Global progress report on Every Woman, Every Child
In 2010 Every Woman, Every Child, an unprecedented global movement to mobilise action to improve the health of women and children around the world was set up. Spearheaded by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, it joins together leaders of governments, multilateral organisations, the private sector and civil society in a joint mission to save the lives of 16 million women and children and improve the lives of millions more.
As of September 2012 Every Woman, Every Child had 260 partners from various backgrounds and billions commitment - World Vision is a strong partner in this. Find our more about the movement.
Yesterday the independent Expert Review Group (iERG) on Information and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health released their second report "Strengthening Equity and Dignity through Health" assessing the progress of commitments Every Woman, Every Child to date.
The report finds that Political momentum for women’s and children’s health has continued to grow at an extraordinary pace during the last year. Particularly during around initiative such as A Promise Renewed and the Commission on Life-Saving Commodities - an area that World Vision lobbied on at a national and global level.
The iERG further found that the World Bank has become a strong supporter for women and children, and discussions around the post-2015 development agenda has helped further accelerate debate and progress on MDGs 4, 5, and 1c. Whilst this progress has been encouraging it is also vital that the momentum and gains of the past decade are protected beyond 2015.
Despite this only 17 of 75 iERG countries are projected to achieve MDG 4 by 2015, and only 9 of 75 countries are expected to achieve MDG 5. Commitments to Every Woman, Every Child have been rising, but the number being added has diminished over time. There is a severe funding shortfall too, raising concerns that the UN Secretary-General’s ambitions may not be fully realised.
In response to this the iERG has come out with several recommendations:
- Strengthen country accountability
- Demand global accountability for women and children
- Take adolescents seriously
- Prioritise quality to reinforce the value of a human-rights-based approach to women’s and children’s health
- Make health professionals count
- Launch a new movement for better data
World Vision will continue to advocate on women's and children's health and are at the United Nations General Assembly this week adding our voice, expertise and support to the conversations, decisions and debates that are taking place.
You can read iERG's full report here.
And follow World Vision for updates throughout the week on: @ChildHealthNow and @WorldVisionUN