Investing in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health: the Case for Asia and the Pacific
A new report calls for increased investment in the health of mothers and children in Asia and the Pacific. Authors of 'Investing in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health – the Case for Asia and the Pacific' warn that global financial and economic crisis must not derail investment in the world’s poorest region.
Download the full report from the World Health Organisation website: http://www.who.int/pmnch/topics/economics/20090501_investinginmnch/en/index.html.Financial and fiscal measures to stimulate the ailing global economy should include significant and sustained funding to improve the health of mothers, babies and children in the world’s poorest region. If this doesn’t happen, the impact of the global financial and economic crisis could place people in poor countries at even greater risk. This is a key message of the new Investment Case launched today by the Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Network for Asia and the Pacific.
Investing in Maternal, Newborn and Child Health – the Case for Asia and the Pacific has been developed by experts from ten major international development organizations and foundations: Asian Development Bank; Australian Agency for International Development; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Japan International Cooperation Agency; Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH); UNFPA; UNICEF; US Agency for International Development; World Bank; and the World Health Organisation.
The new Investment Case:
* Highlights the urgent need to accelerate progress in the world’s poorest region towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5 (which aim to reduce child and maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health)
* Describes the acute problems facing countries in Asia and the Pacific in the area of maternal, newborn and child health, and recommends practical steps for tackling them, based on the best-available evidence
* Provides detailed cost estimates, which show that at least US$15 billion in additional resources is needed by 2015 to achieve MDGs 4 and 5
* Demonstrates how governments and their development partners have an opportunity to protect the poor, strengthen fragile health systems, and invest in long-term social and economic growth and social and political stability.
The Investment Case for MNCH in Asia and the Pacific is launched against the backdrop of Annual General Meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Indonesia on May 3-5. This is fitting, as many of the issues affecting poor and inequitable health outcomes are related to economics, financing and public expenditure, and because dozens of Ministers of Finance and their senior officials will attend the meeting. The decisions they make about the level – and quality – of public expenditure are central to achieving MDGs, and protecting the poor from further hardship.
