Women Deliver Fast Facts
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Women Deliver as Mothers, Individuals, Family Members, and as Citizens. A woman's health is critical to the well-being of her family and to the economy of her community and her country.
The
Lancet
Special
Women
Deliver
Issue
"Since the
human race
began, women
have delivered
for society.
It is time now
for the world
to deliver for
women."
Commentary: Delivering
for Women by
Ann Starrs, Executive
Vice President,
FCI
20 years ago the
global health
community came
together to highlight
the most striking
inequity in public
health: half
a million women,
99% of them in
the developing
world, were dying
every year in
pregnancy and
childbirth. High
fertility, inadequate
and inaccessible
health services,
and women's low
status meant
that women in
the poorest regions
of the world
were 500 times
more likely to
die from pregnancy-related
complications
(one in 20 risk)
than women in
northern Europe
(one in 10 000
risk).1 The global
Safe Motherhood
Initiative was
launched to generate
political will,
identify effective
interventions,
and mobilise
resources that
would rectify
this horrifying
injustice.
Closing
Statement:
WOMEN DELIVER
CONFERENCE
English
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This conference
is about change.
About changing
the way we think,
what we say,
what we do. It's
about changing
the world.
Statement
from the Ministers'
Forum, WOMEN
DELIVER CONFERENCE
English
Version French
Version Spanish
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We, the participants
in the Ministers'
Forum of the
Women Deliver
Conference, once
again declare
our commitment
to invest in
women and children
and to achieve
Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs)
4 and 5. All
the MDGs will
best be achieved
within a human
rights framework,
which incorporates
sexual and reproductive
health rights,
and by recognizing
that health and
development are
inextricably
linked. Without
substantial reduction
in maternal mortality,
there is little
hope of achieving
the overarching
MDG goal of reducing
poverty by half.
Women Deliver for Development: Background Paper for the Women Deliver Conference
English
Version ( Full Report ) French Version Spanish Version
This paper argues that maternal health is central to the multiple aspects of many women's lives,
and is critically important for development goals more broadly. As such, maternal health is
connected with women's lives and options as individuals, the well-being of their children and
families, and the economic productivity of their countries. The evidence reviewed indicates that
a woman's ability to survive pregnancy and childbirth is closely related to how effectively
societies invest in and realize the potential of women–one half of their populations–not only as
mothers, but as critical contributors to sustaining families and transforming nations. When
investments in women–as mothers, as individuals, as family members, and as citizens– lag, the
economic cost of maternal death and illness is enormous. So is the opportunity cost for nations
in terms of lost possibilities for broader social and economic development.
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