to access
to health care from pregnancy through childbirth, the neonatal period and
childhood.

*Maternal Health and Transport Key Issues Guide*
http://www.eldis.org/go/health/maternal-health-and-transport

*IDS Health and Development Information Team*

This key issues guide examines the relationship between maternal health and
transport. Specifically, it looks at how transport affects access to
preventative and emergency maternal health services. Access to transport
enables women to receive timely obstetric care that is essential for their
survival. Transport is therefore an important element that contributes
towards reaching the fifth millennium development goal, to reduce maternal
mortality by 75 per cent by 2015.

The 'three delays' model of maternal mortality is used as a framework to
show how transport-related factors affect individuals and families decisions
to seek care, identify and reach a facility and receive adequate treatment.
The guide provides examples of transport-related interventions that have
been implemented to increase access to and use of health facilities and
recommendations for policy.

*World Abortion Policies 2007*
http://www.womendeliver.org/resources/media/2007_WallChart.pdf
*and Microsoft Excel version*
http://www.womendeliver.org/resources/media/2007_WallChart.xls

*United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs - Population
Division*

World Abortion Policies 2007 provides the most up-to-date, accurate and
objective information available on the legal status of induced abortion for
the 195 Member and non-Member States of the United Nations. To complement
this information, data on abortion rates, contraceptive prevalence, total
fertility and maternal mortality are also provided.

 The conference core planning group includes:

[image: *]  UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund <http://www.unfpa.org/>

[image: *]  UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund <http://www.unicef.org/>

[image: *]  The World Bank <http://www.worldbank.org/>

[image: *]  WHO, the World Health Organization <http://www.who.int/>

[image: *]  UK's Department for International Development (DFID)
<http://www.dfid.gov.uk/>

[image: *]  Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs<http://www.minbuza.nl/en/home>

[image: *]  The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
(NORAD)<http://www.norad.no/>

[image: *]  The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency
(Sida)<http://www.sida.se/>

[image: *]  Family Care International <http://www.familycareintl.org/>

[image: *]  The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
<http://www.ippf.org/>

[image: *]  <http://www.norad.no/>The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn &
Child Health <http://www.pmnch.org/>
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