The Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health applauds the commitment of the 2015 G7 Summit Leaders’ Declaration to ending preventable child deaths and improving women’s health. It also welcomes the renewal of the Global Strategy for Women, Children’s and Adolescent Health. The global gathering, which brought together the leaders of the world’s seven most industrialized countries, including Canada, took place from June 7-8 in Elmau, Germany.
“We know that progress on MNCH takes money. That is why we are pleased to see the Declaration’s emphasis on ensuring adequate financing for health related mechanisms including Gavi and the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,” says Helen Scott, Executive Director of the Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health.
“We also know the difference that our Canadian Partners are making with Canadian aid dollars. So we appreciate the Declaration’s affirmation of the importance of Official Development Assistance as a critical tool in achieving development outcomes,” Scott adds.
“We are also very pleased to see the emphasis on women, the realization of health-related rights and the importance of health systems strengthening. There is no doubt that it is through these investments that we will make tangible progress in improving health outcomes for women and children.”
We appreciate the G7’s approach that leaves no one behind. We encourage these leaders to stand behind this commitment as they measure progress. We would like to see support for the scale-up of disaggregated vital statistics collection, and weighted indicators, to reflect progress on the hardest to reach. We believe that targets should only be considered ‘achieved’ if they are met for all relevant income and social groups. It is by being inclusive of all women and children, including the hardest to reach, that the highest attainable quality of life for all can be realized.
– 30 –
The Canadian Network for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health is a collaboration of over 80 organizations working to save lives of the most vulnerable women and children in over 1,000 communities globally. For more information about the network, visit https://www.canwach.ca.
For more information, media should contact:
Irene Whittaker-Cumming: 647-648-6219
